Raise a glass of lemonade and iced tea.
Arnold Palmer, The King of Golf, died Sunday of complications from heart problems. He was 87.
Palmer not only dominated the sport with seven major championships and 62 PGA Tour wins, but won over America with his charm, classy looks and brash play.
“Thanks Arnold for your friendship, counsel and a lot of laughs. Your philanthropy and humility are part of your legend,” Tiger Woods tweeted late Sunday.
“It’s hard to imagine golf without you or anyone more important to the game than the King.”
The golfing legend was admitted to a Pittsburgh hospital Thursday and weakened over the last few days, said Alastair Johnson, CEO of Arnold Palmer Enterprises.
He left behind a gallery known as Arnie’s Army, which began at Augusta National with a small group of GIs from Fort Hood, and grew to include fans from every corner of the globe.
“We just lost one of the incredible people in the game of golf and in all of sports,” fellow legend Jack Nicklaus said in a statement Sunday night. “Arnold transcended the game of golf. He was more than a golfer or even great golfer. He was an icon. He was a legend. Arnold was someone who was a pioneer in his sport. He took the game from one level to a higher level, virtually by himself.”
“When he hits the ball, the earth shakes.”
- Gene Littler
“He was the king of our sport and always will be.”
Palmer was also a sports-marketing pioneer, paving the way for scores of other athletes to rake in millions from endorsements. Some four decades after his last PGA Tour win, he ranked among the highest-earners in golf.
He even had a drink named after him. The combination of iced tea and lemonade is known as an “Arnold Palmer.”
Golfer Pádraig Harrington recalls eating in an Italian restaurant in Miami when he heard a customer order one.
“Think about it,” Harrington said. “You don’t go up there and order a ‘Tiger Woods’ at the bar. You can go up there and order an ‘Arnold Palmer’ in this country and the barman — he was a young man — knew what the drink was. That’s in a league of your own.”
Palmer was iconic on the course for not just winning, but doing it with style. He would hitch up his pants, drop a cigarette and attack the flags. With powerful hands wrapped around the club, Palmer would slash mightily, then twist his muscular neck and squint to see where it went.
“When he hits the ball, the earth shakes,” said Gene Littler, one of Palmer’s PGA Tour contemporaries.
Palmer rallied from seven shots down to win a U.S. Open. He blew a seven-shot lead on the back nine to lose a US Open.
He was never dull.
“I’m pleased that I was able to do what I did from a golfing standpoint,” Palmer said in 2008, two years after he played in his last official tournament. “I would like to think that I left them more than just that.”
It was Palmer who gave golf the modern version of the Grand Slam.
He came up with the idea after winning the Masters and US Open in 1960. Palmer was runner-up at the British Open, later calling it one of the biggest disappointments of his career. But his appearance alone invigorated the tournament, which Americans had ignored for years.
Palmer never won the fourth leg of the slam, the PGA Championship, the only one of the majors he missed.
But then, the standard he set went beyond trophies. It was the way he treated people, looking everyone in the eye with a smile and a wink. He signed every autograph, making sure it was legible. He made every fan feel like an old friend.
Palmer never liked being referred to as “The King,” but the name stuck.
“It was back in the early ’60s. I was playing pretty good, winning a lot of tournaments, and someone gave a speech and referred to me as ‘The King,’ ” Palmer recalled in 2011.
“I don’t bask in it. I don’t relish it. I tried for a long time to stop that and,” he said, pausing to shrug, “there was no point.”