“The greens are like concrete,” Defending champion Scottie Scheffler opens up about ‘hard’ challenges during 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Defending champion and World No.1 Scottie Scheffler fired a score of 1-under 71 in the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

“The greens are like concrete,” Defending champion Scottie Scheffler opens up about ‘hard’ challenges during 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Scottie Scheffler (Image via X)

The 4th signature event of the 2025 PGA Tour season, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, kicked off on Thursday. The conditions at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida were challenging. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler later spoke on this and claimed that the greens of the course were like “concrete”.

The World No.1 fired an opening round score of 71 on Thursday. He made three birdies and two bogeys on Thursday. His 1-under par score for the day was one of the best performances though as many found the course a bit more challenging then it usually is.

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Speaking with the reporters after the round, Scottie Scheffler pointed out what many watching from the sidelines and home did not realize. He claimed that the fairways were soft but the greens were hard as concrete. This made it difficult for several competitors out there during the first round.

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The fairways are really soft but the greens are like concrete and so it can be it can be really challenging to get the ball close to the hole especially if you’re not coming from out of the fairway.

Scottie Scheffler said in the post round press conference

Meanwhile, Scheffler’s playing partner Ludvig Aberg finished one shot behind him in the first round. The 2025 Genesis Invitational winner birdied three holes but also had bogeys on three holes. He thus finished even par for the round and was tied for 15th position.

Last year’s runner-up, Wyndham Clark though was one of them who had a great time on the course. He made 6 birdies and had 1 bogey which saw him finish the day 5-under 67. This was the best score of the day, making him the solo leader after the first round.

58 out of 72 golfers fire score of even par or worse in Round 1 of the Arnold Palmer Invitational

If almost 80 percent of the playing field fires even par of worse scores, it means the golf course is challenging. This is what happened during the first round of the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational as 58 out of the 72 golfers in the field finished with even par of worse.

Max Homa
Max Homa was one of them who struggled heavily during the first round of the 2025 API (Image via X)

There were some heavy winds before the event, which meant that the players would be in a struggle. As the day went on, many found difficulty in trying to keep their score at even par and not fall way behind in the leaderboard.

One of the people who struggled heavily was Max Homa. The American golfer made 9 bogeys and one double bogey on Thursday. He failed to even break 80 as he shot 9-over 81 in the first round.

The only golfer who did worse than him was Cameron Young, who fired 10-over 82. Both of these golfers are now on the verge of an early elimination from the competition.

After finishing T3 for the Masters Tournament last year, things have gone down for Homa. He has missed several cuts and fired some big scores that have seen him fall down in the rankings.

Homa will need a miraculous performance in the second round to keep his chances alive of making the cut. Unlike other signature events, the Arnold Palmer Invitational does feature a cut, which means only the top 50 and those within 10 shots of the leader will get the chance to play over the weekend.