The Arnold Palmer Invitational has been a very peculiar affair. Collin Morikawa leads the pack with a 10 under par one stroke above Russell Henley in the second and two strokes over Corey Conners in the third position. The course has proved to be a difficult one for professional golfers to crack.

This was a major subject of discussion on Golf Channel as a former PGA Tour pro made a definitive statement regarding his thoughts on the course and the challenges it posed. The course has seen three different leaders on the three days of play.

Brandel Chamblee makes a plea to Jay Monahan and Co.

Chamblee was pretty happy about the proceedings taking place at Bay Hill. The course is a tough spot to score and that is what, according to Chamblee, keeps the game exciting. He commented, “This is proper golf.” The golf commentator also made a plea to Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour, explaining that more courses like this tend to keep the competition exciting. “If they played 20, 25 golf courses a year like this. Now maybe tour players would throw their arms up in the air and say, ‘What are we doing? I don’t want any part of that.'”

At Bay Hill, Shane Lowry started day 3 with an 8 under-par score leading the pack. Wyndham Clark was placed second with a 6 under-par score. Both ended up scoring 4 above par during the third day to drop down the standings. The Bay Hill is indeed unforgiving. “It’s a harder test. This is not tennis without a net. This is proper golf right here and this is the way to organically bring about changes in golf.”

With more obstacles on the course, a good balance of both is ideally what fans find exciting. If it is just a feat of strength, the game would not have so much of a global appeal. That was Brandel Chamblee‘s thought when he added, “You want guys to swing for the fences, cut down the rough, cut down the trees. Guys will swing for the fences. They’ll average 330, 340. You grow the rough, leave the trees where they’re at, and guys will play with some discretion.”

Collin Morikawa on the other hand, scored a brilliant 5 under-par to finish the day on top of the leaderboard. But, the day belonged to Andrew Novak. He started the day at a difficult 3 over par. But he hit 7 under par to finish T7. That’s the beauty of the Bay Hill. The course offers no assurances and forgiveness. This makes the whole matter unpredictable. “If they play golf courses like this more often, we would have a reordering of the top 10, top 20 in the world rankings. The talk and the controversy about how far people hit it,  would just go away,” added Chamblee, claiming that the unpredictability will fit with what the fans want.

Whatever Chamblee is stating also comes with some precedence. Remember the 2025 edition of The Sentry. Yes, the free-scoring event at the Kapalua Plantation Course. The event faced a lot of criticism for being too easy for the players.

The Sentry faces criticism

Hideki Matsuyama scored a 35 under par to take the first victory of the 2025 PGA Tour, which included a Round 3 with 12 birdies. Collin Morikawa also scored an impressive 32 under par to take the second place. You have to keep in mind that the course was designed to be 73 par. All players scored under par except for the unfortunate Davis Riley who withdrew after three rounds.

And fans were not really impressed. One fan had stated, “The Sentry tourney is no fun to watch, yes the scenery is amazing, but it’s a resort course, that gets completely overrun by pros.” The scores do justify the analysis. The course layout in itself does not pose any remarkable challenge to the professionals who are used to tougher and more demanding circuits. “It is pretty much unwatchable on TV. They don’t even miss greens because they always have wedge in their hand. It’s like pitch and putt. Not fun. They need to do something to make it more difficult instead of easier for these guys,” explained another fan.

The Sentry’s problems have become Bay Hill’s blessing. Do you think Chamblee is right in demanding that the PGA Tour focus on improving the setup of the courses and make it difficult to induce more exciting golf?