The Bay Hill Invitational presented by MasterCard will have the second-strongest field in the world so far this year, and figures to again rank among the world's top 10 tournaments for 2006 at the year's end.
The players committed for the PGA Tour event scheduled for Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club for the week of March 13-19 include four of the top five players on the Official World Golf Ranking, nine of the top 15, and 30 of the top 50. So far in 2006, only the Accenture Match Play, one of the World Golf Championship events, has had a stronger field.
In 2005, Bay Hill's field was the world's ninth strongest behind only the four major championships, The Players Championship, and the three World Golf Championship events. The same four of the world's top five players and nine of the top 15 were in the field.
The world's top four players are entered this year, led by No. 1 Tiger Woods, the champion at Bay Hill for four consecutive years, 2000 through 2003. Then comes Vijay Singh (No. 2 in the world), Retief Goosen (No. 3), and 1998 Bay Hill champion Ernie Els (No. 4). Others from among the top 15 in the world who have entered are Sergio Garcia (No. 6), Jim Furyk (No. 7), Adam Scott (No. 9), 2005 European Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie (No. 11), and reigning U. S. Open champion Michael Campbell (No. 15).
Other high-ranking players in the field are 2004 Bay Hill champion Chad Campbell (No. 19), Angel Cabrera (No. 22), Scott Verplank (No. 24), Geoff Ogilvy (No. 25), Jose Maria Olazabal (No. 26), Darren Clarke (No. 27), Stuart Appleby (No. 29), Tom Lehman (No. 31), Bart Bryant (No. 32), Stewart Cink (No. 34), Robert Allenby (No. 35), K. J. Choi (No. 36), Mike Weir (No. 38), Sean O'Hair (No. 40), Lee Westwood (No. 42), Brandt Jobe (No. 44), Zach Johnson (No. 45), John Daly (No. 46), Mark Hensby (No. 48), Lucas Glover (No. 49) and Carl Pettersson (No. 50).
2006 BAY HILL INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD
Robert Allenby
Stuart Appleby
Arjun Atwal
Woody Austin
Clint Avret
Paul Azinger
Craig Barlow
Shane Bertsch
Henrik Bjornstad
Jason Bohn
David Branshaw
Jeff Brehaut
Mark Brooks
Bart Bryant
Angel Cabrera
Chad Campbell
Michael Campbell
K. J. Choi
Daniel Chopra
Stewart Cink
Darren Clarke
Ben Curtis
John Daly
Robert Damron
Patrick Damron
Brian Davis
Bubba Dickerson
David Duval
Ernie Els
Nick Faldo
Brad Faxon
Dan Forsman
Carlos Franco
Harrison Frazar
Fred Funk
Jim Furyk
Robert Gamez
Sergio Garcia
Brian Gay
Lucas Glover
Retief Goosen
Jason Gore
Paul Goydos
Nathan Green
Todd Hamilton
J. J. Henry
Mark Hensby
Tim Herron
J. B. Holmes
Charles Howell III
Mike Hulbert
Billy Hurley III
John Huston
Trevor Immelman
Fredrik Jacobson
Brandt Jobe
Zach Johnson
Steve Jones
Jonathon Kaye
Jerry Kelly
Hank Kuehne
Bernhard Langer
Paul Lawrie
Tom Lehman
Peter Lonard
Steve Lowery
Jeff Maggert
Hunter Mahan
Shigeki Maruyama
Len Mattiace
Bob May
Rocco Mediate
Shaun Micheel
Colin Montgomerie
Ryan Moore
Kevin Na
Sean O'Hair
Mark O'Meara
Joe Ogilvie
Geoff Ogilvy
Jose Maria Olazabal
Greg Owen
Ryan Palmer
Rod Pampling
Corey Pavin
Pat Perez
Craig Perks
Tom Pernice Jr.
Tim Petrovic
Carl Pettersson
Ian Poulter
Dicky Pride
Ted Purdy
Tag Ridings
Justin Rose
Sam Saunders
Adam Scott
John Senden
Paul Sheehan
Wes Short Jr.
Webb Simpson
Joey Sindelar
Vijay Singh
Heath Slocum
Jeff Sluman
Kevin Stadler
Vaughn Taylor
Kirk Triplett
Bo Van Pelt
Scott Verplank
Duffy Waldorf
Camilo Villegas
Charles Warren
Nick Watney
Bubba Watson
Mike Weir
Lee Westwood
Dean Wilson
Mark Wilson
Tiger Woods
Total Field -- 120
2006 BAY HILL INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD
PRO-AMATEUR FIELD
Appleby, Stuart
Bohn, Jason
Bryant, Bart
Campbell, Chad
Campbell, Michael
Choi, K. J.
Chopra, Daniel
Cink, Stewart
Clarke, Darren
Daly, John
Els, Ernie
Faxon, Brad
Funk, Fred
Furyk, Jim
Garcia, Sergio
Glover, Lucas
Goosen, Retief
Gore, Jason
Herron, Tim
Howell, Charles III
Jobe, Brandt
Johnson, Zach
Kaye, Jonathan
Langer, Bernhard
Lehman, Tom
Lonard, Peter
Maruyama, Shigeki
Micheel, Shaun
Montgomerie, Colin
O'Hair, Sean
O'Meara, Mark
Ogilvy, Geoff
Ogivlie, Joe
Olazabal, Jose Maria
Owen, Greg
Palmer, Arnold
Pampling, Rod
Pavin, Corey
Pernice, Tom Jr.
Petrovic, Tim
Pettersson, Carl
Purdy, Ted
Rose, Justin
Scott, Adam
Sindelar, Joey
Singh, Vijay
Slocum, Heath
Sluman, Jeff
Taylor, Vaughan
Van Pelt, Bo
Verplank, Scott
Weir, Mike
Woods, Tiger