The staging of the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week presents the PGA Tour to once again pay tribute to one of the most important figures the game of golf has ever had.
It is more than eight years since Arnold Palmer passed away at the age of 87. While Palmer did not win as many majors as the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, it was the King who was beloved by golf fans like no other player, perhaps in the game’s history.
Palmer had a level of charisma that the current PGA Tour stars could only dream of having. And of course, he is one of a handful of players who could genuinely say that they changed the game during their era.
Palmer remains such a huge figure in the sport nearly a decade on from his death. And that will become truly evident at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where the PGA Tour’s best are desperate to win the tournament bearing his name.
What Arnold Palmer said when asked why golf is so difficult
He was a showman whether he had a golf club in his hand or a story to tell. So it should come as no surprise that Palmer had such a superb answer when asked by Larry King in 1997 why the game of golf is so difficult.
“It isn’t difficult. It’s a game of challenge. My father told me when I first started playing the game. He said remember one thing, there are going to be a lot of good golfers, there are some that are going to be better than you or some that think they are better than you, but he said there is one thing you must remember – that it is one game you play from your shoulders up. Believe me, in all the years that I have played, if I have ever learnt anything that is one of the things that I have learnt best. You can do everything and part of my problem now is that I am looking for a miracle. I am looking for something that my father told me not to look for. He said play the game, use your head. I am now trying to find something that is probably impossible, that’s that miracle. Go out and play the game and use your head to the best of your ability,” he said.
“What I need to do is settle down and use the ability and whatever mentality I have yet to play the best golf that I can and realising that I can’t hit it 300 yards and I don’t have the same physical things that I once had. But on the other hand I have some equipment that has really improved the game for all of us and kept us playing at this stage of our lives.
“We have a lot of things going and mostly it’s just settle down and use what we have. It is such a great game, families can play it, old people can play it. We are out there and we can walk and really do some things which are pretty fantastic.”
What Tiger Woods said about Arnold Palmer after his death in 2016
Many of those involved with the game today would not have seen Palmer in anything like his prime. His last major win came at the PGA Championship in 1970. Meanwhile, it was the same major championship in 1989 that he would make the cut in one of the sport’s four biggest events for the final time.
But the game’s greats need no encouragement to speak about the impact Palmer had. Speaking shortly after his death, Tiger Woods explained just how large a role Palmer had in changing the sport.
“It’s a sad period. What he did for the game of the golf he transformed it from the dark ages to the television age. His personality, his charisma, his go-for-broke attitude and the style of play – it was all perfect for TV and he led us all to where we are now,” he said, as reported by Sky Sports.
“Arnold and I go way back, to my first US junior that I won at Bay Hill. He gave the keynote speech that week and I got he chance to meet Arnie. Then when moving there and living there I got the chance to get to know him. We always hung out and had a good time.”
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