Spieth to make debut at Bay Hill
Jordan Spieth’s schedule never had room for the PGA Tour star to squeeze in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Spieth now will tee it up for the first time at Bay Hill Club and Lodge during the 2021 API.
The 27-year-old Texan is among the biggest names in the 120-player field finalized Friday. Spieth’s struggles for much of the past two years and fall to No. 61 in the world golf rankings kept him out of the field at the World Golf Championships at The Concession in Bradenton.
Spieth aims at the API to build on his encouraging early-season form, including top-five finishes in Phoenix and at Pebble Beach.
World No. 10 Bryson DeChambeau also added the Arnold Palmer Invitational to his schedule and is among 12 of the top-25 players in the field.
Spieth and DeChambeau will join four-time major champion and world No. 8 Rory McIlroy, fan favorite Rickie Fowler, 2020 defending champion and fifthranked Tyrrell Hatton and nine-time PGA Tour winner Patrick Reed, the world’s 11th-ranked player.
Viktor Hovland (No. 14), Matthew Fitzpatrick (No. 16), Sungjae Im (No. 17), Paul Casey (No. 18), Harris English (No. 20), Tommy Fleetwood (No. 21), Hideki Matsuyama (No. 21) and Kevin Na (No. 25) round out the top-25 players in the field.
“Our final field has star power,” tournament director Joie Chitwood said. “The competition will be strong and we are excited to see who will wear the red cardigan as our champion on Sunday.”
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker and European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington also received special exemptions to play in the tournament.