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Arnold Palmer (pictured above) welcomes a strong field to the 2013 Arnold Palmer Invitational this week. Among those competing is Tiger Woods (pictured below), the defending champion from 2012.

Woods will put his title on the line as he tees it up with Ernie Els and Justin Rose for the opening rounds. He also has the chance to reclaim the No. 1 ranking after two wins in his first four PGA Tour events.

Playing directly behind the Woods group will be last year’s runner-up Graeme McDowell (pictured below left), 2012 European Ryder Cup hero Ian Poulter, and 2011 PGA champ Keegan Bradley.

Kevin Streelman, last week’s winner at the Tampa Bay Championship, will be teeing it up with Jason Dufner and Lee Westwood. His win last week meant that he became the 12th consecutive player from the United States to win this year in as many events and the 14th straight dating back to last year. Bubba Watson (pictured above right) is also in the field having just moved into his new home at Isleworth. The home has been completely remodeled and was the former home of Tiger Woods.

The purse for 2013 is $6,200,000 and the winner will receive $1,080,000 as well as 500 FedEx points.

More photos at www.FloridaLeisurePhotography.com and here’s some video:

They are two of the greatest players golf has ever seen; their friendship and rivalry over the years has helped define the popularity of the game, and on Saturday, fans will have the chance to see Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus tee it up once more, as they are paired together for the first round of the PNC Father/Son Challenge at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, Orlando, Grande Lakes in Florida.

Palmer and Nicklaus will headline a star-studded field as 18 legends team up with their sons, daughters, and in Palmer’s case, his grandson, as the popular event returns after a four-year absence. David Duval joins the field with his step-son, Nick Karavites, after Curtis Strange had to withdraw, and Fred Funk, teamed with his son, Taylor, has been added after the withdrawal of Dave Stockton.

“I am delighted the Father/Son Challenge is back,” said Nicklaus, who is partnering with son Gary and thus reuniting the winning team from the 1999 Father/Son. “I always enjoy playing with my sons. It’s always very special when you have the opportunity to do anything with your children, and to be able to compete together in a game that has meant so much to me my entire life is a real treat but also a reflection of a uniquely special quality about golf. Gary is going to have to carry me, because since the last Father/Son, I have lost at least 50 yards. He’s going to have to hit it a long way, get me on the green, and maybe I can putt. But I am sure a lot of fathers will be saying that this weekend.”

“It’s also nice to be able to share the moment with my long-time friend Arnold. My guess is the needle that will be out on Saturday will be a lot longer than our tee shots. We have many cherished memories of the years we competed together, traveled together, the time our wives and families spent together, the laughs we shared, and the friendship we forged. For a couple of old guys, we’ll have a blast Saturday, me playing with my son Gary and Arnold with his grandson Will.”

“The PNC Father/Son Challenge is an event that has meant a lot to me over the years, and I know the other players feel the same way,” said Palmer. “It’s a great opportunity and we’re thankful to PNC for their role in bringing the event back. The chance to team up with our family members, to play in front of the fans, and for me personally to play with Jack again will make this event very special.”

To qualify for the PNC Father/Son Challenge, participants must have won either a major championship or Players Championship in their career. The professional’s partner must not currently hold a Tour card, and while the majority of partners in the history of the event have been the sons of the golf legends, the family-themed tournament is also open to other family members including a player’s daughter, grandson or step-children. The 18-team field competes in a scramble format over 36 holes for the $1 million prize purse and the Willie Park trophy, named after Willie Park, and his son Willie Park Jr., who combined to win the British Open five times.

SATURDAY TEE TIMES AT PNC FATHER/SON CHALLENGE
8:30 a.m. Lee Janzen, Connor Janzen Sandy Lyle, James Lyle
8:41 a.m. Steve Elkington, Sam Elkington Nick Faldo, Matthew Faldo
8:52 a.m. David Duval, Nick Karavites Fuzzy Zoeller, Gretchen Zoeller
9:03 a.m. Mark O’Meara, Shaun O’Meara Bernhard Langer, Christina Langer
9:14 a.m. Lanny Wadkins, Tucker Wadkins Davis Love III, Dru Love
9:25 a.m. Fred Funk, Taylor Funk Larry Nelson, Josh Nelson
9:36 a.m. Raymond Floyd, Robert Floyd Vijay Singh, Qass Singh
9:47 a.m. Hale Irwin, Steve Irwin Lee Trevino, Daniel Trevino
9:58 a.m. Jack Nicklaus, Gary Nicklaus Arnold Palmer, Will Wears

Fans are able to purchase tickets, priced at $15 per day or $45 for a full week tournament pass, online by visiting www.pncfathersonchallenge.com, or by calling 407-876-7004.

