RIP Arnold Palmer

[Jonathan Mallard]

https://twitter.com/GolfDigest/status/780201277309513728


https://twitter.com/JasonSobelESPN/status/780202103180517376

[John McCarthy]

What a life.

What a year.

[Keith Phillips]

May The King RIP.

[Chris Mavros]

This is sad to hear.  The game loses one of its legends.  RIP, Arnie.

[Jeff Bergeron]

Arnie set a standard that all of us should emulate as best we can. The bar is high.

[astavrides]

such a strange coincidence. I just had a daydream yesterday that it was about to happen. maybe, i heard something somewhere out of the corner of my ear. anyway, RIP.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I played with Arnie in a pro-am in 1985. He was my hero growing up. Rarely do heroes measure up. Arnie exceeded my dreams of who I thought he would be. Between each green and the next tee he signed dozens of autographs and posed for pictures. He took the time to learn a bit about each of the four of us who played with him. He was a great golfer but a greater man. Thank you Arnie. We did nothing to deserve you.

[Howard Riefs]

A life well lived. A few obits...

Brad Klein: http://golfweek.com/2016/09/25/arnold-palmer-left-mark-300-plus-course-designs/

Golf Digest:
http://bit.ly/2diFTgz

Golfweek:
http://bit.ly/2cE3Dcv

NY Times:
http://nyti.ms/2d2eRXt

Sports Illustrated:
http://on.si.com/2d22wnD

Golf Channel:
http://www.golfchannel.com/news/randall-mell/palmer-king-golf-dies-age-87

[Bill Shamleffer]

Consider this, because of Arnold Palmer, Herbert Warren Wind coined the phrase Amen Corner.


Next consider what the Open Championship is because of Palmer.


Golf is VERY different if not for Arnold Palmer.

[James Brown]

Only saw him play once up close, but felt like I knew the man like a friend.  There will never be another like him.  RIP, Arnie.  Every time I make a par from the trees, I owe you one!

[Greg Gilson]

one of a kind. sad day. play through, king.

[Bill Seitz]

My parents were engaged in 1965 (married in June) when Arnold Palmer was the Grand Marshall of the Rose Parade.  At that time, my dad was the manager of the Huntington Sheraton (now Langham) hotel in Pasadena, where Arnie and Winnie were staying.  As it turns out, my mom babysat his kids, and my dad got the opportunity to shake his hand.  They said he was one of the nicest men they'd ever met.  R.I.P., Arnie.

[Jon Wiggett]

Sad news to hear of the passing of one of the all time sporting greats. He changed golf into a world sport yet his feet remained firmly on the ground. We should all be grateful to Mr. Arnold Palmer.

[Sam Krume]

After working for Mr Palmer I am saddened to hear of his passing. He was and still is an icon of our game. He was an absolute gent, he always had time for everyone. He never forgot where he came from and that's why people loved him. R.I.P Arnold.

[Adam Lawrence]

I met Arnold when he was guest of honour at the KPMG golf conference at Celtic Manor in Wales some years back. It was a couple of days after the ASGCA annual meeting in Seattle, at which Erik Larsen had become ASGCA president, and I knew they had both attended that event. I said to Erik, you must have had a hell of a journey; he just smiled and said ‘It’s a bit easier when you fly with Arnold.’ Turned out they had flown Seattle to Newfoundland, where they’d refuelled, and then straight across the ocean to Cardiff in a touch over three hours!


Erik invited me to a reception in Arnold’s suite, so I put on a jacket and tie (very unusual for me!) and took the lift up to the appropriate floor. He greeted me as I arrived and said ‘I’ll introduce you to Arnold’. Which he did. Arnold looked me up and down, scowled and barked ‘You’re incorrectly dressed!’ Horrified, I fingered my tie and thought, am I wearing brown shoes with a black suit or something? He then broke into a big grin, shook my hand and removed the umbrella lapel pin from his own jacket and put it on mine. I felt about a mile tall!

[Steve Lapper]

Arnie was my first sports hero.


We shared a mutual birthday. With half my family from Pittsburgh, we shared some geographical roots as well. My mother(from Pittsburgh) and father (from Brooklyn) simply loved him and were early recruits to Arnies Army.


His treatment of others was unfailingly polite and gracious. My single greatest early sports memory was carrying the scoring placard for Mr. Palmer at the 1974 US Open in his first two rounds and having an inside the ropes view of the game's greatest fan-friendly and engaging player. He'd alternate pure ease and natural affinity for everyone around with hard-nosed determination and athletic grit.

As he furthered the democratization and TV exposure of the game on his broad shoulders ,along with elevating it's economic prosperity, he never lost his genuine sincerity, nor fell prey to what is so prevalent today...the cynical narcissism of professional athletics. Arnie was always worth emulating and admiring. For my fandom, I don't know if anyone else following in his footsteps will do a better job of representing the game. I feel as if in mourning for a member of the family.


The King is dead......long live the King!

