COMMON MAN BECAME‘ THE KING’
Legend captured 7majors, brought game to masses
Before accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, Arnold Palmer shared a few laughs with then- President George W. Bush and gave him a few golf tips in the East Room of the White House.
Five years later, when he was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal, Palmer jokingly thanked the House and Senate for being able to agree on something.
After receiving the highest civilian awards in the United States, Palmer went outside on each of those days and signed autographs for hundreds of people.
That was Palmer, a man who connected with the masses, kids, CEOs and presidents.
Palmer, who died Sunday in Pittsburgh at 87, according to a statement from the U. S. Golf Association, was the accessible common man who would become the ‘‘ King’’ and lead his own army. Along the way, he became one of the best players in golf and a successful businessman, philanthropist, advertising spokesman, golf- course designer and aviator.
While his approach on the course wasn’t a model of aesthetics, it worked for him. With thick forearms and a thin waist, Palmer had an aggressive risk- reward approach to golf that made for compelling theater. He hit the ball with authority and for distance and ushered in an aggressive, go- for- broke, in- yourface power game rarely seen in the stoic and staid sport.
Palmer, part of the alluring ‘‘ Big Three’’ with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, won 62 titles on the PGA Tour, his last coming in the 1973 Bob Hope Desert Classic. Among those victories were four at the Masters, two at the British Open and one at the U. S. Open. He finished second in the U. S. Open four times, was the runner- up three times in the PGA Championship— the only major that eluded him— and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
Palmer became one of the best- known sports figures of his day and is credited with bringing golf to the masses.
‘‘ Arnold meant everything to golf,’’ Tiger Woods said. ‘‘ I mean, without his charisma, without his personality in conjunction with TV— it was just the perfect symbiotic growth. You finally had someone who had this charisma, and they’re capturing it on TV for the very first time. Everyone got hooked to the game of golf via TV because of Arnold.’’
Palmer won the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average on the PGA Tour four times, played on six Ryder Cup teams and was captain twice. He received virtually every national award in golf and was voted the Athlete of the Decade for the 1960s in a national Associated Press poll.
And from start to finish, Palmer signed as many autographs, posed for as many pictures and chatted with as many fans in the galleries as any golfer who hit a golf ball.
‘‘ Arnold Palmer was the everyday man’s hero,’’ Nicklaus said. ‘‘[ He] embodied the hardworking strength of America.’’
Palmer was the oldest of four children born to Deacon and Doris Palmer. He received his first set of golf clubs fromhis father, who worked at Latrobe Country Club from 1921 until his death in 1976. Growing up near the sixth tee of the club, Palmer learned his grip and swing— as well as manners, empathy, integrity and respect— from his father.
Palmer’s greatest stretch of golf began in 1960 and lasted four years, during which time he won six majors and 29 titles on the PGA Tour. It was at the 1960 Masters that a local newspaper coined the phrase ‘‘ Arnie’s Army,’’ when soldiers from nearby Camp Gordon followed Palmer. Soon, non- uniformed fans across the land enlisted.
Palmer’s defining moment came in the 1960 U. S. Open. He had won the Masters two months earlier but began the final round of the Open seven strokes and 14 players behind and was told by Bob Drum of the Pittsburgh Press that he was too far behind to win.
Angered by the remark, Palmer drove the first green 346 yards away and made the first of four birdies in a row. He added birdies on the sixth and seventh holes and shot a final- round 65 to complete the comeback victory.
In all, Palmer won eight times in 1960, the year he signed with pioneering sports agent Mark McCormack and quickly became a marketing giant for products ranging from golf equipment to jackets and slacks to automobile oil and rental cars. He became the first pro golfer to earn $ 1 million for his career and was pulling in an estimated $ 20million per year even in his 80s.
‘‘ Arnold was the epitome of a superstar,’’ Raymond Floyd said. ‘‘ He set the standard for how superstars in every sport ought to be. On the golf course, all I ever saw was a mass of people. He was able to focus in on everyone in the gallery individually. It wasn’t fake.
‘‘ And, man, could he play the game.’’