ARNOLD PALMER...A BIOGRAPHY

 

            Arnold Palmer is many things to many people...world famous golf immortal and sportsman, highly-successful business executive, prominent advertising spokesman, skilled aviator, talented golf course designer and consultant, devoted family patriarch and a man with a down-to-earth common touch that has made him one of the most popular and accessible public figures in history.

 

 

 

            His popularity and success grew with the tremendous golf boom in the latter half of the 20^th Century to heights few ever anticipated and they have been recognized in countless ways over the years.  Certainly each contributed to the other, a fact given recognition when he was named "Athlete of the Decade" for the 1960s in a national Associated Press poll.  Before, during and after that great decade, the famous golfer amassed 92 championships in professional competition of national or international stature.  Sixty-two of the victories came on the U.S. PGA Tour, starting with the 1955 Canadian Open.

 

 

 

            Besides the magnificent performance record, his magnetic personality and unfailing sense of kindness and thoughtfulness to everybody with whom he comes in contact have endeared him to millions throughout the world and led to the informal formation of the largest non-uniformed "military" organization in existence -- Arnie's Army.  Seven of his victories came in what the golfing world considers the four major professional championships.  He won the Masters Tournament four times, in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964; the U.S. Open in spectacular fashion in 1960 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver and the British Open in 1961 and 1962.  He came from seven strokes off the pace in the final round in that U.S. Open win and finished second in four other Opens after that.  Among the majors, only the PGA Championship eluded him.  He finished second in the PGA three times.

 

            Arnie's springboard to professional fame and fortune was his victory in the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1954.  He turned professional a few months later.  His hottest period was a four-year stretch from 1960 to 1963 when he landed 29 of his titles and collected almost $400,000 at a time when the purses were minute by today's standards.  He was the leading money-winner in three of those years and twice represented the   in the prestigious Ryder Cup Match during that time, serving in 1963 as the victorious captain.

 

 

 

            It was also during this period that his rapidly-growing business interests got their start, through the impetus of Palmer himself and with the guidance and efforts of his business manager, the late Mark McCormack, and his wide-ranging organization.  Arnold is president of Arnold Palmer Enterprises, a multi-division structure encompassing much of his global commercial activity that is centered in Cleveland .  He has been involved in automobile and aviation service firms over the years and still is the principal owner of a car dealership in his Latrobe (PA) hometown.

 

 

 

ARNOLD PALMER...Page 2    

 

 

 

            Arnold is president and sole owner (since 1971) of Latrobe Country Club and president and principal owner of the Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Orlando, FL , which he and a group of associates acquired in 1970.  Bay Hill hosts the annual Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard, on the PGA Tour.  In 1999 Arnold and a group of investors purchased the famed Pebble Beach golf complex on the California coast.  He also is tournament professional and member of the board of directors of Laurel Valley Golf Club, Ligonier, PA , with which he has been affiliated since its founding in the late 1950s.

 

 

            Palmer is consultant to The Golf Channel in Orlando , which went on the air on cable networks in January, 1995.  Another important facet of his activities involves the Arnold Palmer Design Company, which is based at the Bay Hill Club.  Since the mid-1960s, Palmer has put his stamp on more than 200 new courses throughout the nation and world.  His modest business empire and golfing activities keep Palmer on the move much of the year, most of the travel in his Cessna Citation X jet aircraft with Arnold at the controls when aboard.  He was recognized in 1999 for his contributions to aviation and his Western Pennsylvania community when the Westmoreland County Airport at Latrobe was renamed the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport .  He is a member of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority.

 

Palmer was born on September 10, 1929, in Latrobe, a small industrial town in Western Pennsylvania at the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains some 50 miles east of Pittsburgh .  He still lives there during the warm months of the year, but spends the fall and winter months at his homes at Bay Hill and at the Tradition Golf Club in La Quinta, California .  He has numerous active and honorary memberships in clubs throughout the world, including famed Augusta National in , St. Andrews in , Pine Valley in New Jersey, Winged Foot in New York and Oakmont in Pittsburgh .

 

 

 

            The golfing great has been the recipient of countless honors, the symbolic plaques, trophies and citations scattered throughout his personal, club and business worlds, the epitome coming in 2004 when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony.  He has received virtually every national award in golf and after his great 1960 season both the Hickok Professional Athlete of the Year and Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year trophies.  He is a charter member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and a member of the American Golf Hall of Fame at Foxburg, PA, and the PGA Hall of Fame in Florida .  He is chairman of the USGA Members Program and served as honorary national chairman of the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation for 20 years.  He played a major role in the fund-raising drive in the 1980s that led to the creation of the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and Women in Orlando, now a part of the Arnold Palmer Medical Center .  A long-time member of the board of directors of Latrobe Area Hospital , he staged a major annual fund-raising golf event for that institution for six years that led to the formation of the Latrobe Area Hospital Charitable Foundation.

