Wednesday 15 March 2017 18:00, UK
Henrik Stenson and Danny Willett are looking forward to paying tribute to the late Arnold Palmer as they join a high-quality field at Bay Hill this week.
The final event of the Florida Swing is the first Arnold Palmer Invitational to be held since "The King" passed away on the eve of the Ryder Cup last year.
Open champion Stenson and Willett, who is building up to the defence of his Masters title early next month, join the likes of Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and defending champion Jason Day at the Orlando event, with a number of tributes planned throughout the week to honour the seven-time major winner.
Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders, has been grouped with McIlroy and Brandt Snedeker for the first two rounds of the tournament, which celebrates its 39th staging this week.
"It's a very different week with Arnold not being here with us," said Stenson, who has finished eighth, fifth, second and third on his last four visits to Bay Hill. "He's meant so much to the game of golf, of course, to this being his own tournament on his own golf course.
"So he will be dearly missed and we will do our best to make it a very successful week without him and pay tribute to him to his career and everything that he's done for the game and for everyone involved. It will be a special week, it will be a good week, and I'm happy to be back, of course.
"It's nice to be back home and get a week with family, and get the extra local support. There's no question it was one of the tougher losses that I had in 2015 when I didn't manage to win here, despite having a great opportunity. That's the way it goes sometimes, but I hope I can make up for it and I win this tournament in the near future."
The Swede is also pleased with how his game is shaping up ahead of the first major of the year, earning a top-10 finish at least week's Valspar Championship although he failed to build on a superb, opening 64 in Tampa.
"It's been a good start," he added. "I played a lot of good golf, as you know, last year, and managed to pick it up pretty much where I left it off. I had two good tournaments in the Middle East on the European Tour, although my first WGC outing for the year in Mexico didn't turn out the way we wanted to.
"But I played some pretty good golf last week and managed to get another top-10 in Tampa. So I hope to step it up a notch every week I play and get ready for early April."
Stenson has also confirmed he will join the likes of McIlroy and Justin Rose in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May, his first appearance in the UK since his record-breaking victory at The Open last July.
"It will be great to be back in the UK as The Open Champion and feel that buzz in the lead up to The Open again," said Stenson. "I haven't played in England for a couple of years now, so it will be really nice to be back and see everyone at Wentworth again. It's a familiar hunting ground, it's a great week and I'm really excited to play the golf course again."
Willett, meanwhile, is relishing his return to Augusta National as defending champion, and he revealed that he received a letter of congratulation from Palmer following his memorable maiden major victory last year.
"My first memories of watching Augusta, I always remember Mr Player, Mr Nicklaus and Mr Palmer hitting the ceremonial first tee shots," said the Yorkshireman. "That's going to be something pretty emotional when we get back there in April to not have him there on the first tee with the other guys.
"Having a green jacket at home for 12 months is pretty nice and you do get the letters come through afterwards. They really are pretty cool. They are the kind of things that you don't expect
"Mr Palmer sent us a letter, basically just saying that he watched and how spectacular an event it was. For such a legend of the game to take the time to write you a note, it tells you something about the person that he was."
