The amateur golf year starts in St. Petersburg, Fla. Every January since 1927, the New Year's Invitational at St. Petersburg Country Club has been the first major on the amateur calendar. The tournament has never missed a year, through the Depression, World War II or COVID-19. In 2026 it reached its 100th playing.
The history is a good story, but it isn't the main reason college players and top juniors now apply. For the past two years, the winner has left St. Petersburg with a start in the LECOM Suncoast Classic, the Korn Ferry Tour's only Florida stop. The 101st New Year's Invitational is set for Jan. 7-9, 2027. It will be the third year of the exemption.
AmateurGolf.com founder Pete Wlodkowski spoke with Richard Hope, the tournament's longtime chairman, about how the event works today, who gets in and what the Korn Ferry start means to its champions. Listen to the full conversation below. The rest of this page covers what a player or coach needs to know.
Listen: Richard Hope on the AmateurGolf.com Podcast
2027 at a glance
- Dates: Thursday-Saturday, Jan. 7-9, 2027. Registration and practice are Wednesday, Jan. 6.
- Venue: St. Petersburg Country Club, St. Petersburg, Fla. The Herbert Strong design was fully renovated in 2024.
- Format: 54 holes of stroke play from the championship tees, with no cut.
- Field: 92 players. Entries are reviewed as they come in, based on WAGR ranking and playing record.
- Entry fee: $475 plus tax. It covers all tournament rounds, a practice round, carts, daily buffet breakfasts, on-course refreshments and post-round snacks.
- The prize: The champion gets an exemption into the Korn Ferry Tour's LECOM Suncoast Classic in April 2027. Crystal awards go to the champion and the low mid-amateur (25 and over).
- Enter: Registration on Golf Genius · Championship information
The prize: a Korn Ferry Tour start
Plenty of amateur events offer a trophy and a spot in history. Very few offer a start in a professional event with a $1 million purse and PGA Tour cards on the line. The New Year's Invitational does.
The partnership with the LECOM Suncoast Classic began with the 2025 champion. The Korn Ferry Tour event is held each spring at Lakewood National Golf Club in Lakewood Ranch, about 45 minutes south of St. Petersburg across the Sunshine Skyway. It is the tour's only Florida stop. It brings 156 professionals to Lakewood National's Arnold Palmer-designed Commander Course, a par-71 layout that plays about 7,133 yards, for a $1 million purse. LECOM and Lakewood National extended their agreement in April 2026, so the event stays at Lakewood National for 2027 and beyond.
Hope said the exemption came about through St. Petersburg members. One member with connections to the Suncoast Classic's management brought the idea to the tournament. The two sides reached an agreement, and other members helped with the financial arrangements. "We're going to be again this year, again in April, offering that to the winner," Hope said.
How the first two winners fared
2025: Cayden Pope. The Auburn sophomore won the 99th New Year's Invitational in his first try, shooting 68-68-67 to finish at 13 under and win by six. Three months later he shot 69-70 (3 under) at Lakewood National. He finished under par for two rounds against professionals but missed the cut. "He's gone on to do quite well," Hope said. Pope was part of the Auburn team that won the NCAA Championship last spring.
2026: Lucas Gimenez. Gimenez, a high school junior, won the 100th edition after a six-man playoff. He became one of two 17-year-old amateurs in the 2026 Suncoast Classic field. He opened with 75 and followed with 72, and missed the cut. "I think he certainly enjoyed the experience," said Hope, who walked with him for the first round. "Hopefully it's helped him on his way to becoming the player that he wants to be." Hope said Gimenez has since started at the University of Oklahoma and hopes to return in January to defend his title.
Plenty of former NYI players already reach that level
According to the tournament, 14 former New Year's Invitational players were in the 2025 LECOM Suncoast Classic field. The best example is Hayden Buckley. He won the New Year's Invitational in 2017 and 2018, turned professional, and in 2021 got into the Suncoast Classic as the first alternate about 15 minutes before his tee time. He then won it in a three-man playoff. That win was his first Korn Ferry Tour title and helped him reach the PGA Tour.
Wlodkowski described the exemption this way in the podcast: "It's not a reason somebody should play in a golf tournament just because there's an exemption into a professional event. But today to become a pro, you need every advantage you can get." For a college player trying to get onto the PGA Tour University list, or a high school player curious how his game holds up against touring pros, there aren't many better rewards for a January win.
Who gets in
The New Year's Invitational is open to amateurs who meet its eligibility requirements, but getting in is competitive. Hope said several hundred players apply for roughly 92 to 100 spots. The tournament now relies heavily on rankings. "We are focusing a little more on WAGR rankings," Hope said. The selection committee also looks at junior rankings and recent results, since the field has gotten younger.
Entries are reviewed on a rolling basis rather than all at once after a deadline. Accepted players get an email and must pay then to lock in their spot. In practice, players with strong records who apply early are the most likely to get in.
Juniors have done well here. The 2026 playoff came down to Gimenez and Windermere Prep sophomore Chase Bauer, both high school players, on a leaderboard that also included players from Kentucky, Notre Dame, Richmond and Florida. Hope said the 2026 runner-up has already entered for 2027, along with several high school juniors and seniors the tournament plans to accept.