 

 

 

ARNOLD PALMER...Page 3

 

 

            The saga of Arnold Palmer began when he was four years old, swinging his first set of golf clubs, cut down by his father, Milfred J. (Deacon) Palmer, who worked at Latrobe Country Club from 1921 until his death in 1976, much of that time as both golf professional and course superintendent.  Before long, Arnie was playing well enough to beat the older caddies at the club.  He began caddying himself when he was 11 and worked at almost every job at the club in later years.

 

            The strongly-built young man concentrated on golf in high school, soon was dominating the game in Western Pennsylvania and twice won the Pennsylvania high school championship  He won his first of five West Penn Amateur Championships when he was 17, competed successfully in national junior events and went to Wake Forest University (then College), where he became No. 1 man on the golf team and one of the leading collegiate players of that time.  Deeply affected by the death in an auto accident of his close friend and classmate, Bud Worsham, younger brother of 1947 U.S. Open Champion Lew Worsham, Arnold withdrew from college during his senior year and began a three-year hitch in the Coast Guard.  His interest in golf rekindled while he was stationed in Cleveland .  He was working there as a salesman and playing amateur golf after his discharge from the service and brief return to Wake Forest when he won the U.S. Amateur in 1954 following his second straight victory in the Ohio Amateur earlier that summer.

 

 

 

            It was during that period that he met Winifred Walzer at a tournament in Eastern Pennsylvania .  They were married shortly after he turned professional in the fall of 1954 and Winnie traveled with him when he joined the pro tour in early 1955.  Mrs. Palmer died of cancer on November 20, 1999.  Mr. Palmer and his second wife, Kathleen (Kit) Gawthrop, were married in a private ceremony in Hawaii on January 26, 2005.  He underwent successful prostate cancer surgery in 1997 and has become a strong advocate of programs supporting cancer research and early detection. 

 

 

 

The Palmer family consists of two daughters -- Peggy Palmer Wears, of Durham, NC, and Amy Palmer Saunders, of Windermere, FL; five granddaughters, Emily Schneider (1/27/81), Katherine Anne Spears(9/2/82), Anne Palmer (9/14/84) Saunders, Anna Flexer Wears (2/24/97) and Peggy's stepdaughter, Nicola Wears (4/15/82), and two grandsons, Samuel Palmer Saunders (7/30/87) and William Gray Palmer Wears (10/16/94).  Mr. Palmer’s second wife has three children – son Al Gawthrop III and daughters Lynn Bouck and Blair Miller, all living in the Denver area – and seven grandchildren.  Arnold's brother, Jerry, who succeeded their father as course superintendent at Latrobe CC, and sisters, Lois Jean Tilley and Sandra Sarni, live in their home area in Western Pennsylvania .  Jerry is now general manager of Latrobe CC and all Palmer properties there.  Their mother, Doris, passed away in 1979 after a long, brave battle against crippling arthritis.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                        1/1/07 DG ARNOLD PALMER'S PROFESSIONAL CAREER SUMMARY

 

 

 

1955 through 2005

 

 EARNINGS – REGULAR PGA TOUR                                                                   $2,130,239

 

                                     SENIOR PGA TOUR                                                                                                $2,277,972

 

 

 

                                     FOREIGN/INTERNATIONAL/NON-TOUR EARNINGS                                   $2,345.108 

 

 

 

                                    TOTAL COMPETITIVE EARNINGS                                                                     $6,753,319

 

                                     (Excludes pro-ams, skins games)

 

 

 

                                     VICTORIES:    92   ( Tour – 61; Foreign/International – 19; Seniors – 12)

 

 

 

INDIVIDUAL RECORDS BEST OPENING ROUND: 64,  1955 Canadian Open; 1962 Phoenix Open; 1970 Citrus Open; 1970 Greensboro Open; 1971    Westchester Classic  

 

 

BEST SECOND ROUND: 63,  1961 Texas Open

 

BEST THIRD ROUND: 62,  1966 Los Angeles Open

BEST FOURTH ROUND:  62,  1959 Thunderbird Classic

 

LOWEST SCORE, FIRST 36 HOLES: 130, (67-63), 1961 Texas Open

 

 

 

LOWEST SCORE, FIRST 54 HOLES: 195, (64-67-64), 1955 Canadian Open

LOWEST 72-HOLE SCORE: 265, (64-67-64-70), 1955 Canadian Open

 

 

BIGGEST VICTORY MARGIN: 12, 1962 Phoenix Open

 

 

 

