History of The Arnold Palmer Invitational & Bay Hill
The Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of the preeminent tournaments on the PGA Tour’s schedule each year. As an Invitational, the API is on of the PGA Tour's Signature Events with a bloated purse that attracts the tour’s top talent to compete for the coveted title and to pay respect to the late great man they called The King.
In 2023, the event shared the third-highest purse on the PGA Tour at $20 million with a $3.6 million winner’s share. Quite the difference from the first event, which was then named the Florida Citrus Open Invitational, in 1966 when Lionel Hebert won $21,000 as the top prize.
The annual March tournament is part of the PGA Tour's “Florida swing” and bears the name of one of the greatest to ever pick up a golf club. Arnold Palmer’s name has been attached to the event since 2007, but the tournament has been contested since 1966. Some of the biggest names in golf, including Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino, and Fred Couples, have won the event, which is held at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge.
The Biggest Purses On the PGA Tour
Bay Hill Club & Lodge
Bay Hill has 27 holes, but the tournament 18 is the layout designed by Wilson. It includes the Challenger and Champion nines, which play 7,409 yards with a 76.4 rating and 138 slope (par-72). No hole on the course is more popular than the finishing hole, a par-4 that doglegs to the right, forcing players to navigate water along the right-hand side. It has been the scene of some dramatic finishes, including 2008 and 2009 victories from Tiger Woods.
Bay Hill's par-5 sixth hole is another show-stopper. It's a risk-reward shot off the tee, where players can choose how much water they're comfortable carrying. Bite off too much, and you're dropping all the way back on the tee. Bryson DeChambeau riled up the crowd with a 370-yard bomb that left him just 70 yards into the par-5.
Located in Orlando, Florida, Bay Hill has been the host course of the API since 1979, but it wasn’t designed by Palmer. While Arnie had a decorated post-playing career as a golf architect, Bay Hill was put together by Dick Wilson who also designed courses such as Aronimink and Doral.
Palmer purchased Bay Hill in 1974. It’s said that he fell in love with the property when he first visited it for an exhibition in 1965 and was attracted to the privacy of the club. Palmer, calling Orlando his home, catapulted the area into one of the premier golf destination cities in the U.S. He owned Bay Hill until he passed away in 2016 and today his daughter and son-in-law Amy & Roy Saunders own the club.
You won't snag a tee time at Bay Hill Club & Lodge online, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play this tremendous layout. If you stay on the property, you can tee it up for around $200-$250, depending on the time of year. It’s well worth having the opportunity to frolic the same fairways as legends have.
The property is also home to the Arnold Palmer Academy at Bay Hill, widely considered one of the best golf academies in all of Florida.
Arnold Palmer Invitational Cut Line
The cut line at the Arnold Palmer Invitational tends to hover a few strokes over par, with the main factor being the wind and rain conditions that roll through Orlando in rounds one and two. Like most courses, Bay Hill plays significantly harder when the wind in blowing, causing higher scores. Over the past 12 years, the cut line has been at +3 five times. The outlier was when perfect scoring conditions in 2015 brought the cut line to -2.
| Year | Cut (Total) | Player to Make Cut |
| 2023 | +2 (146) | 72 |
| 2022 | +3 (147) | 78 |
| 2021 | +2 (146) | 73 |
| 2020 | +3 (147) | 69 |
| 2019 | +1 (145) | 70 |
| 2018 | +1 145 | 77 |
| 2017 | +3 (147) | 72 |
| 2016 | E (144) | 76 |
| 2015 | -2 (142) | 70 |
| 2014 | +2 (146) | 77 |
| 2013 | +3 (147) | 78 |
| 2012 | +3 (147) | 75 |
Arnold Palmer Invitational History and Results
Although it is the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the official name of the event is the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. The credit card company has been the presenting sponsor since 2004.
Other names the tournament has operated under include the Florida Citrus Open Invitational, Florida Citrus Invitational, Bay Hill Citrus Classic, Bay Hill Classic, Hertz Bay Hill Classic, Nestle Invitational, and the Bay Hill Invitational.
The aggregate scoring record belongs to Payne Stewart with a 264 in 1987.
The scoring record to par is -23 by Buddy Allin in 1973.
Tiger Woods’ winning score of -19 in 2003 cleared the field by a record 11 stroke. Woods has won the event a record eight times.
Joining Tiger, Matt Every (2014-15) and Loren Roberts (1994-95) are the only players to win multiple years in a row. Joining Woods, Every, and Roberts, there are four other players who have won the Arnold Palmer Invitational multiple times. Ernie Els (2), Tom Kite (2), Jerry Heard (2), and Gary Koch (2).
Arnold Palmer’s office at Bay Hill is left in the same condition as when he passed and it is a must-visit for players new to competing in the tournament.
The API has only been decided in a playoff seven times, and not since 1999 when Tim Herron defeated Tom Lehman. In 1998, John Daly delivered an epic final round where he hit six balls into the water on the sixth hole, and carded an 18 on that hole.
