The Rio Pinar Country Club is a semi-private

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

club located in Rio Pinar, Florida, a suburban subdivision of

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

. The golf course at Rio Pinar was initially designed by Mark Mahannah in 1957, and featured medium-sized greens, strategically placed bunkers and narrow fairways framed by pine and oak trees. Lloyd Clifton was hired by the club in 1995 to give a refresh to Mahannah's then forty-year old design. Clifton put a focus on enlarging the greens and reshaping bunkers while staying true to the original vision for the course.

Florida Citrus Open

Established in 1957, the golf course was the original site of the Florida Citrus Open (now

Arnold Palmer Invitational The Arnold Palmer Invitational is a professional golf tournament 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, Florid ...

) on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

from

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

through

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

. with the initial purse being $110,000, with a $21,000 cut for the winner. The winner's share increased to $40,000 by 1975. In the 13-year span that Rio Pinar hosted the Open, the tournament was a popular stop on the PGA Tour, with winners of the event including

Lee Trevino Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American retired professional golfer who is regarded as one of the greatest players in golf history. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Trevino won six major championships and ...

Hale Irwin Hale S. Irwin (born June 3, 1945) is an American professional golfer. He was one of the world's leading golfers from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. He is one of the few players in history to win three U.S. Opens, becoming the oldest ever U.S. ...

Julius Boros Julius Nicolas Boros (March 3, 1920 – May 28, 1994) was an American professional golfer noted for his effortless-looking swing and strong record on difficult golf courses, particularly at the U.S. Open. Early life and amateur career Born in ...

, and

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Since embarking on a professional career in ...

, all of which are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Palmer's win in the 1971 Citrus Open was his first of four wins during the

1971 PGA Tour The 1971 PGA Tour was the 56th season of the PGA Tour, the main professional golf tour in the United States. It was also the third season since separating from the PGA of America. Dave Hill antitrust lawsuit At the Colonial National Invitatio ...

, which would be his final tournament wins as a solo player. After purchasing the nearby

Bay Hill Club and Lodge The Bay Hill Club & Lodge is a private golf club and hotel in the southeastern United States, located in Bay Hill, Florida, a suburb southwest of Orlando. The first 18 holes at Bay Hill (Champion and Challenger nines) were designed by Dick Wilso ...

in 1974, Palmer lobbied PGA officials to move their Orlando tournament to his course, which they did in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. After the departure of the PGA, Rio Pinar was the site of the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

's Lady Citrus Open from

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

until the tournament moved to the Cypress Creek Country Club in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. The event was dropped from the LPGA schedule altogether after the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

tour season. Plaques commemorating winners of both tournaments and other course record-holders sit just outside the club's pro-shop.

Scorecard

Tour winners

PGA Tour

''Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.''
Sources:Arnold Palmer Invitational - Winners
- at www.golfobserver.com

LPGA Tour

References

External links

* Golf clubs and courses in Greater Orlando Golf in Orlando, Florida Sports venues in Orange County, Florida 1957 establishments in Florida Sports venues completed in 1957 {{Florida-sports-venue-stub Golf clubs and courses in Florida