Time for one last walk for Arnie at Masters

AP via Excite.com ^ | 4-12-2002 | TIM DAHLBERG

[Cagey]

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - The last 18 holes will be the toughest for Arnold Palmer. And it has nothing to do with the state of his golf game.

After 48 years, Palmer is saying goodbye to the Masters with a final round Friday that promises to be filled with tears on both sides of the ropes.

Palmer will shed them because he can no longer compete in a tournament where his mere presence once dominated. His fans will choke up even as they cheer because it's the end of a once magical era.

"It will be emotional," Palmer said. "But, you know, those things happen and I'm not sad about it."

Years of memories - the four green jackets, the final hole collapse in 1961 - will be relived as Palmer takes one last ceremonial tour around Augusta National before fans who still adore him.

At the age of 72, Palmer is not only years past being competitive, but near the point of being embarrassed. In his first round Thursday he couldn't reach greens with 3-woods, and four-putted the first hole.

That didn't stop fans from giving him two standing ovations on the final green, where Palmer calmly sunk an 8-footer to break 90. His decision had already been made, but the 89 he shot Thursday cemented it.

"I said I'm not going to make a big announcement about anything that I do playing golf," Palmer said. "I'm just going to fade away, and this is the time."

When he finishes Friday, a tournament and a player whose marriage meant so much to the sport will part ways after nearly a half-century. It will happen on the very course where "Arnie's Army" was born and Palmer's swashbuckling style was popularized.

His decision comes a week after six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus announced he would skip the tournament because of a bad back. It's only the second time since 1959 that the 62-year-old Nicklaus has missed the Masters.

And it came the same year where three of his contemporaries - all former Masters winners - were sent letters telling them they would no longer be able to compete.

"There are some things in life that are inevitable and I guess I'm facing that now," Palmer said. "I'm not any different than most people."

Palmer already said his farewells to the U.S. Open and PGA in 1994, and the British Open a year later. He hasn't made a Masters cut since 1983 and hasn't been competitive in a quarter century.

But he lingered on the deep green fairways of Augusta National until now, unwilling to break with the tournament he first played when he was 25 in 1955.

"There's no question Augusta has meant an awful lot for me over the years," Palmer said. "It may be the one tournament that kicked me off and got me started on my career."

As much as the Masters meant to Palmer, he might have meant even more to the tournament.

"It's sad because he did so much to basically publicize the Masters," Tom Watson said. "It was the way he won it, those three wins ... with him charging from behind. That was his legacy. That's the way people will always remember Arnie here."

Palmer won his four green jackets between 1958 and 1964. Even the Masters he lost had drama, none more so than in 1961 when he hit it into the bunker on the 18th hole, made double-bogey and Gary Player won by a stroke.

He was walking down the fairway on the final hole that year when a friend called him over to congratulate him on the win. It was a mistake he would never forget.

"My mind left my body. It just went away," Palmer said. "That was the saddest situation I had here."

There were many more that were joyous. In 1958, Palmer eagled the 13th hole on his way to his first win. That year, writer Herbert Warren Wind first used "Amen Corner" in a story to describe where the day's critical action occurred.

In 48 years and 146 rounds, Palmer got to know not only tournament officials but the fans who line the fairways and crowd the greens.

On Thursday, he greeted them as if they were old friends, walking near the ropes after every shot to kiss women, shake hands with men and revel in the attention one more time.

"I could probably tell you the first names of thousands of them," Palmer said. "I either knew them by their first names or I knew their relatives."

They responded with standing ovations at every green, even as Palmer was struggling to reach greens and was seemingly befuddled once he got to them.

It was left unspoken, but Palmer's days were winding down and he recognized it. He wanted to go out on his terms, but clearly the course had become too much.

"For him to stick around for this long is awfully impressive," Tiger Woods said. "The golf course has just gotten a little bit too big for him."

Palmer said he's not done with golf yet. He still plans to play in senior tour majors and a few other events. He's also a member at Augusta National and can play the course any time he wants.

Palmer also left open the possibility of becoming a ceremonial starter, a role performed over the years by the likes of Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen and Byron Nelson.

"I'll support this tournament until the day I die. I'll come and be part of it," Palmer said. "I recognize the fact that someday I'm going to die. I don't want to die but I'm going to. That's the way it is."

[Cagey]

No one brought more people to play the game. He'll be missed.

[mdittmar]

Watching as I type.

The 'King' will be missed at Augusta.

[Cagey]

Past Coast Guardsman was 'on the ball'

YN3 Arnold Palmer, 23, played in the North and South Amateur Golf Championship held at Pinehurst Country Club, Pinehurst, N.C., April 20, 1953, while on leave from his yeoman duties in the 9th District Auxiliary office. Prior to entering the Coast Guard, Arnold attained three titles while attending Wake Forest College: Southern Conference Champion, 1948-49; Southern Intercollegiate Champion, 1950; and medalist in the Intercollegiate Championship, 1949-50. (Coast Guard historical photo)

[N. Theknow]

Arnie is the one who started me playing.

I always wore his golf gloves with the umbrella on them and his golf shirts. Playing in South Carolina in college, I developed a strategy for preserving the gloves so they would last longer. Pitched a loud fit when the pro shop stopped carrying them.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

I've never been a golfer
BUT I remember as a kid reading about Arnold Palmer.

[Cagey]

[jwalsh07]

I took up golf at age 45, I'm 50 now, but I always knew who Arnold Palmer was and what he was about even when I was in my football mindset that said that any sport that didn't involve contact wasn't a sport.

I salute Arnie.

[NormsRevenge]

A Legend in His Own Time and Well Beyond

I would have loved to have seen the prime time Arnie and Tiger play