MOST CONSECUTIVE BIRDIES:  7,  1966 Los Angeles Open, third round

 

 

 

HOLES-IN-ONE: 19, three in PGA Tour events, four on Senior PGA Tour, one in Japan

 

 

 

ALL-TIME LOW 18-HOLE SCORE:  60, Latrobe Country Club, September, 1969

 

SPECIAL GOLF ACHIEVEMENTS

 

 

 

PGA Player of Year – 1960 and 1962 

 

PGA Tour Leading Money-Winner – 1958, 1960, 1962, 1963

 

Vardon Trophy – 1961, 1962, 1964, 1967

 

Ryder Cup Team – 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1973; Capt. – 1963, 1975

 

Chrysler Cup Team and Captain (Senior Golf) – 1986-90

 

Presidents Cup Captain – 1996                       

 

UBS Cup Team and Captain – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004

 

 

 

PROFESSIONAL VICTORIES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEST 18-HOLE ROUND: 62,  1959 Thunderbird Invitational, fourth round; 1966 Los Angeles Open, third round

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1955 Canadian Open Insurance City Open

Eastern Open

Azalea Open

 

 

 

1957 Houston Open

 

Rubber City Open

 

San Diego Open

 

 

 

1958

 

St. Petersburg Open

Masters Tournament

 

Pepsi Open

 

1959

 

Thunderbird Invitational

 

Oklahoma City Open

West Palm Beach Open

 

 

 

1960

 

Bob Hope Desert Classic

 

Texas Ope

 

Baton Rouge Open

 

Pensacola Open

 

Masters Tournament

 

Open Championship

 

Insurance City Open Mobile Open

 

  Cup  (Partner:  Sam Snead)

 

 

 

1961

 

San Diego Open

 

Phoenix Open

 

Baton Rouge Open

 

Texas Open

 

 British Open Championship

 

Western Open

 

1962

 

Bob Hope Desert Classic

 

Phoenix Open

 

Masters Tournament exas Open

 

Tournament of Champions

 

Colonial National Invitational

 

 British Open Championship

 

American Golf Classic

 

  Cup  (Partner:  Sam Snead)

 

1963

 

 

 

Los Angeles Open

 

Phoenix Open

 

Pensacola Open

 

Thunderbird  Classic

 

Cleveland Open

 

Western Open

 

Whitemarsh Open

 

 Australian Wills Masters

 

  Cup  (Jack Nicklaus)

 

 

 

1964

 

 

 

Masters Tournament

 

Oklahoma City Open

 

 Piccadilly World Match Play

 

   Championship

 

  Cup 

 

   Partner:  (Jack Nicklaus)

 

 

 

1965

 

 

 

Tournament of Champions

 

 

 

1966

 

 

 

Los Angeles Open

 

Tournament of Champions

 

 Australian Open

 

Houston Champions International

 

PGA Team Championship

 

   (Partner:  Jack Nicklaus)

 

Cup

 

   (Partner:  Jack Nicklaus)

 

 

 

1967

 

 

 

Los Angeles Open

 

Tucson Open

 

American Golf Classic

 

Thunderbird Classic

 

 Piccadilly World Match Play

 

   Championship

 

  World Cup

 

   (Partner:  Jack Nicklaus)

 

 World Cup International Trophy

 

   (Individual Title)

 

 

 

1968

 

 

 

Bob Hope Desert Classic

 

Kemper Open

 

 

 

1969

 

 

 

Heritage Classic

 

Danny Thomas Diplomat Classic

 

 

 

1970

 

 

 

PGA Team Championship

 

   (Partner:  Jack Nicklaus)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1971

 

 

 

Bob Hope Desert Classic

 

Citrus Open

 

Westchester Classic

 

PGA Team Championship

 

    (Partner:  Jack Nicklaus)

 

   Lancome Trophy

 

 

 

1973

 

 

 

Bob Hope Desert Classic

 

 

 

1975

 

 

 

Spanish Open

 

British PGA Championship

 

 

 

1980

 

 

 

  Canadian PGA Championship

 

PGA Seniors Championship

 

 

 

1981

 

 

 

USGA Senior Open Championship

 

 

 

1982

 

 

 

Marlboro Senior Classic

 

Denver Post Champions of Golf

 

 

 

1983

 

 

 

Boca Grove Senior Classic

 

 

 

1984

 

 

 

PGA Seniors Championship

 

Doug Sanders Celebrity Pro-Am

 

Senior TPC

 

Quadel (Boca Grove) Classic

 

 

 

1985

 

 

 

Senior TPC

 

 

 

1986

 

 

 

Unionmutual Classic

 

 

 

1988

 

 

 

Crestar Classic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOTAL VICTORIES:  92

 

 

 

 

 

Key

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1956