The Rio Pinar Country Club is a semi-private golf club located in Rio Pinar, Florida, a suburban subdivision of Orlando.
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) on the PGA Tour from 1966 through 1978. with the initial purse being $110,000, with a $21,000 cut for the winner. The winner's share increased to $40,000 by 1975.
In the 13-year span that Rio Pinar hosted the Open, the tournament was a popular stop on the PGA Tour, with winners of the event including Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin, Julius Boros, and Arnold Palmer, all of which are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Palmer's win in the 1971 Citrus Open was his first of four wins during the 1971 PGA Tour, which would be his final tournament wins as a solo player. After purchasing the nearby Bay Hill Club and Lodge in 1974, Palmer lobbied PGA officials to move their Orlando tournament to his course, which they did in 1979.
After the departure of the PGA, Rio Pinar was the site of the LPGA Tour's Lady Citrus Open from 1979 to 1982 until the tournament moved to the Cypress Creek Country Club in 1983. The event was dropped from the LPGA schedule altogether after the 1984 tour season. Plaques commemorating winners of both tournaments and other course record-holders sit just outside the club's pro-shop.
Scorecard
Tour winners
PGA Tour YearPlayerCountryScoreTo parWinner'sshare ($)Purse ($)Florida Citrus Open 1978 Mac McLendon 271 −17 40,000 200,000 1977 Gary Koch 274 −14 40,000 200,000 1976 Hale Irwin 270 −18 40,000 200,000 1975 Lee Trevino 276 −12 40,000 200,000 1974 Jerry Heard (2) 273 −15 30,000 150,000 1973 Buddy Allin 265 −23 30,000 150,000 1972 Jerry Heard 276 −12 30,000 150,000Florida Citrus Invitational 1971 Arnold Palmer 270 −18 30,000 150,000 1970 Bob Lunn 271 −17 30,000 150,000Florida Citrus Open Invitational 1969 Ken Still 278 −10 23,000 115,000 1968 Dan Sikes 274 −14 23,000 115,000 1967 Julius Boros 274 −10 23,000 115,000 1966 Lionel Hebert 279 −5 21,000 110,000 Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records. Sources:Arnold Palmer Invitational - Winners - at www.pgatour.comArnold Palmer Invitational - Winners - at www.golfobserver.com
LPGA Tour YearPlayerCountryScoreTo parWinner'sshare ($)Purse ($)Orlando Lady Classic 1982 Patty Sheehan 209 −7 22,500 150,000Florida Lady Citrus 1981 Beth Daniel 281 −7 15,000 100,000 1980 Donna White 283 −9 15,000 100,000 1979 Jane Blalock 286 −6 15,000 100,000
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