It was one of the more extraordinary days that Arnold Palmer has ever seen at his event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, as overnight two shot leader Martin Laird went from a shocking collapse to unlikely champion at Bay Hill this afternoon.

Three shots behind with just four holes to play, Laird managed to make birdies and two clutch pars to close with a 3-over 75 and become the first European winner in the 33-year history of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Laird’s final round 75 became the highest final round ever by a Bay Hill champion.  Laird still needed some help from Steve Marino, who lost the lead with a double bogey from a plugged lie in the bunker on the par-3 17th and although Marino made birdie on the 18th for a 72, Laird sealed the victory when he two-putted for par from 90 feet.

It was an unlikely victory for Laird as after 11 holes he was 5 shots over but he showed he was made of stern stuff as he impressively made back-to-back birdies to reclaim the lead, then sank a five-foot par putt at 17 and then nailed a four-foot par putt at 18 to finish 72 holes on eight-under par 280.

“I’ve had perserverance all week and it paid off,” Laird said.

Laird completed a stellar day for Scottish golfers after countryman Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open winner, won the European Tour’s Andalucian Open earlier in the day to end his nine-year victory drought. The day was made complete for Laird as he got to meet the “King of Golf”, Arnold Palmer at the presentation ceremony for the first time… that’s some way to arrange a first time meeting!

Laird is now $1.08 million richer and will now make his Masters debut at the year’s first major championship in two weeks time. Congrats!

Well it’s here again… the 2010 Masters. It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year as we get to see the  gorgeous Augusta National Golf Club course again. This course is always kept in pristine condition and with hole names such as Pink Dogwood, Flowering Peach, Flowering Crab Apple, Yellow Jasmine, Tea Olive and Redbud you just know you’re in for an attack on the visual senses as this colorful feast brings such a visual array of bloom and great golf together.

The Masters Tournament is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, it is the first of the majors to be played each year. Unlike the other major championships, the Masters is unique in that it is held each year at the same location, Augusta National Golf Club, a private golf club in the city of August, Georgia.

The Masters was started by Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones who designed Augusta National with course architect Alister MacKenzie.  The Masters is also remarkable in that the field of players is smaller than those of the other major championships because it is an invitational event, entry being controlled by the Augusta National Golf Club.

The tournament has a number of traditions. A green jacket is awarded to the winner of each tournament, which must be returned to the clubhouse after a year. The Champions dinner, inaugurated by Ben Hogan, is held on the Tuesday before each tournament, and is only open to past champions and certain board members of the Augusta National Golf Club.

Also, another tradition that began in 1963 , legendary golfers, usually past champions, have hit an honorary tee shot on the morning of the first round. Such golfers have included Sam Snead, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer, who has hit the tee shot the last two years.

Since 1960, a semi-social Par 3 Contest, on a par-3 course on Augusta National’s grounds, has been played on the day before the first round of each Masters Tournament… that would mean today!  The winner of this event usually looks upon it as bad luck as the winner of the Par 3 ever has never gone on to win the main championship event.

Jack Nicklaus has won more Masters Tournaments than any other golfer, winning six times between 1963 and 1986. Nicklaus has never won the Par-3 event though… perhaps he knew something others didn’t? Other multiple winners of the Masters include Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, with four each. Gary Player, from South Africa, was the first non-American player to win the tournament in 1961.

Since Tiger Woods convincingly walked away with the title in 1997 at 18 under, the tournament organizers have extended the length and layout of the original course in order to meet developments in equipment technology not to mention player skill. This years event has heightened interest thanks to the Tiger scandal and it will interesting to see how he performs on his first event back since the revelations in regard to his sex life came to the fore last Thanksgiving.

Whatever the outcome, we can all be assured of a great tournament.

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

Golf in Florida

By Nigel G. Worrall

The sunny state of Florida with its lush green beautiful landscaped golf courses is one of the hottest sporting destinations in USA. Apart from its exotic tourist spots, Florida draws thousands of visitors every year simply because of the great golf experiences there are to be had. Golf in Florida is simply outstanding and here you can strike the balance between quality family time as well as enjoying your favorite pastime.

One of the highlights of a golf trip to Florida is the ability to rent a vacation villa or vacation home which is not only convenient but also economical. The facilities a vacation villa or home has to offer are quite incomparable with those which hotels offer. In a hotel you may feel confined to your room and other members of your party may be spread out on different floors with no common area for you all to have some privacy; most vacation homes have private gardens and swimming pools attached which allow you privacy along with all the luxuries. Fully equipped kitchens complete with a pantry with your favorite food items, gaming rooms & LCD televisions with DVD libraries are just a few of their features. There is no compromise on services since most provide housekeeping, garden and pool staff and even an on request driver. All of this is available at great rates and often very much lower than compared to the cost of staying at a hotel and eating out on a daily basis. There are many options available to you throughout Florida and some of the best are located near golf clubs and provide a wholesome family vacation while enabling you to play some great golf in Florida!

Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Invitational

Of course, Florida is home to some of the best PGA golf tournaments and you will definitely be spoilt for choice heading out for a round of golf in Florida. Since professionals know the best, most of the golf courses in Central Florida have been designed by them to provide the golf enthusiast a true to life experience. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson have each designed an 18-hole course at The Reunion Resort and Club of Orlando for instance. The main golf course, designed by Arnold Palmer, is simply breathtaking with a lavish landscape of natural preserve woods, water bodies and palm trees.
A rare opportunity to play one of the world’s most highly acclaimed layouts is available at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill club and this is the setting for The Bay Hill Invitational PGA tour event every year. This grand event sees many of the world’s greatest players compete against each other. Presented by MasterCard, the event in 2010 will be held between March 25 and March 28 and tickets are available online as well as at the Club. http://www.arnoldpalmerinvitational.com/

Disney’s World of Golf

Walt Disney World Resorts in Orlando is another popular golf facility and includes some of the finest PGA Tour Courses amongst its 6 golfing facilities. With perfect green lawns, hazardous obstacles and breathtaking landscapes there is no dearth of Disney’s magic at any of these courses. Even the golf carts here are up to date with technologies such as GPS tracking, making golf in Florida a truly modern day experience.

Eagle Pines is the popular Disney golf course designed by Pete Dye sprawled across 6,772 yards and boasts of many water hazards and Osprey Ridge, designed by Thomas Fazio is a one of Florida’s finest golf course spread across 7,101 yards.

Disney is also home to the PGA TOUR FUNAI Classic which is hosted on the Palm and Magnolia golf courses. The Palm is a great golf course for the intermediate to advanced player while the Magnolia, which derives its name from the various Magnolia trees spotted across the course, is home to the final rounds of the FUNAI CLASSIC. Slated to be held between Nov 11 and Nov 14 in 2010, tickets will be available online and also from Walt Disney World Resorts.

While most of Disney’s courses are designed keeping accomplished players in mind; families can still enjoy their part of the action at Disney’s Oak Trail which is a relaxing nine-hole course that every member of the family can enjoy.

Florida has many varied options for enjoying a round of golf and you’ll soon feel that golf in the Sunshine State is not just a sport, but truly a passion. It’s also the perfect place for a fabulous family vacation or a golf trip with your pals.

Every week I send out an email newsletter to a bunch of other small business owners and this week’s article has brought me a big reaction. I thought I’d share it with you. If you like it or have a viewpoint …or if you’d like to see more just let me know:

More Lessons from the Dumb Car Industry…

Last week we talked about the cheapest car on earth the Tata Nino and why being cheap isn’t a good business strategy and this week we’re going to stay on a similar theme exploring more reasons why the car industry is on its knees and the lessons we can all learn.

Yesterday it was announced that Rick Wagoner, chief executive of General Motors, was ordered to step down by US President Barack Obama and that he will leave immediately. This comes on the back of GM and fellow auto maker Chrysler having already received $17.4 billion in bail outs and now both are back asking for more. In GM’s case $16.7 billion more. Incredible.

Obama has apparently told both manufacturers that their turnaround plans are unrealistic and he wants to see the car industry “much more lean, mean and competitive than it currently is”. 

Well Obama if you really want to understand why these companies are failing you need do no more than spend an hour in front of your TV. I was feeling unwell yesterday so I spent most of the day in bed watching the golf at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill club. Naturally every so often the action was interrupted as we went to a commercial break and it was during the commercial breaks that I really began to understand where the car giants have got it so horribly wrong.

Let me give you an idea; in their ads Ford focused on 0% financing over 72 months for “well qualified” applicants, Chrysler/Jeep gave us “employee pricing”, Acura gave us “what happens in a collision and why our cars are so strong” and then we had the local dealers with their cringe worthy kids enticing us with “See ya in a Kia”, “The other dealers won’t but we will” not to mention the earth shattering slogans “great choices, great service” and “the way car buying should be”.

Brilliant. Makes you want to rush out and buy a vehicle now doesn’t it?

Why is it that the whole industry is so pathetically dumb? Why is it that the people who create this garbage think this is what the driving public wants?

I don’t know about you but when I’m considering getting a new car I want to have an experience. I rarely go into a car showroom any more simply because I know full well how they are going to try to sell me and while I appreciate that they have a system, it’s just out of date with the real world and it doesn’t deliver what I need.

