Can Rory McIlroy win the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational title? Day 1 odds explored

The 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational will tee off on Thursday, March 6, at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida. The event hosted by Arnold Palmer will have a PGA Tour field of 72 players competing against each other. Rory McIlroy is one of the favorites to win the event offering a whopping $20 million purse.

The latest edition of the Arnold Palmer Invitational field will have 47 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking teeing up. This will include nine of the top 10 and all top three players in the world. Unsurprisingly, World No.1 and the competition’s reigning champion Scottie Scheffler is the outright favorite to defend his title. He enters the contest with 32-1 odds, as per SportsLine. However, the 28-year-old golfer is closely followed by McIlroy with 75-1 odds.

The Northern Irishman started his 2025 PGA Tour season with an impressive win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. His $3,600,000 payday was followed up with a T17 finish at The Genesis Invitational two weeks later. This turned out to be the golfer’s last event before taking some weeks off.

Meanwhile, the four-time major winner has been an active part of the initial season of the tech-infused TGL series, introduced by him and Tiger Woods.

For the unversed, the 35-year-old golfer had an eventful 2024 season with his only win coming at the Wells Fargo Championship in May. He managed five other top-10 finishes including a dramatic second place at the US Open, where he lost to LIV Golf counterpart Bryson DeChambeau. Coming off the back of a decent start to the 2025 season, McIlroy will be eyeing his second win already at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

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2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational odds

McIlroy sits second behind event favorite Scheffler on the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational odds list. Ludvig Aberg and Xander Schauffele, sitting with 160-1 odds each, are the next best bets for the weekend. Some other big names to watch at Bay Hill will include the likes of Collin Morikawa (220-1), Hideki Matsuyama (250-1), Justin Thomas (280-1), Patrick Cantlay (300-1), Tommy Fleetwood (350-1) and longshot favorite Keegan Bradley (550-1).

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Listed below are the top odds for the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational (As per SportsLine):

• Scottie Scheffler +320
• Rory McIlroy +750
• Ludvig Aberg +1600
• Xander Schauffele +1600
• Collin Morikawa +2200
• Hideki Matsuyama +2500
• Justin Thomas +2800
• Patrick Cantlay +3000
• Tommy Fleetwood +3500
• Sungjae Im +4500
• Will Zalatoris +5000
• Sam Burns +5500
• Keegan Bradley +5500
• Matt Fitzpatrick +5500
• Viktor Hovland +5500
• Maverick McNealy +5500
• Wyndham Clark +6000
• Robert MacIntyre +6000
• Tony Finau +6000
• Russell Henley +6500
• Shane Lowry +6500
• Daniel Berger +6500
• Sepp Straka +7000
• Corey Conners +7000
• Taylor Pendrith +7000

More details on the PGA Tour’s 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational will be updated as the event progresses.