[Jim Franklin]

Golf Magazine did a story back in the early 90's about the 52 things every golfer should do and #1 was shaking Arnold Palmer's hand. Throughout the years I saved that issue and would check things off as I accomplished them. It took about 10 years before I had done everything on that list except shake Mr Palmer's hand. About 10 years ago, I was invited to a breakfast with Mr Palmer. Talk about giddy. At the end, everyone was having a picture done or getting an autograph. When it was my turn, he asked me what I wanted signed and I told him nothing, I just wanted to shake his hand. He smiled and shook my hand.

[John Kirk]

A nice story this morning in ESPN.  In addition to being personable, Arnold was a great competitor and warrior.

http://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/17640876/the-force-drove-arnold-palmer

[BHoover]

Mr. Palmer seemed to be the definition of life well lived. That is the best obituary one could have, in my opinion.

I only saw him play once, but it was at Oakmont in 1994 for his final US Open. I remember that he received an ovation on every tee box, walking down every fairway, and on every green. It was spectacular.
Jim, great story and a memory to be cherished.

[Jason Topp]

The first thing that came to mind when I heard the news is the video package of the 1986 Masters.  Arnold is interviewed and explains why he thought Nicklaus could win at age 46.  He then went on to comment that he thought he could still win at 56 if he just got things going the right way.

Arnold was past his prime when I started to play golf but my memories of him are his enthusiasm for the game and his constant search for a way to get it done.  The last time I saw him on a golf course he was en route to shooting a 92 at the 3M Senior event.  He displayed the right combination of extreme disappointment while still connecting with fans on what must have been a very embarrassing day. 

[Howard Riefs]

Consider this, because of Arnold Palmer, Herbert Warren Wind coined the phrase Amen Corner.


Next consider what the Open Championship is because of Palmer.


Golf is VERY different if not for Arnold Palmer.

*Sports* is VERY different if not for Arnold Palmer.


http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-mark-mccormack-and-arnold-palmer-helped-change-sports-forever-1461162210

[Colin Shellard]

Consider this, because of Arnold Palmer, Herbert Warren Wind coined the phrase Amen Corner.


Next consider what the Open Championship is because of Palmer.


Golf is VERY different if not for Arnold Palmer.

*Sports* is VERY different if not for Arnold Palmer.


http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-mark-mccormack-and-arnold-palmer-helped-change-sports-forever-1461162210

Don't suppose there is a link to that article for those who don't have a subscription to the WSJ??


I've loved ready all the stories about Mr Palmer today, both on here and other sites and publications, although I think we have all lost someone very special, I'm sure he would be humbled to see the response across the world at his very sad passing.


One thing that I thought of is I wonder how many of us would play golf today if it wasn't for Arnold?

[JJShanley]

My abiding memory of Mr. Palmer is watching BBC golf with Papa Shanley, who would exclaim "ARNIE PALMER" when the man himself came on the screen.  I know his championships exclusively through the history books and re-runs, but I understand acutely how his passion for the game encouraged my father, which came down in turn to me. 


For that I feel grateful beyond words.



Rest in Peace.  And thank you for the memories, of all sorts.

[Bill Shamleffer]

Consider this, because of Arnold Palmer, Herbert Warren Wind coined the phrase Amen Corner.


Next consider what the Open Championship is because of Palmer.


Golf is VERY different if not for Arnold Palmer.

*Sports* is VERY different if not for Arnold Palmer.


http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-mark-mccormack-and-arnold-palmer-helped-change-sports-forever-1461162210

Don't suppose there is a link to that article for those who don't have a subscription to the WSJ??

The backdoor around a pay wall, to get a full article, is to enter the headline of the article in a search engine.


If you enter in google:
"How Mark McCormack and Arnold Palmer Helped Change Sports Forever[size=78%]"[/size]
[/size]and then click on the first item that come up, you should have access to the full article.[size=78%]

[Don Mahaffey]

I grew up in the 70s in the La Quinta area of The Coachella Valley and the biggest event of the year was the Bob Hope Desert Classic.
Basically everything shut down for that week as even though the schools were still open, many of us worked the concession stands, as a standard bearer, caddied for the ams (groups were 3 ams and a pro over 4 golf courses) or just joined the party.
Arnie played well in the Hope and was always the feature group playing with Pres Ford, Hope, or one of the other big name groups. You'd have to camp out holes ahead to get a look as his army was in full force.

It was a great tournament back in those days, just a big week long party and I think Arnie got invited to every function. I doubt he could attend them all, but he always looked like he was making the effort.  Just the way he connected with the fans made him different, and even with all the hubbub he managed to in it 5 times, including the first event in '60 and his last tour title in '73.

I think he will always be synonymous with that event, and while I accept that it may be just nostalgic thinking, he seemed to be perfect for it as you never heard him whine about having to play with Ams for 4 days like the modern pros who effectively changed the format because of that issue. 

Some very special memories for me.