– Justin Thomas returns to competition this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (API) after undergoing a delicate back operation last November, a microdiscectomy to relieve a herniated disc. Therefore, his score in 2026 is zero, and it cannot be said that he returns to one of his favourite venues, Bay Hill, where he has only played four times to date, with his best result being a twelfth place. A modest record for someone of his stature on a course that is usually very demanding, no matter how you look at it.
– The fact is that Thomas played at Bay Hill for the first time in 2015, finishing in a modest 49th place, and then removed the API from his schedule until the era of the Elevated and Signature events in 2023, 2024, and 2025, in which he was present. On paper, the Kentucky native is a risky bet this week: to date, he hasn’t exactly had a great understanding with Bay Hill, and his last competitive appearance was at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage…
– It will be a matter of seeing if this week he finds a way to tame Arnold Palmer’s creation. It’s true that Bay Hill is not an easy course, and it usually becomes more challenging as the days go by if the weather conditions allow, let’s keep that in mind, but nonetheless, Thomas‘s weekend records at Bay Hill are striking. He has never shot below 70 in the third or fourth round, and only once has he managed to beat the course (he shot a 71 in the fourth round of 2015), and ultimately his average score in the third and fourth rounds is 73.12 strokes. Last year, for instance, he finished Sunday with a 76 and dropped to 36th position…
– There will surely be many eyes on Thomas’s return to competition. But the intrigue and attention will overflow this week during the first round of the World Number One, Scottie Scheffler. The reason is quite simple. The Texan’s last three performances have been strange, both in Phoenix, Pebble Beach, and Riviera. In Phoenix, he shot a 73 on Thursday and was already far behind; in Pebble, he delivered a 72 on a day when the average score was quite low, once again giving too much advantage to the rest; and in Riviera, he started with a 74, which once again put him at the bottom of the leaderboard. Both in Phoenix and Pebble, he made excellent comebacks that even brought him close to the option of victory. In Riviera, he also improved, although he ultimately finished twelfth, breaking a streak of 18 consecutive top-ten finishes on the PGA Tour.
– By the way, and without intending to fuel the intrigue (or perhaps yes), in his previous five appearances in this tournament, Scheffler always played below par on Thursday in the first round. Thomas hasn’t fared very well at Bay Hill, as seen, but the same cannot be said for Scottie: he has already won this tournament twice and this week will have the chance to be the first to achieve three victories in the history of the API, aside from Tiger Woods, who won it eight times, as is well known.
– A rather wet week is expected at Bay Hill, with chances of rain on each of the four days, so it might not be so easy to find those granite-like firm greens that are so characteristic.
– Scheffler tees off on Thursday alongside the defending champion and fellow Ryder Cup frustration partner, Russell Henley, with whom he played and lost two foursomes matches. Thomas, on the other hand, tees off in the last groups of the first round alongside Hideki Matsuyama.
