Rahm, Mcilroy, Scheffler resume battle for No. 1 at Bay Hill

Scottie Scheffler returned to No. 1 in the world by winning in Phoenix with Jon Rahm on his heels. A week later, Rahm was back to No. 1 by winning at Riviera in a tense battle with Max Homa.

Now it’s Bay Hill’s turn.

One aspect of these elevated events on the PGA Tour — those are here to stay based on a PGA Tour memo Wednesday outlining the future — is its tendency to bring out the star power in a chase for the $3.6 million prize.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational might be the next chapter in this remarkable tussle at the top of the world ranking. Not since the Official World Golf Ranking began in 1986 have three players traded turns at No. 1 before the calendar turned to March.

“I’m just happy to be in that conversation,” Rory Mcilroy said.

He began the year at No. 1, and while he has yet to get into contention in his two PGA Tour starts in 2023, Mcilroy did begin his year by winning in Dubai.

All three face various scenarios to stay or get back to No. 1.

“If I was purely a fan of the game and I see what’s going on, especially at the top, I think it’s a pretty cool thing,” Mcilroy said.

Rahm is coming off a victory in the Genesis Invitational for his fifth title worldwide in his last nine tournaments. Scheffler ran off four wins in a twomonth stretch last year that culminated with his Masters title. Mcilroy hasn’t been too shabby until the last two weeks. That was preceded by eight straight top-10 finishes, three of them victories.

“But like everyone knows, there’s so much parity in our game right now that any given week, any given tournament, someone can pop up and sort of put their hand up and claim to be one of the best players in the world,” Mcilroy said.

Odds are whoever that is will have earned it in a big way at Bay Hill.

Only 10 players broke par last year, and Scheffler won at 5-under 283.