Arnold Palmer Invitational
The Arnold Palmer Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played each March at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge, a private golf resort owned since 1974 by Arnold Palmer in Bay Hill, a suburb southwest of Orlando, Florida.
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Bay Hill, Florida |
| Established | 1966 |
| Course(s) | Bay Hill Club and Lodge |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 7,466 yards (6,827 m) |
| Tour(s) | PGA Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | US$20,000,000 |
| Month played | March |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 264 Payne Stewart (1987) |
| To par | −23 Buddy Allin (1973) |
| Current champion | |
| Scottie Scheffler | |
| Location map | |
Bay Hill Location in the United States Bay Hill Location in Florida | |
The event was founded in 1979 as a successor to the Florida Citrus Open Invitational, which debuted in 1966 and was played at Rio Pinar Country Club, east of Orlando, through 1978. Arnold Palmer won the Florida Citrus Open in 1971.
Since 1979, the tournament title has had several different names, most of them including "Bay Hill," but has played under the Palmer name since 2007. On March 21, 2012, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and MasterCard Worldwide announced an extension to MasterCard's "Presented by" sponsorship until the 2016 tournament.
In June 2014, the PGA Tour approved a resolution to grant the winner a three-year exemption, one more than regular Tour events and on par with winners of the World Golf Championships, The Tour Championship, and the Memorial Tournament.
The winner receives a red cardigan sweater in memory of Arnold Palmer, a tradition that began with the 2017 tournament after Palmer's death in 2016.
In 2019, the event was added to the Open Qualifying Series, giving up to three non-exempt players entry into The Open Championship.