Arnold Palmer Invitational


The Arnold Palmer Invitational is a professional golf tournament in Florida 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.
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 a number of 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.
Beginning with the 2017 tournament, the winner receives a red cardigan sweater in memory of Arnold Palmer.
In 2019, the event was added to the Open Qualifying Series, giving up to three non-exempt players entry into The Open Championship.

Invitational status

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of only five tournaments given "invitational" status by the PGA Tour, and consequently it has a reduced field of only 120 players. The other four tournaments with invitational status are the Genesis Open, RBC Heritage, the Fort Worth Invitational, and the Memorial Tournament. Invitational tournaments have smaller fields, and have more freedom than full-field open tournaments in determining which players are eligible to participate in their event, as invitational tournaments are not required to fill their fields using the PGA Tour Priority Ranking System. Furthermore, unlike full-field open tournaments, invitational tournaments do not offer open qualifying.

Field

The field consists of 120 players invited using the following criteria:
  1. Arnold Palmer Invitational winners prior to 2000 and in the last five years
  2. The Players Championship and major championship winners in the last five years
  3. The Tour Championship, World Golf Championships, and Memorial Tournament winners in the past three years
  4. Tournament winners in the past year
  5. Playing member of last named U.S. Ryder Cup team; current PGA Tour members who were playing members on last named European Ryder Cup team, U.S. Presidents Cup team, and International Presidents Cup team
  6. Prior year U.S. Amateur winner
  7. Top 50 Official World Golf Ranking
  8. PGA Tour life members
  9. 18 sponsors exemptions– 2 from Web.com Tour finals, 8 members not otherwise exempt, and 8 unrestricted
  10. Up to two foreign players designated by the commissioner
  11. Top 70 from prior year's FedEx Cup points list
  12. Members in top 125 non-member category whose prior year non-WGC points equal or exceed the 70th position on the prior year FedEx Cup points list
  13. Top 70 from current year's FedEx Cup points list
  14. PGA Section champion/player of the year
  15. Remaining positions filled from current year's FedEx Cup points list
Arnold Palmer had a lifetime invitation.

Course layout

Hole123456789Out101112131415161718InTotal
Yards4612314345903905551994604803,8004004385743702154675112214583,6547,454
Par434545344364454345343672

Source:

Winners

* rain-shortened to 54 holes
Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.
Sources

Multiple winners

Seven men have won this tournament more than once through 2019.