Scottie Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the second time in his career in 2024, blowing the field away with a final-round performance that netted him a closing 66 and a five-shot win.
After winning the tournament in 2022, Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational red cardigan for the first time. He got another on Sunday at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, along with the first-place prize of $4 million.
The champion's red cardigan at the Arnold Palmer Invitational is a unique prize in golf, a sport where a variety of tournament winners are given a sport coat in an homage to the green jacket provided to the winner of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National. However, there's a good reason for the red cardigan, and it has everything to do with the former eponymous host of the tournament.
After Arnold Palmer's passing in September 2016, the 2017 Arnold Palmer Invitational and the trophy ceremony took on a different tone, offering a celebration of the winner but also a nod to the King. Tournament officials decided that they should do away with the winner's blue sportcoat and replace it with the red cardigan, one which recalls Mr. Palmer's fashionable style.
The red alpaca-wool cardigan sweater is similar to the style that Palmer wore and made famous starting in the 1950s. Palmer made the sweaters so popular that he is credited with changing how alpacas were bred, shifting from black-wool alpacas to almost completely white-wool varieties of the animal.
The winner also still receives a trophy, which now features Mr. Palmer's his swing silhouette on top of the trophy.
The red cardigan is a cool touch for a tournament that has prided itself in the years since Arnold Palmer's passing as being one of the toughest tests in the PGA Tour regular season. Bay Hill is set up like it is hosting a major championship, providing a challenging test that requires players to chase Palmer's bold playing style to win.
