Orlando's Arnold Palmer Invitational has officially secured a place in the PGA Tour's new Championship Series, the top tier of professional golf's restructured competitive calendar set to launch in 2028. The announcement was formalized on July 30, confirming what many in golf circles had long expected for one of the tour's most storied events.
The API joins the Travelers Championship, a new Sompo Holdings-sponsored tournament, and The Sentry — which is relocating from Kapalua, Hawaii to Torrey Pines in Southern California — as confirmed Championship Series events. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp first outlined the sweeping structural overhaul in June, when he revealed the Championship Series would replace the current signature-event model. The API's three consecutive seasons holding signature-event status helped position Bay Hill as a natural cornerstone of the new format.
The Championship Series will feature roughly 23 to 24 events running from February through August, with fields expanding to 120 players — up from the approximately 70-player fields at current signature events. Track One events, which include the approximately 15 non-major, non-playoff Championship Series stops, will carry purses of at least $20 million. A separate Challenger Series, or Track Two, will offer fields of 144 players and purses of at least $4 million, giving rising players and those trying to regain top-tier status a clear pathway.
In the meantime, the API will remain a signature event in 2027, shifting its dates to March 18–21, immediately following the Players Championship. That scheduling move, combined with the Cadillac Championship returning to Trump National Doral the week before the Players, could create three consecutive weeks of marquee Florida competition if the order holds into 2028. Akshay Bhatia won the most recent API title in a sudden-death playoff over Daniel Berger in March 2026.
This story was originally reported by Edgar Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel.
