Arnold Palmer earned the title of ‘King of Golf’

Fellow pro golfers referred to the legendary Arnold Palmer as the true “King of Golf.”

 

“Arnold Palmer, television and golf. It was a mix made in heaven,” said Nick Price (shown below), one of the top players from South Africa.

 

“Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus obviously did a lot,” Price said, “but it was Arnold who had the magnetism that brought everyone together.”

 

Sportswriter Scott Michaux of The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle (shown below) said: “Palmer connected with the golfing public like no player ever had. You were simply drawn to his energy and charisma and bravado. He was a pin-up idol in a buttoned-up sport.” 

“His charisma came through on camera,” so everyone could see and identify with “Arnie’s Army” that was cheering his every shot.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North said Arnie was “the man who put us on the map. We said for every dollar we make, we should give 25 cents to Arnold.”

 

Michaux asserted that Palmer won seven Majors, fewer than “his Big Three mates” Jack Nicklaus (18) and Gary Player (9), “but he won more hearts than any golfer who’s ever lived.”

 

Arnold Palmer died in 2016 at the age of 87 “from complications with heart problems.”

Ian Hardie, a golf coach and author from New Zealand, wrote: “Arnold Palmer was a true legend in the game of golf. To suggest that he was one of the greatest golfers to ever walk the fairways of the world would be an understatement. He was a shining example to us all about how to live our lives.”

 

“Arnold Palmer won a PGA Tour event every year from 1955 to 1971,” Hardie said. In all, Palmer won 62 times on the tour, which ranks fifth all-time. 

(Sam Snead and Tiger Woods are tied for first with 82 victories apiece. Jack Nicklaus is next with 73 titles, while Ben Hogan won 64 tournaments during his career.

Palmer’s last tour championship came at the 1973 Bob Hope Desert Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. Palmer, at age 43, finished two strokes ahead of Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.

About six years later, pro golfer Bob Goalby and small group of other old-timers approached PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman in 1979 about creating a separate tour for players age 50 and older. Goalby had an “ace in the hole,” tucked into his back pocket.

Goalby told Beman that he had a “firm commitment” from golfing superstar Arnold Palmer to fully endorse the effort and be an active participant.

“At age 50, I wasn’t sitting around thinking what a great time I could have playing ‘senior’ golf,” Palmer wrote.

Although he said he had some “unfinished business” on the PGA Tour, Palmer acknowledged that his game – “strong as ever on some days’ – lacked the consistency to win.

Palmer said, after a six-year drought, that he liked the prospect of being competitive again. His loyal fans, known as “Arnie’s Army,” were eager to recharge their batteries as well.

Beman didn’t hesitate. He officially launched the Senior PGA Tour in 1980. 

He envisioned “a long trip down memory lane” and wagered that fans would turn out to watch “yesterday’s stars” go at it.

Palmer pledged to promote the Senior Tour any way he could. He did just that, in a big way, by winning the PGA’s 1980 Seniors’ Championship in Miami, Fla., defeating Paul Harney in a sudden-death playoff on the first extra hole.

 

Golf writer Bill Fields said that early on “Palmer carried the senior circuit on his back. Other larger-than-life players followed as their birth certificates allowed.”

Guys like Chi-Chi Rodríguez, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino and Hale Irwin.