Mid-amateurs: The tournament no longer runs a separate mid-amateur division. Hope said that reserving 20 or 25 spots for mid-amateurs would cost younger players their places in the field. Strong mid-amateurs are still welcome, and the low mid-am receives a crystal award. Tampa's Joe Trim won that award in 2026 with a 3-under 210.
The course: a 100-year-old layout updated for today's players
St. Petersburg Country Club opened in 1924. It sits about 15 minutes south of downtown St. Petersburg, near where Tampa Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico, with water on three sides. Herbert Strong designed it, and it hosted the PGA Tour's St. Petersburg Open 12 times. Sam Snead, Cary Middlecoff and Raymond Floyd all won here. Floyd's 1963 win was the first of his career.
In 2024 the club completed a full renovation, with former PGA Tour player and 1974 New Year's champion Gary Koch consulting throughout. The greens were rebuilt to USGA specifications with TifEagle ultradwarf Bermuda, and Hope said they were given more movement and elevation change than before. Tees, fairways and rough were regrassed with Bimini Bermuda. All bunkers were rebuilt, and some were added, removed or moved. New tees pushed the course past 7,000 yards. The course reopened on Nov. 27, 2024, 100 years to the day after it first opened.
Hope also adjusted par for the tournament. "The 16th hole was about 495, par 5," he said. "That's not long for them. They play par 4s that are over 500." The hole now plays around 480 yards as a par 4, making the course a par 71 for the championship. "They handled it quite well," he said.
The course is flat and exposed. Its "butterfly" routing changes the wind direction on almost every hole, and the older-style Florida greens tilt from back to front, so going long is a mistake. Weather has a big effect on scoring. In warm, calm years the winning score has gone well into double digits under par. Jeff Klauk's 267 total is still the 72-hole record from the tournament's longer format. In cold years, when temperatures stay below 50 degrees, even par can contend.
The player experience
Hope and Wlodkowski kept returning to one point: this is a club event in the best sense. A private club gives up its course for most of a week during Florida's busiest golf season, and Hope said the membership has come to support it strongly. "The membership is attuned to it and kind of expects it to be that," he said.
- Housing: A limited number of member families host players. Hope said five to 10 younger players stay with members in a typical year. More families now travel with their juniors and book their own lodging, and the tournament publishes a list of nearby hotels.
- Practice: A practice round is included in the entry fee. Players can ask for an earlier alternate practice date by calling the pro shop at 727-864-1595.
- Walk or ride: Carts are included, and anyone who wants to walk may.
- Timing: Early January falls during most college breaks. Players get a competitive start before spring season, and the Korn Ferry start follows in April.
- Spectators: Admission is free, so family and coaches can follow along.
The modern era: recent champions
- 2026: Lucas Gimenez (high school junior). Won the first six-man playoff in tournament history at 7 under, 206.
- 2025: Cayden Pope (Auburn). Finished at 13 under and won by six.
- 2024: Cooper Smith (South Florida).
- 2023: CJ Easley (Ole Miss). Won a shortened event by two.
- 2017 and 2018: Hayden Buckley (Missouri). Later won the LECOM Suncoast Classic and reached the PGA Tour.
- 2014 and 2015: Sam Horsfield. Later won on the European Tour.
The 2026 finish was unusual. Gimenez, a high school junior, led throughout the final round and came to the par-5 18th needing a par to win. He made bogey, which created a six-way tie at 206. On the first playoff hole, Gimenez and Bauer both made eagle and eliminated the other four. Both parred the second playoff hole. On the third, Gimenez two-putted for birdie and won when Bauer missed a six-footer. In all, 17 players finished under the 54-hole par of 213.
A century without a break
The history explains why the event carries the weight it does. The tournament began in 1927 on what was then the Lakewood Estates course. The 1928 champion was Johnny Revolta, a local high school student who worked as a locker room attendant and rode a bicycle around the course as a ranger. He went on to win 18 PGA Tour titles, including the 1935 PGA Championship. The event was match play until 1956. That year Bob Goalby won the first stroke-play edition, 12 years before he won the Masters.
About 30 alumni have reached the PGA Tour. The list of past champions includes Gary Koch, J.B. Holmes, Brandt Snedeker, Peter Uihlein and six-time winner Buddy Alexander. Snedeker finished second twice before winning in 2004. Hope said Snedeker stayed amateur that winter to keep his Masters invitation and came back to St. Petersburg to play.
Hope has been part of all of it for a long time. He first played the tournament in 1969 at age 18, joined the club in 1982 and has been chairman since 1991. During COVID he kept the 2021 event going with walking threesomes, outdoor setups and boxed meals so the streak would continue.
How to enter
Entries for the 101st New Year's Invitational are open now through Golf Genius. Because entries are reviewed as they arrive, apply early. For questions, contact the St. Petersburg Country Club golf shop at proshop@stpetecountryclub.com or 727-864-1595, or visit newyearsinvitational.com.
View the New Year's Invitational tournament page on AmateurGolf.com for results and past coverage.
Photos courtesy of the New Year's Invitational and St. Petersburg Country Club, by Roxene Riles (@rox_riles) and Ty Baird (@tybairdmedia).