I don’t want to be a prospect or an “UP” as they call us. . I want to be treated as if I’m special and I want to be treated like a human being who might just want to buy a car based on how it makes me feel. I want to see ad campaigns that appeal to the heart and that engage my senses. Currently none of the car makers deliver that with their crummy ads and that’s “a” if not “the” major reason they are in trouble today.

Instead of asking themselves “How can we make it easier, simpler and more fun to do business with us?” these morons want even more public money to go about repeating the same mistakes they have already made.

The real point though is how does anyone win when they’re playing the same game? If everybody is selling the same thing, what’s the tie breaker?

Of all the car commercials I saw yesterday, Lexus came the closest to making me feel I might want to learn more about driving their vehicle. It was a clumsy advert which showed the viewer how a car was built and while it contained the somewhat nauseating slogan “reinventing the car” it at least gave me an idea of what it might feel like to be sitting behind the wheel.

There are real lessons in this for all of us and applying them to our businesses is what we must consider. If you can make a customer feel, smell, taste, see and touch what you have to sell then you can make a connection. And this is the real point…I don’t care about 0% financing, employee discounts, what’s going to happen to me in a crash (I ask you…is this realy the way to sell a car…based on how it’s going to make me feel in a crash!), or about “great choices, great service” until I can imagine myself driving the vehicle, i.e., connected to it.

Oh how I yearn for the days when cars were sold by touching the human emotions. Ads like “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this Rolls Royce comes from the electric clock” that was created in the 60’s by the Ogilvy & Mather agency. This is the stuff that makes you feel, smell, taste and imagine what it would be like to drive such a vehicle and that’s ultimately what makes people decide to make a purchase.

So, how are you applying this to your business? Are you playing the same game as everyone else in your industry or are you going to be different and make real connections with your customers? The choice is yours but remember, in small business the Government doesn’t bail you out.

Until next week

Nigel

About Nigel Worrall:
Nigel Worrall is President / CEO of Florida Leisure Vacation Homes. He is also a Past President of Central Florida Property Manager’s Association, now called Central Florida Vacation Rental Manager’s Association, a National Real Estate Investment Coach with Real Mentor, and the President / CEO of Property Management Mastery, LLC., the leading coaching institute for vacation rental managers. Nigel has also served as President of Sunset Lakes HOA and is the current President of Cumbrian Lakes HOA. He can be contacted by email : nigel@floridaleisure.com

Orlando Golf: Just in case we’d forgotten just how good Tiger Woods is, he again reminded us of what the game had missed during his 8 month layoff for knee surgery. A magnificent putt at the 18th green on the 72nd hole won the championship for Woods yet again.

It was a repeat performance from 2008 when he rolled in a 25 foot putt but this year it was just 16 feet that wrecked the hopes of overnight leader Sean O’Hair. O’Hair was 5 shots clear of Woods at the start of the day but after pulling the deficit back to 3 shots in the first 3 holes things rocked back and forth until Woods finally caught his man. An error at the 16th when O’Hair put his ball in the water saw Woods go 1 up but then it was Woods turn to turn villain as he promptly bogeyed the 17th. All square going up the last then…but then Tiger turned on his magic and rolled in that putt.

So that’s 6 victories for Tiger at Arnold Palmer’s Invitational at Bay Hill. An amazing performance and yet another reason why you have to visit Orlando if you love golf. Orlando is pretty much the home of golf thesedays and when you get performances like this in two consecutive years from Woods, you begin to understand that this is the place to play and to practise.

Brilliant stuff again Tiger…the Masters is rolling around soon. Can’t wait.

Great news this week…Tiger’s coming back! He’s due to make his comeback at the Accenture Match Play Championship that starts on 25th February and this is nothing but good news for golf lovers.

Golf has been pretty boring since he’s been away and it just goes to show what an impact he’s had on the game. In my opinion he’s simply the greatest to have played the game…and that’s saying something given some that have gone before him.

Sure some will argue about Jack Nicklaus being the best because of his 18 major’s but it’s only a matter of time before Tiger sets a new benchmark in my opinion. Tiger is currently on 14 major’s but he’s only been playing the game for 13 years whereas Jack took 25 years to amass his tally. Further, if you look at the most PGA wins, then Tiger is just 8 wins behind Jack overall. Of course, this is one subject we can argue about for a good few hours but in my opinion it has to be Tiger based on one simple fact… he’s had tougher competition than anyone before.

Previously, there were a few guys who’d challenge for titles. People like Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Gary Player would be battling for glory with Jack but if you compare those times to today you’ll immediately understand that any of the top 125 could win an event. Players today are fitter than before and simply have more game.

It’s nice to welcome back Tiger as I’m sure that even his competitors welcome his return because it will mean much more to them if they win when he is in the field. I’m also sure that the public’s enthusiasm will return as well…after all what’s a tournament if the best player in the world isn’t there?