Tiger Woods poses with the trophy after winning the 2008 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. | Photo by Chris Condon/PGA Tour
The PGA Tour staged 54 official events during the 2022-23 season. With the year drawing to a close, which event is your favorite?
The PGA Tour is essentially a traveling circus.
It traverses to a different city each week, partners with various organizations, and each tournament has a distinct feature that makes it unique.
Take the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, for instance, which is one of my favorite events on the PGA Tour calendar.
The goal of the tournament is to not only crown a worthwhile champion, but also champion Shriners Hospitals for Children. This organization provides medical assistance to youths in need all over North America.
Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
Lexi Thompson smiles with a young fan after her round at the 2023 Shriners Children’s Open.
The tournament also allows professional golfers to interact with some Shriners patients and ambassadors, which Lexi Thompson beautifully did during her PGA Tour debut this past weekend. That undoubtedly helped raise awareness—and much-needed capital—for children in need.
But another event that has always stuck out to me is the Arnold Palmer Invitational, held at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida, each March.
Arnold Palmer did more for the PGA Tour and the game of golf than anyone in the history of the sport not named Tiger Woods.
He brought the game to the masses and to television, and he helped establish the Golf Channel in the mid-nineties. He is a big reason why tour events now partner with large corporations and charities all over America.
His gentlemanly presence was also infectious.
Nevertheless, the tournament at Arnie’s place each year takes place roughly one month before the Masters—in the middle of the Florida swing.
It was also a marquee stop during Tiger’s heyday, as the 15-time major champion won at Bay Hill an astonishing eight times.
What is your favorite PGA Tour event, and why? Let us know in the comments below.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