Tom Kite’s chipping in to win in a playoff in 1982, defeating Jack Nicklaus, is another of the tournament's most memorable moments.
| Year | Winner | Score | Purse | Winner's Share |
| 2023 | Kurt Kitayama | -9 (279) | $20,000,000 | $3,600,000 |
| 2022 | Scottie Scheffler | -5 (283) | $12,000,000 | $2,160,000 |
| 2021 | Bryson DeChambeau | -11 (277) | $9,300,000 | $1,674,000 |
| 2020 | Tyrrell Hatton | -4 (284) | $9,300,000 | $1,674,000 |
| 2019 | Francesco Molinari | -12 (276) | $9,100,000 | $1,638,000 |
| 2018 | Rory McIlroy | -18 (270) | $8,900,000 | $1,602,000 |
| 2017 | Marc Leishman | -11 (277) | $8,700,000 | $1,566,000 |
| 2016 | Jason Day | -17 (271) | $6,300,000 | $1,134,000 |
| 2015 | Matt Every | -19 (269) | $6,300,000 | $1,134,000 |
| 2014 | Matt Every | -13 (275) | $6,200,000 | $1,116,000 |
| 2013 | Tiger Woods | -13 (275) | $6,200,000 | $1,116,000 |
| 2012 | Tiger Woods | -13 (275) | $6,000,000 | $1,080,000 |
| 2011 | Martin Laird | -8 (280) | $6,000,000 | $1,080,000 |
| 2010 | Ernie Els | -11 (277) | $6,000,000 | $1,080,000 |
| 2009 | Tiger Woods | -5 (275) | $6,000,000 | $1,080,000 |
| 2008 | Tiger Woods | -10 (270) | $5,800,000 | $1,044,000 |
| 2007 | Vijay Singh | -8 (272) | $5,500,000 | $990,000 |
| 2006 | Rod Pampling | -14 (274) | $5,500,000 | $990,000 |
| 2005 | Kenny Perry | -12 (276) | $5,000,000 | $900,000 |
| 2004 | Chad Campbell | -18 (270) | $5,000,000 | $900,000 |
| 2003 | Tiger Woods | -19 (269) | $4,500,000 | $810,000 |
| 2002 | Tiger Woods | -13 (275) | $4,000,000 | $720,000 |
| 2001 | Tiger Woods | -15 (273) | $3,500,000 | $630,000 |
| 2000 | Tiger Woods | -18 (270) | $3,000,000 | $540,000 |
| 1999 | Tim Herron | -14 (274) | $2,500,000 | $450,000 |
| 1998 | Ernie Els | -14 (274) | $2,000,000 | $360,000 |
| 1997 | Phil Mickelson | -16 (272) | $1,500,000 | $270,000 |
| 1996 | Paul Goydos | -13 (275) | $1,200,000 | $216,000 |
| 1995 | Loren Roberts | -16 (272) | $1,200,000 | $216,000 |
| 1994 | Loren Roberts | -13 (275) | $1,200,000 | $216,000 |
| 1993 | Ben Crenshaw | -8 (280) | $1,000,000 | $180,000 |
| 1992 | Fred Couples | -19 (269) | $1,000,000 | $180,000 |
| 1991 | Andrew Magee | -13 (203) | $1,000,000 | $180,000 |
| 1990 | Robert Gamez | -14 (274) | $900,000 | $162,000 |
| 1989 | Tom Kite | -6 (278) | $800,000 | $144,000 |
| 1988 | Paul Azinger | -13 (271) | $750,000 | $135,000 |
| 1987 | Payne Stewart | -20 (264) | $600,000 | $108,000 |
| 1986 | Dan Forsman | -11 (202) | $500,000 | $90,000 |
| 1985 | Fuzzy Zoeller | -9 (275) | $500,000 | $90,000 |
| 1984 | Gary Koch | -12 (272) | $400,000 | $72,000 |
| 1983 | Mike Nicolette | -1 (283) | $350,000 | $63,000 |
| 1982 | Tom Kite | -6 (278) | $300,000 | $54,000 |
| 1981 | Andy Bean | -18 (266) | $300,000 | $54,000 |
| 1980 | Dave Eichelberger | -5 (279) | $300,000 | $54,000 |
| 1979 | Bob Byman | -6 (278) | $250,000 | $45,000 |
| 1978 | Mac McLendon | -17 (271) | $200,000 | $40,000 |
| 1977 | Gary Koch | -14 (274) | $200,000 | $40,000 |
| 1976 | Hale Irwin | -18 (270) | $200,000 | $40,000 |
| 1975 | Lee Trevino | -12 (276) | $200,000 | $40,000 |
| 1974 | Jerry Heard | -15 (273) | $150,000 | $30,000 |
| 1973 | Buddy Allin | -23 (265) | $150,000 | $30,000 |
| 1972 | Jerry Heard | -12 (276) | $150,000 | $30,000 |
| 1971 | Arnold Palmer | -18 (270 | $150,000 | $30,000 |
| 1970 | Bob Lunn | -17 (271) | $150,000 | $30,000 |
| 1969 | Ken Still | -17 (271) | $115,000 | $23,000 |
| 1968 | Dan Sikes | -14 (274 | $115,000 | $23,000 |
| 1967 | Julius Boros | -10 (274) | $115,000 | $23,000 |
| 1966 | Lionel Hebert | -5 (279) | 110,000 | 21,000 |