Palmer retired from professional golf in 2006, but stayed connected to the sport as the owner of a golf club in Florida, and also served as a consultant for US network the Golf Channel.
Advertisement
His good looks, charisma and risk-taking play helped drive golf’s popularity on TV in the USA, while his British Open victories boosted his reputation overseas and convinced several of his countrymen it was worth travelling to the United Kingdom for the tournament.
CHASKA, Minnesota Some golfers have clothing named after them and some champions have clubs and even golf courses dedicated in their honor. When asked about the fans he attracted at Augusta National, Palmer once said, “Hell, I know majority by name”. He won PGA Player of the Year twice (1960 and 1962) and was the PGA Tour’s leading money victor four times. With equal parts swagger and humility when he played.
He would hitch up his trousers, drop a cigarette and attack the flags. Hit the ball hard.
He and his two great rivals in the “Big Three” – Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus – helped take the sport around the globe in the 1960s, capitalizing on the ever-growing reach of television. It was the second of Palmer’s four Masters victories and the second of his seven major titles.
And he used that fame and golf’s growth to help craft a new definition of what it means to be a star athlete. Palmer attended Wake Forest University on a golf scholarship.
“Arnold was the most charismatic, down-to-earth person I’ve ever been around, and I’ve spent a lot of time around famous people”, James Dodson, Palmer’s biographer, told CNN”. RIP, Arnold Palmer. Forever The King.
Tiger Woods tweeted, “Thanks Arnold for your friendship, counsel and a lot of laughs”.
Something Palmer managed to do in consecutive years in 1961 and 1962, his triumphs giving the tournament credibility in the USA and serving as a challenge for his countrymen to get their passport stamped and join him. Palmer took seven major titles between 1958 and 1964.
Palmer won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour four times, played on six Ryder Cup teams and captained the team twice.
Palmer, who was born in 1929, turned pro at the age of 26 in 1955.
Arnold Palmer, who built a golf legacy as the King by connecting with the common man, died Sunday in Pittsburgh, near his longtime home in Latrobe, Pa.
Palmer retired from tournament golf in 2006.
He left behind a gallery known as “Arnie’s Army”, which began at Augusta National with a small group of soldiers from nearby Fort Gordon, and grew to include a legion of fans from every corner of the globe.
Palmer looked frail when he joined fellow icons Player and Nicklaus for the ceremonial first tee shot at the Masters in April, when ill-health prevented him from swinging a club. Then Lehman went a step further. It was the way he treated people, looking everyone in the eye with a smile and a wink.
He signed for a 75, which was considerably better than his first-round 83, but not good enough to make the cut. “On behalf of all of our employees and partners, we send our deepest condolences to Arnold’s family, friends and fans”. “That never changed. He was the king of our sport and always will be”.
“I was shocked to hear that we lost a great friend”.
“I wish I had another chance to talk to him, but I am so glad we talked a couple weeks ago on his birthday (Sept. 10), when he sounded great”. At age 24, he won the 1954 U.S. Amateur at the Country Club of Detroit.
Palmer could hit the ball further than nearly all his rivals in the 1960s – Jack Nicklaus was the exception – and he could recover from tricky positions off the fairway better than any of them.
Palmer found additional success on what is now the PGA Tour Champions (previously the Senior PGA Tour), winning 10 events, including five majors.
His first wife Winning died in 1999. They had two daughters, and his grandson Sam Saunders plays on the PGA Tour. He married Kathleen Gawthrop in 2005 and became a strong advocate for cancer research programs, having undergone successful prostate cancer surgery himself in 1997.
Advertisement
Palmer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2012. It’s probably the greatest rivalry in the sport’s history.
