1894, from invitation + -al (1). The noun is by 1940, short for invitational tournament.
Entries linking to invitational
invitation n.
mid-15c., "act of inviting, solicitation," from Latin invitationem (nominative invitatio) "an invitation, incitement, challenge," noun of action from past participle stem of invitare "invite, treat, entertain," originally "be pleasant toward," from in- "toward" (from PIE root *en "in").
The second element is obscure. Watkins suggests a suffixed form of the PIE root *weie- "to go after something, pursue with vigor" (see gain (v.)); de Vaan also traces it to a PIE form meaning "pursued." Meaning "the spoken or written form in which a person is invited" is from 1610s.
-al 1
suffix forming adjectives from nouns or other adjectives, "of, like, related to, pertaining to," Middle English -al, -el, from French or directly from Latin -alis (see -al (2)).