Arnold Palmer Invitational Begins

Yesterday was Pro-Am day at the final leg of the Florida swing for the PGA and the Arnold Palmer Bay Hill Invitational. Today the real action begins and this year we are going to get a new champion as the winner of the last two years, Tiger Woods, is missing.

This isn’t the only change to be seen at this famous Orlando course this year as every single one of the 18 holes at Bay Hill has been altered in some way or another over the past year.

It’s going to be hard to pick a winner from such an exceptional field and players like Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Ernie Els, Robert Allenby, Retief Goosen and Steve Stricker are bound to both entertain and be up there close to challenging for the title. That said, we shouldn’t rule out a challenge from some of the younger guys who have put on impressive performances already this year. Though only seven players in their 20s won PGA Tour events in all of 2009, already five twenty-somethings have won this season: Bill Haas, Dustin Johnson, Hunter Mahan, Camilo Villegas and Derek Lamely (Puerto Rico) through 12 events and you should also keep an eye on last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational runner-up  Sean O’Hair.

Arnold Palmer Pro-Am 2010

Keeping 80 year old  Arnold Palmer happy will be his grandson, Sam Saunders, will make his second appearance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Saunders, 22, was a fresh-faced amateur the first time around but now he’s a young professional having turned pro last fall and has played in four PGA Tour events to date, earning money in two of them. His best showing was a tie for 17th at the Honda Classic.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational’s trophy is one of the most coveted on the PGA Tour. Not only is there a $6,000,000 purse with $1,080,000 going to the winner but there’s another important prize at stake at Bay Hill – a spot in the Masters.

Any player who is not already exempt for the Masters can earn an invitation with a victory either at the Arnold Palmer Invitational or the following week’s Shell Houston Open. The top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking after the Arnold Palmer Invitational also earn Masters invitations so there’s much to play for and you can expect the competition to be intense.

I spent some time at the pro-am yesterday afternoon and enjoyed seeing some great golf and meeting with a few of today’s top golf pro’s … if you are in the Orlando area over the next four days you really should make the effort to go… after all, it’s not every weekend that a PGA golf tournament visits town.

I also bumped into the gorgeous Kelly Tilghman, host of Golf Channel’s PGA TOUR coverage, fresh from her recent interview with Tiger Woods as she spent a few moments with Arnold Palmer…

Arnold Palmer & Kelly Tilghman

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