Arnold Palmer
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Arnold-palmer.jpg
Arnold Daniel Palmer (born September 10, 1929 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania) is an American golfer who has won numerous events on both the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour, dating back to 1955. Palmer is not generally regarded as the greatest player in history (most would give that accolade to Jack Nicklaus, some to Bobby Jones, and Tiger Woods has challenged them in recent years), but he is arguably the most important in that he was the first golf star when television started to air golf tournaments in the 1950s.
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Career outline
Palmer learnt his golf from his father, who was a golf professional at Latrobe Country Club in Pennsylvania. He attended Wake Forest University from 1947 until 1954, taking time out for service in the United States Coast Guard. He left college without a degree and briefly worked as a salesman but after winning the 1954 U.S. Amateur he turned professional and he won the Canadian Open the following year.
Palmer's charisma was a major factor in establishing golf as a compelling television event in the 1950s and 1960s, setting the stage for the popularity it enjoys today. He is also credited by many for securing the status of The Open Championship (British Open) among US players. Before Palmer, relatively few American professionals attempted to play The Open due to its travel requirements, foreign environment, and the style of its courses (radically different from most American courses). Palmer's successive Open wins in the early 1960s convinced many American pros that a trip to Britain would be worth the effort.
He has won seven major championships:
Palmer's most prolific years were 1960-1963, when he won 29 tournaments in four seasons. In 1960, he won the Hickok Belt as the top professional athlete of the year and Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award. He built up a wide fan base, often referred to as "Arnie's Army", and in 1967 he became the first man to reach one million dollars in career earnings on the PGA Tour. By the late 1960s Jack Nicklaus had acquired clear ascendancy in their rivalry, but Palmer won a PGA Tour event every year up to 1970, and in 1971 he enjoyed a revival, winning four events.
Palmer was eligible for the PGA Senior Tour (now the Champions Tour) from its first season in 1980, and he was one of the marquee names who helped it to become successful. He won ten events on the tour, including five senior majors.
Palmer was Mark McCormack's first client. He won the first World Match Play Championship in England, an event which was originally organised by McCormack to showcase his stable of players. Their partnership was one of the most significant in the history of sports marketing. Long after he ceased to win tournaments, Palmer remained one of the highest earners in golf due to his appeal to sponsors and the public.
Palmer has had a diverse golf related business career including owning "Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club and Lodge", which is the venue for the PGA Tour's Bay Hill Invitational, helping to found The Golf Channel, and negotiating the deal to build the first golf course in the [[People's Republic of China]. Since 1971 he has owned Latrobe Country Club, where his father used to be the club professional.
In 2004, he competed in The Masters for the last time, marking his 50th consecutive appearance in that event.
PGA Tour wins
- 1955 Canadian Open
- 1956 Insurance City Open, Eastern Open
- 1957 Houston Open, Azalea Open Invitational, Rubber City Open Invitational, San Diego Open Invitational
- 1958 St. Petersburg Open Invitational, The Masters, Pepsi Championship
- 1959 Thunderbird Invitational, Oklahoma City Open Invitational, West Palm Beach Open Invitational
- 1960 Palm Springs Desert Golf Classic, Texas Open Invitational, Baton Rouge Open Invitational, Pensacola Open Invitational, The Masters, U.S. Open, Insurance City Open Invitational, Mobile Sertoma Open Invitational
- 1961 San Diego Open Invitational, Phoenix Open Invitational, Baton Rouge Open Invitational, Texas Open Invitational, Western Open, The Open Championship
- 1962 Palm Springs Golf Classic, Phoenix Open Invitational, The Masters, Texas Open Invitational, Tournament of Champions, Colonial National Invitation, The Open Championship, American Golf Classic
- 1963 Los Angeles Open, Phoenix Open Invitational, Pensacola Open Invitational, Thunderbird Classic Invitational, Cleveland Open Invitational, Western Open, Whitemarsh Open Invitational
- 1964 The Masters, Oklahoma City Open Invitational
- 1965 Tournament of Champions
- 1966 Los Angeles Open, Tournament of Champions, Houston Champions International
- 1967 Los Angeles Open, Tucson Open Invitational, American Golf Classic, Thunderbird Classic
- 1968 Bob Hope Desert Classic, Kemper Open
- 1969 Heritage Golf Classic, Danny Thomas-Diplomat Classic
- 1970 National Four-Ball Championship
- 1971 Bob Hope Desert Classic, Florida Citrus Invitational, Westchester Classic, National Team Championship
- 1973 Bob Hope Desert Classic
Major championships are shown in bold.
Other regular career wins
- 1954 U.S. Amateur
- 1955 Panama Open, Colombia Open
- 1960 Canada Cup (with Sam Snead)
- 1962 Canada Cup (with Sam Snead)
- 1963 Australian Wills Masters Tournament, Canada Cup (with Jack Nicklaus)
- 1964 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship (England, but not a European Tour event at that time), Canada Cup (with Jack Nicklaus)
- 1966 Australian Open, Canada Cup (with Jack Nicklaus), PGA Team Championship (with Jack Nicklaus)
- 1967 Piccadilly World Match Play Championship (England, but not a European Tour event at that time), World Cup (team with Jack Nicklaus] and individual)
- 1971 Lancome Trophy (France, but not a European Tour event at that time)
- 1974 Spanish Open (European Tour)
- 1975 Penfold PGA Championship (European Tour)
- 1980 Canadian PGA Championship
Senior PGA Tour wins
- 1980 PGA Seniors' Championship
- 1981 U.S. Senior Open
- 1982 Marlboro Classic, Denver Post Champions of Golf
- 1983 Boca Grove Classic
- 1984 General Foods PGA Seniors' Championship, Senior Tournament Players Championship, Quadel Senior Classic
- 1985 Senior Tournament Players Championship
- 1988 Crestar Classic
Senior majors are shown in bold.
Other senior wins
- 1984 Doug Sanders Celebrity Pro-Am
- 1986 Union Mutual Classic
- 1990 Senior Skins Game
- 1992 Senior Skins Game
- 1993 Senior Skins Game
Miscellanea
Palmer was one of the founders of The Golf Channel.
One of Palmer's favorite drinks allegedly is a combination of half iced tea and half lemonade, a drink which is often referred to as an "Arnold Palmer" in his honor. It is now available under the name "The Orginal Arnold Palmer Tee" (sic) [1] (http://www.arnoldpalmertee.com/)
See also
External links
- arnoldpalmer.com (http://www.arnoldpalmer.com/docscorner/default.asp) - a portal to many separate sites about Palmer's businesses, sponsors and other interests
- Profile on the PGA Tour's official site (http://www.pgatour.com/players/intro/149734)
- GSO: Arnold Palmer (http://www.golfstarsonline.com/P/Arnold_Palmer/) Directory of interviews, sites and feature articles with or about Arnold Palmer
- about.com profile (http://golf.about.com/od/arnoldpalmer/)fr:Arnold Palmer