Before the U.S. Open, before the knee problems and before being done for the year, Tiger Woods made history at Bay Hill. When Woods rolled in a 25-footer on the 72nd hole to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, the crowd was stunned then ecstatic, Tiger was fired up, Brad Bryant just rolled his eyes and Arnold Palmer simply laughed.

"You had to know it was going in," Palmer said. "I expected it."

About the only people that weren’t excited were Bryant, a journeyman, who was hoping for a Woods twoputt to force a playoff, and Nike Golf, which dresses Woods and spends a lot of money to make sure their logos are prominent on the highlight films. When Woods sunk the putt, he started pumping the fist 10 feet from the hole, reached for his head at five feet, and slammed the cap with the Nike logo into the turf as soon as it was over.

Nike doesn’t like that type of behavior, but you have to forgive Woods. He knew not what he had done.

“I was excited and I looked and Stevie (caddie Stevie Williams)...He handed me may hat and I said, ‘how the hell did you get that.’’’

Woods’ win—his fifth at Palmer’s annual event at his Bay Hill course— was surprising to even his most ardent supporters. He hung on the perimeter of the tournament for the first two rounds and was tied with four others after the third. The winning putt was by far his longest of the week, but Palmer said he didn’t have any doubts when Woods struck the putt.

Palmer, cool as ever, seemed oblivious to the heat that had replaced a cold front which had made the first two rounds unusually cool and damp. He stood next to the beautiful new trophy designed by Tiffany & Co. and waited for Woods and the victory ceremony.

The win gave Woods his 64th win on the PGA Tour, pulling him into a third place tie on the all-time list with Ben Hogan, and ahead of a certain Mr. A Palmer.

It wasn’t the standard way to end the tournament, but it wasn’t a standard week at Bay Hill. The week started on Monday with the news that Ernie Els would sadly have to drop out of the tournament for pressing personal reasons only two weeks after winning on the PGA TOUR for the first time in nearly four years. Then John Daly was disqualified from the tournament.

Daly, who lost his Tour card two years ago, was only playing after receiving a personal invitation from Palmer, so to miss his tee time at the Wednesday pro-am was neither professional nor smart. At the same time, Nick O’Hern and Ryuji Imada also departed from the field. They had afternoon tee times for the pro-am, but as alternates, they were the first two names called to replace Daly. They too missed the updated time and had to be disqualified.

Meanwhile, Palmer might have been the only person at Bay Hill who knew what in the world a nematode is.

A nematode, which is actually a scientific name for a worm that damages grass, had everyone concerned. Palmer, who is of course a noted golf course designer, saw that the greens at Bay Hill were being affected by the worms. He said that in all of his years designing golf courses, he had never seen anything like it.

“I’ve been in the golf course business my whole life and I’ve treated a lot of situations and this is the one that worries me as much as any,’’ Palmer even said the day before the start of the tournament. “I found things I never knew about grasses and golf and the horticulture.’

Palmer said the greens would be in better shape by Thursday, and indeed they were. Ironic then, given his final winning putt, that Woods had said on Wednesday, “They are not very good, so it’s going to be an interesting week on them. You’ll see a lot of weird putts that go different ways, but we all have to deal with them.’’

Once the first round got underway, Fred Couples—one of the few players in the field who played in an official tournament that included Palmer as a participant—demonstrated what great condition the course was in by pulling a page out of the history book and firing a 65 to end up in a first-round tie with J.J. Henry. He ended up in a tie for 64th while Henry, booming drives all over Bay Hill, finished in a tie for 31st.

By Friday, the weather closed in and players were still on the course when the day was done. Vijay Singh got out in the morning and fired a 65 to follow his 66 on Thursday. Singh was the defending champion, but barely made it to Bay Hill. He suffered a severe stomach ailment and considered dropping out, but as defending champion he was determined to play if he possibly could.

Woods entered the halfway mark seven shots out of the lead. By the end of the third round, the field was bunching at the top with Singh, Woods and several others, including Bryant and Sean O’Hair, who had just come off a win at the PODS Championship in Tampa. Woods shot a 66 to pull into a tie for the lead with four others, but O’Hair’s 63 was the round of the week.

On Sunday, the rain was gone and the Florida sun was out in full force. The greens were holding up despite the pressure and with the climatic conditions helpful the top 11 finishers in the tournament all carded in the 60s for their final rounds.

O’Hair struggled early playing alongside Woods, bogeying the second and third holes, and Woods took his first outright lead with birdies at the second hole, then the sixth and the eighth. Bryant was the only one who stayed close and he birdied the 16th to tie Woods again.

Bryant had a perfect lie on the 18th fairway, but as anyone who knows Bay Hill knows, the approach on 18 is one of the toughest in golf. There is water all the way down the right and a narrow green with the pin tucked on the edge of the green just beyond the water. Bryant faced history and a chance to be one of the few golfers to stare down Woods.

