The Arnold Palmer Invitational 2026 is set to begin on Thursday, March 5, at the Bay Hill Club in Orlando. The event will be the third Signature event of the season, featuring a 72-player field.
The first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2026 will begin on Thursday at 7:40 a.m. ET. Joel Dahmen and amateur Daniel Bennett are paired together and will be the first to begin the action. All players will tee off from the first hole, and Chris Kirk will be in the last group of the day, alongside Sahith Theegala, teeing off at 1:50 p.m. ET.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is paired with defending champion Russell Henley and will tee off at 10:20 a.m. ET. Scheffler has won here two times in the last four editions and is entering again as the favorite.
Another hot favorite, Rory McIlroy, is grouped with Viktor Hovland and will start the action at 1:30 p.m. ET. The Northern Irishman hasn’t won at Bay Hill since 2018 but had a runner-up finish in 2023.
Arnold Palmer Invitational 2026 Round 1 pairings explored
Here’s a look at the tee time details for the Arnold Palmer Invitational 2026 Round 1 (all times ET):
- 7:40 am: Joel Dahmen, Daniel Bennett (a)
- 7:50 am: Jhonattan Vegas, Tom Hoge
- 8:00 am: Ryan Fox, Billy Horschel
- 8:10 am: Brian Campbell, Patrick Rodgers
- 8:20 am: Matt McCarty, Max Greyserman
- 8:30 am: Taylor Moore, Andrew Putnam
- 8:40 am: Daniel Berger, Alex Noren
- 8:50 am: Min Woo Lee, Michael Thorbjornsen
- 9:05 am: Harry Hall, Corey Conners
- 9:15 am: Cameron Young, Sepp Straka
- 9:25 am: Harris English, Patrick Cantlay
- 9:35 am: Andrew Novak, Robert MacIntyre
- 9:45 am: Brian Harman, Akshay Bhatia
- 9:55 am: Collin Morikawa, Justin Rose
- 10:05 am: Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry
- 10:20 am: Scottie Scheffler, Russell Henley
- 10:30 am: Aldrich Potgieter, Adam Scott
- 10:40 am: J.T. Poston, Keith Mitchell
- 10:50 am: Nicolai Højgaard, Austin Smotherman
- 11:00 am: Si Woo Kim, Bud Cauley
- 11:10 am: Lucas Glover, Ryo Hisatsune
- 11:20 am: Ryan Gerard, Jason Day
- 11:35 am: Taylor Pendrith, Denny McCarthy
- 11:45 am: Kurt Kitayama, Pierceson Coody
- 11:55 am: Jordan Spieth, Sam Stevens
- 12:05 pm: Jake Knapp, Matt Fitzpatrick
- 12:15 pm: Sam Burns, Sungjae Im
- 12:25 pm: J.J. Spaun, Nick Taylor
- 12:35 pm: Keegan Bradley, Maverick McNealy
- 12:50 pm: Ben Griffin, Tommy Fleetwood
- 1:00 pm: Nico Echavarria, Ludvig Åberg
- 1:10 pm: Jacob Bridgeman, Chris Gotterup
- 1:20 pm: Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama
- 1:30 pm: Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland
- 1:40 pm: Rickie Fowler, Michael Kim
- 1:50 pm: Chris Kirk, Sahith Theegala