The Royal Poinciana Invitational was a

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

tournament on the

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

in 1961 and 1962. It was played at Palm Beach Golf Club in

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

, a Dick Wilson and Joe Lee-designed Par-3 course. The tournament was one of the first in professional golf featuring a ''Battle of the Sexes'' concept, with a Par 3 course that neutralised power and emphasised precision golf. In 1961, the field consisted of 24 men and women, both amateurs and professionals. The tournament was 54 holes and won by

Louise Suggs Mae Louise Suggs (September 7, 1923 – August 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf. Amateur career Born in Atlanta, Suggs had a very successful amateur career, beginning ...

by one stroke over local pro Dub Pagan. Sam Snead was third, two shots behind. In 1962, the ''Battle of the Sexes'' concept was changed to 14 LPGA professionals versus one man,

PGA of America The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA of America) is an American organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916. Consisting of nearly 29,000 men and women members, the PGA of America's undertaking is to establish ...

superstar

Sam Snead Samuel Jackson Snead (pronounced English_phonology">sni:d.html" ;"title="English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d">English_phonology.html" ;"title="nowiki/>English phonology">sni:d May 27, 1912 – May 23, 2002) was an ...

(the modern touring professional division would not happen until 1968). The tournament was played over 72 holes. Snead won by five strokes over future Hall-of-Famer

Mickey Wright Mary Kathryn "Mickey" Wright (February 14, 1935 – February 17, 2020) was an American professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. She became a member of the tour in 1955 and won 82 LPGA Tour career events including 13 major champions ...

, making him the only man to win an official LPGA Tour event. Both won 82 tournaments in their primary tours during their careers, making the Snead-Wright battle unique in that it was an official tournament. Professional golf's ''Battle of the Sexes'' concept has been tried in mostly exhibition events, but would not return until the 2019

Jordan Mixed Open The Jordan Mixed Open presented by Ayla is a professional golf tournament. The event included players from the Challenge Tour, the European Senior Tour and the Ladies European Tour. The event was first held in April 2019 at Ayla Golf Club, Aqaba, ...

presented by Ayla, when the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History The ...

, the

European Senior Tour The Legends Tour is the current branding of the European Senior Tour, a professional tour for male golfers aged 50 and over, run by the PGA European Tour. The tour was branded as the Staysure Tour for the 2018 and 2019 seasons after UK-based insur ...

and the

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

participated in an official event for all three tours. The course was purchased by the city of Palm Beach in 1973, and redesigned by PGA Tour legend

Raymond Floyd Raymond Loran Floyd (born September 4, 1942) is an American retired golfer who has won numerous tournaments on both the PGA Tour and Senior PGA Tour, including four majors and four senior majors. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame ...

in 2009.

Winners

;Royal Poinciana Plaza Invitational *1962

(overall)

(top woman) ;Royal Poinciana Invitational *1961

References

Former LPGA Tour events Golf in Florida 1961 establishments in Florida 1962 disestablishments in Florida Recurring sporting events established in 1961 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1962 Women's sports in Florida {{Florida-sport-stub