Tournaments

Arnold Palmer Invitational Field: Day, Rory & ‘No-Shows’ Headline

Posted By

March 12, 2017

There’s been some controversy over some of the big names supposedly “disrespecting” The King by not showing up at Bay Hill for the first Arnold Palmer Invitational since his death.

As of last Friday, only 10 of the world top-25 had accepted the invite to play in Arnold’s (now memorial) event. In comparison, 49 of top-50 players trekked down to Mexico last week for an event sponsored Grupo Salinas.

Only 10 of the world's top 25 golfers are currently committed to next week's @APinv (49 of the top 50 played @WGCMexico last week) #TheKing https://t.co/2HZZzTmvBu

— Cara Banks (@CaraBanksGC) March 7, 2017

Some of the no-show names include Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, and Justin Thomas.

Billy Horschel, the former FedEx Cup champ, went on Twitter, as a follow up to Cara Robinson’s tweet, to plead with his fellow Tour pros.

Disappointing. Totally understand schedule issues. But 1st year without AP. Honor an icon! Without him wouldn't be in position we are today https://t.co/yzaIqbbSpM

— Billy Horschel (@BillyHo_Golf) March 7, 2017

Ian Poulter, however, defended the no-shows, blaming scheduling and the Bay Hill course itself.

“It’s going to be a fantastic week,” Poulter told ESPN. “It’s going to be a celebration of Arnie. The field is fine. There are some people who do not like that course and they are absolutely not disrespecting Arnie.

“We all obviously want every player from No 1 in the world in the rankings to 100 … we’d love for them all to be there. It’s impossible. I don’t think we have to discuss who isn’t there – it’s unfair to the tournament. Let’s focus on the family and make it a great week for them.”

Despite the flare up, the field does include five of the top-10 in the world, including defending champ Jason Day and Rory McIlroy. Other big names include Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson, and Justin Rose.

Full field list for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, as of March 10.

HOW THEY QUALIFIED

Former Winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Jason Day
Ernie Els
Matt Every
Robert Gamez
Tim Herron

Winner – THE PLAYERS Championship (Last 5 years)

Rickie Fowler
Martin Kaymer

Winner – The U.S. Open (Last 5 Years)

Justin Rose
Webb Simpson

Winner – The PGA Championship (Last 5 Years)

Rory McIlroy

Winner – The Masters (Last 5 Years)

Bubba Watson
Danny Willett

Winner – The Open Championship (Last 5 Years)

Zach Johnson
Henrik Stenson

Winner – The TOUR Championship

Billy Horschel

Winner – HSBC Champions – Last 3 Seasons

Hideki Matsuyama

Winner the Memorial (Last 3 Years)

David Lingmerth
William McGirt

Winner – Tournament Winner in the Past Year

Aaron Baddeley
Greg Chalmers
Tony Finau
Branden Grace
Cody Gribble
James Hahn
Jim Herman
Charley Hoffman
Mackenzie Hughes
Billy Hurley III
Si Woo Kim
Ryan Moore
Rod Pampling
Pat Perez
Brian Stuard
Hudson Swafford

Member of Last Named U.S. Ryder Cup Team

Brooks Koepka
Brandt Snedeker

Member of Last Named U.S.Presidents Cup Team

Chris Kirk

Member of Last Named International Presidents Cup Team

Steven Bowditch
Anirban Lahiri
Danny Lee
Marc Leishman
Louis Oosthuizen
Charl Schwartzel

Winner – Prior Year U.S. Amateur Championship

Curtis Luck

Top 50 – World Golf Ranking

Alex Noren
Paul Casey
Tyrrell Hatton
Thomas Pieters
Matthew Fitzpatrick
Emiliano Grillo
Francesco Molinari
Tommy Fleetwood
Kevin Chappell
Jeunghun Wang
Kevin Kisner
Kevin Na
Byeong Hun An

Life Member

Vijay Singh

Sponsors Exemptions – Web.com Tour Finals

Brandon Hagy
Grayson Murray

Top 70 on Prior Year’s FedExCup Points List

Roberto Castro
Sean O’Hair
Jason Kokrak
Fabian Gomez
Smylie Kaufman
Harris English
Graeme McDowell
Jamie Lovemark
Charles Howell III
Brian Harman
David Hearn
Kevin Streelman
Kyle Reifers
Vaughn Taylor
Daniel Summerhays
Jon Curran
Ben Martin

Top 70 on Current Year FedExCup Points

Adam Hadwin
Keegan Bradley
Martin Laird
Luke List
Kelly Kraft
Cheng Tsung Pan
Lucas Glover
Chez Reavie
Patton Kizzire
Ollie Schniederjans
Scott Brown
Michael Kim
Stewart Cink
Morgan Hoffmann
J.J. Spaun
Derek Fathauer
Camilo Villegas
Kyle Stanley
Graham DeLaet
Wesley Bryan
Patrick Rodgers
Russell Henley
Seung-Yul Noh

PGA Section Champ/Player of the Year

David Hronek

Below 70th position from Current FedExCup Points List

Cameron Smith
Bud Cauley
John Huh

Credit/Source: PGA Tour Media