ORLANDO, Fla. — Bryson DeChambeau will defend his title at next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational while returning from injury and amid backlash for his alleged involvement with a rival golf league.
DeChambeau will be among 16 of the top 30 players in the field, including six of the top 10 led by world No. 1 Jon Rahm — making his first appearance at Bay Hill Club and Lodge. World No. 5 Rory McIlroy, the 2018 API winner, and No. 10 and reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama also are committed to the March 3-6 event.
DeChambeau has not teed it up since missing the cut during the Farmer’s Insurance Open in late January, citing injuries to a hand and hip. His world ranking has fallen to No. 12.
DeChambeau’s pursuit of increased clubhead speed and distance off the tee have raised concerns his body would withstand the stress. The 28-year-old has dismissed such concerns and even participated last fall during a long drive tournament.
However DeChambeau’s approach ultimately plays out, fans have embraced the spectacle.
DeChambeau won over Orlando golf fans during his 2021 victory at Bay Hill Club and Lodge, where he bullied the firm, fast, 7,466-yard layout with his prodigious length of the tee and sank a number of critical putts during a 1-shot win.
Each day, fans staked out the par-5, 6th hole, a sweeping dogleg left measuring 565 yards and over a large lake requiring a carry of at least 350 yards.
During the final round of DeChambeau’s victory over Lee Westwood, he managed a 379-yard blast into a fairway bunker to leave him 88 yards and set up a birdie.
The victory was the last for DeChambeau, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour. He suffered a 20-month drought between wins in 2018 to 2020.
But DeChambeau emerged from his distance experiment to win the U.S. Open in September 2020 by 6 strokes to silence his critics and raise his standing in the game.
Yet, the 2021 API is his only win since his dominant performance at Winged Foot.
DeChambeau also has been one of the players associated most with the controversial Super Golf League backed by Saudi Arabian money and fronted by former world No. 1 Greg Norman.
DeChambeau and two-time major winner Dustin Johnson each recently pledged loyalty to the PGA Tour.
“I want to make it very clear that as long as the best players in the world are playing the PGA Tour, so will I,” DeChambeau said in a statement released on social media. “As of now, I am focused on getting myself healthy and competing again soon.”
DeChambeau has long ties to the API.
A month before turning professional at the 2016 Masters, DeChambeau, then the 22-year-old reigning U.S. Amateur winner, went toe-to-toe with McIlroy during a final-round pairing.
McIlroy, a four-time major champion, needed an 18th hole birdie and a DeChambeau bogey to come ahead by a shot.
McIlroy finished 7-under 65 to DeChambeau’s 66.
