Remembrance at Ryder Cup

Palmer’s death evokes remorse and reflection

A moment of silence and the U.S. flag flying at half-staff were never supposed to be part of the prelude to the 2016 Ryder Cup. But when the great Arnold Palmer died Sunday at 87, one of the world’s most intense international sports competitions abruptly and appropriately took on a mournful and reflective refrain.

“The game of golf is grieving,” American Brandt Snedeker said Wednesday at Hazeltine National Golf Club. “We as fans are grieving. We as people that knew him well are grieving, and how can we grieve together and honor him and show him how much he was appreciated out here, show his family how much he was appreciated?”

To most of us across several generations, Palmer was the swashbuckling star of a staid sport whose magnetic personality allowed him to transcend the pastime at the dawn of the television age. He not only won seven major championships in the 1950s and 1960s, he also was a Ryder Cup stalwart before most Americans knew what the Ryder Cup was, playing in six and being on the winning side in all six of them. His 22 match victories remain the U.S. record.

But to the golfers here this week, both American and European, Palmer wasn’t just one of the greatest ever to play their game. They view him as the man who made possible everything they have.

“We all had a tough Sunday night, everybody on the team,” Snedeker said. “We all talked about it on Monday when we got here. Arnie is the godfather of modern golf in my opinion. He’s the guy, the flag-bearer of what we know as the PGA Tour and what we know of golf in general and what we know of sports in general.

“We all have Arnie stories, and part of what he was is ingrained in every one of us. It’s been a tough week in that aspect of knowing he’s not there anymore. But it’s also been a great week in that we have been able to sit there and talk about what Arnie meant to us and bring this whole thing full circle and try to understand our role in this whole process and of this grieving process.”

It turns out that having been brought together at this sad time has become a comfort to these players.

“Being able to play the Ryder Cup this week, it means a lot to the U.S. team,” veteran Phil Mickelson said. “It brings an emotional element and appreciation for what he’s done for the game of golf, the Ryder Cup, but the game of golf in general.”

There will be a moment of silence for Palmer at Thursday’s opening ceremony, where a video tribute also will be shown. Players on both teams are expected to wear some sort of pin in memory of Palmer.

“I hope he inspires this Ryder Cup to be all about good teamwork, fair play, good camaraderie amongst both teams, good fun, camaraderie amongst all the fans, because that’s what Arnie stood for,” said England’s Justin Rose, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist and one of Europe’s stalwarts.

“He was a people’s person from what I could see. He would always stop for kids, autographs he would sign. He would give his time, he would give himself to so many people.”

The players here this week have been given an unwanted but unique opportunity to honor him by playing this Ryder Cup in his memory. The Palmer family announced that a public memorial service will be held Tuesday in Arnie’s hometown of Latrobe, Pa.

“We are all playing with heavy hearts,” U.S. captain Davis Love III said. “I’ve got to rewrite a speech, still, because I’ve got to change the tone and add Arnold in there obviously, and we’re planning cars and flights to a funeral that we don’t really want to go to.”

But first, appropriately enough, there’s some golf to be played.