Arnold Palmer
gigatos | March 21, 2022
Summary
Arnold Daniel Palmer (Latrobe, Pennsylvania, September 10, 1929- Pittsburgh, September 25, 2016) was an American golfer, considered one of the greatest players in history for his numerous victories in major tournaments worldwide since 1955. Known as The King, he was one of the most popular players and coaches for being one of the first stars of the television era, which began in the 1950s. He was part of the so-called Big Three, along with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, who helped popularize golf worldwide.
He won seven majors: the 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964 Augusta Masters (the first golfer to win four times), the 1960 U.S. Open, and the 1961 and 1962 British Open. He also achieved ten second places, 26 top 5s and 38 top 10s in major tournaments.
On the U.S. PGA Tour, Palmer was the fifth golfer in number of victories with 62, and the third in number of top 10s with 245. He was the leader on the win list for the 1958 (three victories), 1960 (eight), 1962 (eight) and 1963 (seven) seasons.
In addition, he won the 1964 and 1967 World Match Play Championship, the 1956 Colombian Open, the 1956 Panama Open, the 1975 Spanish Open and the 1966, 1970 and 1971 PGA Team Championship, always alongside Nicklaus.
As for his performances with the U.S. national team, he played six editions of the Ryder Cup between 1961 and 1973, scoring 23 points in 32 matches. He also won six editions of the Canada Cup.
In 1980, Palmer went on to play on the Senior PGA Tour, where he played regularly for more than two decades. He won ten tournaments, including five majors, and finished fourth in the 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1984 seasons.
Palmer received the PGA Tour”s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998 and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
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Childhood
Palmer was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. He learned golf from his father Milred “Deacon” Palmer, who had suffered from polio in childhood and from an early age was responsible for taking care of the golf course in Latrobe, accompanying his father from childhood and helping in the work to keep the golf course in good condition.
Palmer attended Wake Forest College, a golf school. He left upon the death of his best friend Bud Worsham and enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, where he stayed for three years, but at the same time continued to show his golf skills. He returned to school and to competitive golf. He won the 1954 U.S. Amateur, for which he tries to participate in a professional tournament and with a new girlfriend Winifred Walzer (featured in Pennsylvania Tournamente) traveling on the circuit in 1955. Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers” neighborhood was for a year his boss at Latrobe School.
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Rise to stardom
Palmer won his first tour (in his rookie season) in 1955 at the Canadian Open, where he pocketed $2400 in spending money. He would elevate his playing status over the next several seasons. His charisma was a factor in establishing himself in golf, when competitions were television events in the 1950s and 1960s, giving him a popularity he enjoyed to this day. His first major championship was won in the 1958 Masters Tournament, cementing him as one of golf”s stars, and in 1960 he signed for pioneering sports agent Mark McCormacks as his first client.
Interviewed afterwards, McCormack mentioned five attributes that made him make a deal with Palmer on the commercial side. His good presentation. His modesty (his father was a groundskeeper before emerging into a club pro and Latrobe was a humble club). The way he played golf, taking risks and keeping his emotions to himself, involved in a string of televised tournament finishes, and his friendliness.
He also had credit for securing much status in The Open Championship (British Open) among U.S. players. Ben Hogan won that championship in 1958 but few U.S. professionals had traveled to play in the Open, due to the travel requirements, small prize money and the style of appreciation of his game (radically different from many Americans). Palmer was convinced by his agent Mark McCormack that he could succeed like Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Sam Snead and Hogan, before they were globalized sports stars, rather than simply leading American golfers. In particular Palmer traveled to Scotland in 1960 when he had won both The Masters and U.S. Open and tried to emulate Hogan”s 1953 feat by winning all three tournaments in the same year. He failed and was out by losing by a single stroke to Kel Nagle, but would later win The Open in the early 1960s convincing many American professionals that the trip to Britain had not affected him, and certainly increased his popularity with British and European amateurs, almost as much as Americans. Palmer is recognized for his safety in The Open Championship (British Open) among American players. Before Ben Hogan won the championship in 195, few had done so.Palmer won seven Major Championships:
Palmer”s most prolific years were between 1960 and 1963, when he won 29 PGA tours, including 5 major tournament victories, in four seasons. In 1960 he won the Hickok Belt, rising to the top of professional athletes that year and appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine”s “Sportsman of the Year” award. He built a large fan base, known as “Arnie”s Army,” and in 1967 was the first to earn a million-dollar career win on the PGA Tour. By the late 1960”s Jack Nicklaus “The White Bear” and Gary Player had both gained prominence in their rivalry, but Palmer won on the PGA Tour every year from 1951 to 1971, including 1971 when he rejoiced by winning 4 tournaments.
Palmer won the Vardon Trophy with the lowest scoring average on four occasions: 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1967. He played six times in the Ryder Cup team: 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1971 and 1973. The last playing as captain in 1963 and captaining the team until 1975.
Palmer was elected to the Senior PGA Tour (now the Championship Tour) for his first season in 1980 and was a major contributor to its success. He won ten tournaments on the tour, including five senior majors.
He was the first to win the World Match Play Championship in England, a very original winch organized by McCormack as a demonstration of his established players. His partner was one of the most significant in the history of commercial marketing. After he retired by winning the tournament, he remained one of the biggest earners in golf due to his ability to obtain sponsorships and the public.
On November 26-27, 1983 Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tom Watson played for a prize of $360,000 in the first Skins Game.
He gave President Bush golf tips before he won the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In 2004, he competed in The Masters for the last time, making a record 50 consecutive appearances in this tournament. After missing the cut in 2005 at the U.S. Semiro by 21 strokes, he announced that he would no longer participate in the senior majors.
Since 2007, he was an honorary member of the Masters. He retired from tournament golf on October 13, 2006 after the Champions Tours Administaff Small Business Classic after four holes due to dissatisfaction with his own game. He continued to play some holes but no longer scored. Palmer”s legacy was reaffirmed by an electrifying moment during 2004 at the Bay Hill Invitational. Placed 200 yards from the water”s edge on the 18th green, who knew of his aggressive style, he hit a second shot into the green. It was a hair-raising shot that energized the excitable Palmer. He was with his grandson who was his caddie, Sam Sauders, to whom he gave a prolonged and excessive tease, in celebration of that moment.
Arnold Palmer died in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, hospital on September 25, 2016, while waiting to undergo heart surgery. He was 87 years old.
1Beated Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald in the playoff on the 18th hole. The final score was: Palmer (68), Player (71), Finsterwald (77).
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