Instead, sensibly and professionally, he went for the center of the green. It was a perfect shot and Bryant twoputted home for par, but he made a mistake leaving it in Woods’ hands.

“I just wanted to play safe, get par, and put the pressure on Tiger,’’ Bryant said.

Wrong choice. Woods drove down the middle and had 164 yards to the pin. The wind was blowing into his face from the right. He wanted to hit it left to give himself a chance at birdie. That’s when Woods is at his best. He went for it and hit it perfectly.

“That was the best swing I made all week,’’ Woods said. “I was committed to it.’’

The ball spun and stopped 25 feet from the hole. Palmer turned to tournament host Scott Wellington, and said, “You know what’s going to happen, don’t you?’’

No answer was needed. Woods went for the cup.

“I kept telling myself that I’ve done this before and I can do it again,’’ Woods said.

The crowd roared, Palmer shook his head, Tiger wondered what happened to his hat and Nike cringed.

Bryant was the only one who was calm in the aftermath. He was in the scorer’s tent when Tiger’s final putt went in. He wasn’t watching it on television, but he knew from the roar of the crowd there wouldn’t be a playoff.

“That’s why he is Tiger Woods,’’ Bryant said. “He just has an incredible way of pulling off the shot or the putt when he needs to. He’s done it before and he’ll do it again."

A KING'S TROPHY

Tiffany & Co. brings a renowned heritage in sterling silver craftsmanship to the creation of the latest treasure in golf ’s trove.

Last year, when the Bay Hill Invitational received its new name—The Arnold Palmer Invitational— the tournament received a new award as well. Befitting a competition named for the premier figure in golf, it’s only appropriate that the trophy should come from the venerable Tiffany & Co.

“It was an exciting challenge,” says Tom O’Rourke, Tiffany’s vice president of business sales. “In the end, I think we did a great job creating a trophy that is representative of the ideals of the great golf legend.”

For the past five years, Tiffany & Co. has been involved as a sponsor for the Champions for Children event hosted by the Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando. Through the work with the hospital and Tiffany’s longstanding relationship with The PGA Tour, O’Rourke says it was a natural fit for Tiffany and Palmer to begin discussing a change of trophy when the Bay Hill Invitational’s name change was announced.

Palmer’s daughter Amy Saunders was instrumental in driving the effort behind the new award and its design, which O’Rourke says focused on two points: Mr. Palmer’s unique swing, and the image of the tournament’s traditional trophy sword. After Tiffany’s expert team of designers presented four separate ideas, O’Rourke says Amy was immediately drawn to the concept that became the final iteration.

The magnificent design depicts Palmer and his championship swing in cast sterling silver. Each detail of the swing was painstakingly re-created to scale, including the width of Palmer’s feet, the height of his hands and the width of the club. Above the logo, the silhouette of a sword is etched and repeated 18 times, a reference to the tournament’s previous trophy design.

The trophy’s actual construction is as impressive as its detail and—in line with Mr. Palmer’s style— is very much a hands-on process performed by skilled artisans in Tiffany’s sterling silver workshop in New Jersey.

“You walk through the doors of the facility and it’s as if you went back 150 years, as many of the same traditional tools, techniques and machines are still utilized,” says O’Rourke. “The Arnold Palmer Invitational trophy has benefited from the expertise of Tiffany’s best artisans.”

The sculpting of Mr. Palmer was done by hand and then cast into sterling silver. The bell-shaped base was created using an old technique of spinning, and the finishing, polishing and hand-engraving were all accomplished using old world techniques.

In the end, this exquisite trophy was delivered in a custom case to Bay Hill, where it has already become the latest piece of iconic sports memorabilia given to us by Tiffany & Co.

If the King appreciates the job Tiffany did, the admiration is mutual. As O’Rourke put it: “It is an honor for Tiffany & Co. to make this award for Mr. Palmer and to be associated with the golfing legend that he is.”

Arnold Palmer Invitational Trophy by Tiffany & Co.

— 27" high x 14" wide.
— Weighs 35.5 pounds.
— Ebonized wood base features four applied sterling silver plaques with room for the names of 48 winners. Past winners going back to 1979 are handengraved on the plaques.
— The keeper trophy, awarded to the champion, is 22" high x 11 1/4" in diameter and weighs 18 pounds, with the winner’s information hand engraved on the sterling silver base.
— Arnold Palmer Invitational logo is etched on the base of both trophies.
— The trophies are crafted at Tiffany’s sterling silver workshop in New Jersey and take approximately six months to create.
— Master artisans employ age-old silversmithing techniques—spinning, finishing, polishing and hand engraving—to create the trophies.