2011 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Master Card

Location: Orlando, Fla. Course: Bay Hill Club and Lodge Dates: Monday Mar 21st – Sunday Mar 27th, 2011 Sanctioned by: US PGA Tour Total Purse: US $ 6,000,000 Winner's Share: US $1,080,000

The 33rd annual Arnold Palmer Invitational tees off at Bay Hill Golf Club in Orlando on March 21st – 27th, 2011. The always popular tournament is one of the highlights of the PGA Tour schedule. Past Arnold Palmer Invitational champions, such as Tiger Woods, David Duval, Vijay Singh, Tom Lehman, and Justin Leonard are expected to participate.

The tournament was renamed the Arnold Palmer Invitational beginning with its 2007 golf tournament. Palmer is only the second golfer to have a PGA Tour event named for him, Byron Nelson was the first. Palmer won 61 PGA Tour titles after turning professional in 1954, including the U.S. Masters in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964, the U.S. Open at Cherry Hills in 1960 and the British Open in 1961 and 1962.

The tournament was first played in 1966, and Lionel Hebert was the winner. Jack Nicklaus finished second that year. Nicklaus was also runnerup in 1982, when he lost a playoff to Tom Kite. Nicklaus never won this tournament. Arnold Palmer has owned the course since the 1970s. The event, which has undergone numerous name changes since 1966, took Palmer's name in 2007. It's now the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. It started as the Florida Citrus Open Invitational, held at the Rio Pinar Golf Club in East Orlando, but Bay Hill took over the name in 1979. Nestle served as the head sponsor of the former Nestle Invitational from 1889-95.

Tiger Woods has owned the field since the turn of the century, winning this tourney five times. Past champions of the event reads like a who's who of golf - Ernie Els (1998), Phil Mickelson (1997), Ben Crenshaw ('93), Fred Couples ('92), Tom Kite ('89), Payne Stewart ('87) and Fuzzy Zoeller ('85) to name a few. These great men of golf are pictured on a wall of fame near the pro shop, which is considered one of the top 100 in the country, according to Golf Shop Operations.

Bay Hill Course Restored

The Bay Hill Club course has just been restored but not changed, basically it was to converted from a par 70 to a par 72, this was a decision made by Arnold Palmer himself after a 3 year trial playing the tournament at par 70. With this addition it made the course lengthened slightly, to 7,381 yards. Also, tees and greens have been changed, with the putting surfaces recontoured and the edges flattened. They have been resurfaced in a new strain of Bermuda grass,as well: Emerald Dwarf. Bunkers have been repositioned throughout and also have been made more visible, with their sculpted faces pulled to the tops of mounds. Flanking bunkers have been replaced by more offset traps, while bunkers around the greens have been drawn in closer to the putting surfaces. Finally, many of the greens feature runoff areas where once rough or bunkers were in play, providing new short-game challenges.

2011 Arnold Palmer Invitational Schedule

Monday, March 21

• Florida Golf Ministry Junior Golfers Breakfast - 7:30 a.m.
  
• Champions for Arnold's Kids Pro-Am tournament - 10:00 a.m shotgun start
• Youth Day - all youth free (17 and under) with paid adult
• Coca-Cola Junior Clinic - 4:30-5:45 p.m. on the Driving Range. PGA TOUR player to be featured.

2010 Results

Ernie Els is now the defending champion for two of the mayor events of the PGA Tour, he was won the Arnold Palmer Invitational this past weekend as well as the World Golf Championship at Doral, 2 weeks ago, and in 2 more weeks at Augusta National he might wear a different color other than the blue one is he wearing today.

Yesterday's victory did not come easy, he had to over come several challenges during the competition rounds, but in both events where Tiger Woods dominated the greens, Els prove to be one of the best professional golfers of all times. The last time Ernie won this event of the PGA Tour was back in 1998, at that time he had also won 2 US Open.

Woods decided to stay away from the Arnold Palmer Invitational as well as the WGC to prepare for the Masters in Augusta National in Georgia. Tiger has won both the CA-WGC and the Arnold Palmer a total of nice times. He was also the last player to win 2 events in Florida, in 2001 before moving to the Masters, where he got his 4th straight mayor. Now it is Ernie Els' turn to try and achieve his 3rd straight victory on the PGA tour and with the biggest national golf event of all.

2011 Arnold Palmer Invitational Results

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