The 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational begins Thursday, March 5, with the opening round at Bay Hill in Orlando, Fla. You can find full Arnold Palmer Invitational times for Thursday’s first round at the bottom of this post.
Included tee times for round 1
Heading into Thursday’s opening round of Arnold Palmer, World No. 2 Rory McIlroy has played in two PGA Tour events so far this year. But in that short time, the five-time major champion has shown that he is still at his best.
In his debut at Pebble Beach, McIlroy shook off the rust with a T14-finish one year after lifting the trophy. He then took another step in the right direction in his most recent start at the Genesis Invitational, where he finished T2 to take home $1.8 million.
McIlroy has played in the Arnold Palmer Invitational 11 times in his career. He won in 2018, but had more success outside of that year, including a runner-up finish in 2023 and six top 10s overall.
McIlroy will enter the opening round on Thursday at 1:30 pm ET with partner Viktor Hovland.
You can watch Thursday’s first round of the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational from 2-6 pm ET on the Golf Channel. PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ will offer a special early broadcast beginning Thursday at 7:30 a.m. ET, in addition to the featured group and featured hole.
Check out the full 1st round times and pairings for the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
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2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational Thursday Times: Round 1 (ET)
It is No. 1
7:40 am – Joel Dahmen, Daniel Bennett
7:50 am – Jonathan 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 – JT 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 – JJ 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
