The golfers’ King
The sports world is saddened today by the passing of golf legend Arnold Palmer. There is little need, here, to revisit Arnie’s many accomplishments, you can find them from many sources. The fact that this writer feels it easy to write “Arnie” speaks volumes about the man. He was for all people; as Ben Jonson said of Shakespeare, “he was not of an age but for all time.”
Palmer initially won fans over with that boyish charisma, the first great player of the age of televised golf. He ranked fifth on the PGA Tour’s all-time wins list with 62 titles. He also won seven major championships – four Masters, two British Opens and one U.S. Open. And, for 17 straight years, he won at least one PGA Tour tournament (1955-71), a record he shares with Jack Nicklaus.
Besides his golf records, he created many signature Arnold Palmer golf courses throughout the world and was a principal owner of Bay Hill Club & Lodge, where the Arnold Palmer Invitational occurs.
The impact he had on fellow golf professionals will be borne in on all of us over the next several days as the many, many people he knew and touched will share their reactions with us.
His impact on the game of golf? He helped shape it. Is there a player alive today who does not know his name? Who does not have his or her “Arnie” story?
Before he passed away two years ago, my father said simply what I think most of us will always feel:
“To me, Arnie will always be ‘The King’.”
Here are some of the favorite quotes attributed to Arnie…
Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated.
What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive.
I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone’s golf game: it’s called an eraser.
Concentration comes out of a combination of confidence and hunger.
Success in golf depends less on strength of body than upon strength of mind and character.
Putting is like wisdom – partly a natural gift and partly the accumulation of experience.
I’ve always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn’t have a chance to win.
The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.
What do I mean by concentration? I mean focusing totally on the business at hand and commanding your body to do exactly what you want it to do.
You must play boldly to win.
“Arnold was the best,” said John Fischer III, president of the Golf Collectors Society. “He loved golf, he loved his fans and never forgot his roots. He seemed indestructible and will remain with us in memory and in the psyche of golf. To quote the late LA Times sportswriter, Jim Murray, “Palmer on a golf course was Jack Dempsey with his man on the ropes, Henry Aaron with a three-and-two fastball, Rod Laver at set point, Joe Montana with a minute to play, A.J. Foyt with a lap to go and a car to catch.”
Fischer took the above photo of Arnold at The Masters a few years ago. “He was in his element: people and golf.”