Masters Report: All About Arnold

The King, at 86, continues to cast a long shadow over Augusta National.

Masters Report: All About Arnold

AUGUSTA, GA: Pardon if my slip is showing as I leave the tragedy and triumph of the wind-ravaged 80th Masters to the birdie and bogey bards, but the potent, poignant moments of this grand week were all wrapped up in the king of these palatial acres long anointed as heaven on earth.

Arnold Daniel Palmer.

Yes, his golden days have come and gone and come and gone. And for anybody as young as Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, or ones yet to be born, this one-man Arnie will forever come and never go.

So the sadness and gladness of this remarkable week were packaged for me in this 86-year-old legend who teed it up in 50 of the previous 79 Masters even as hereditary infirmities directed him to humbly and quite unhappily shrink from his role as honorary starter with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, the remainder of golfdom’s original Big Three.

Arnold Palmer with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, 2016 Masters

It was a somber yet heart-warming scene as The Man, Jack and Gary took their positions for the ceremonial first tee pops to open this 80th event because it had been rumored that Arnie would not show up because aching hip, knees and shoulder that impaired his balance but not his resolve.

The crowd, including young contestants Ricky Fowler and U.S. Amateur champ DeChambeau, had swollen to five and six deep, and it didn’t take a brain scan to know it was the King of the Troika they had come to adore one more time. An icon who had lost absolutely no glitter or glamour even though he had missed 21 straight Masters’ cuts since 1983.

The scene dripped with dramatic backdrops.

Highly popular two-time winner Tom Watson, conceding “I can’t play this golf course anymore,” was calling this Masters his last of 43, tears and cheers all around. And, no, “I’m not ready to step into an honorary starter’s role yet.”  Effervescent Spaniard Seve Ballesteros was being remembered on Saturday’s third round as the only April birthdate of a Masters’ champ, the saucy Seve having passed away May 7, 2011 at age 54. Speculation on the 2016 winner—and, ultimately, the loser—was more contentious than before the daze of Tiger.

Sorry. To me and an army of anybody who ever was touched by his infectious personality, this was all about Arnold.

Bowed, gaunt with even his trademark smile weary, Arnold made his way to the first tee with Nicklaus gently nudging him to hit a ball, even if dribbling it down the fairway.  Once again he was not bowing to Jack’s will. Even though he had not won on the PGA Tour since the 1974 Bob Hope, Arnie retained his dignity if not his balance. He knew when to quit flying his own airplane, leaving the cockpit for good Feb. 1, 2011 after 20,000 smiles. Sorry, he’d sit this out.

As time and heartache put a bigger hitch in Palmer’s every vigorous giddy-up and pang in his heart, everybody who ever had the great good fortune to be touched by him simply can not let go.  When he said,  “I’ve had it. I’m done, cooked, washed up, finished” after his 50th Masters in 2004, his faithful would not let go.  They were appeased, mildly, when he added “Augusta and this golf town has been a part of my life more than anything other than my family. I don’t think I could ever separate myself from this club and tournament…I may not be here but I’ll still be a part of whatever happens here.”

Golf World magazine chronicler Jaime Diaz put a finger on ArnoId’s magnetism when he wrote pre-tournament,  “…..Arnold Palmer will always matter. What is beautiful is that with passing years, he matters even more.”

Michael Bamberger, in his book Men in Green, said it for the media and entire golf world, noting: “He let us in.  Like no other golfer. Ever.”

The melifoulus Dan Jenkins years ago in his book The Dogged Victims of Inexorable Fate, reached deeper and more succinctly, deciding Arnie  “….is the most immeasurable of all golf champions. But this is not entirely true because of all he has won, or because of that magnificent fury with which he has managed to rally himself….he, after all, is the doggedist victim of all of us in the nobility he has brought in losing. And more than anything, it is true because of the pure, unmissed joy he has brought to trying. He has been, after all, the doggedist victim of all of us.”

The cheers for this and all the years were ringing wildly as Nicklaus gently, caringly led Arnold to the waiting carts following the opening shots, everybody knowing down deep, Arnold Palmer forever will be irrepressibly, indelibly locked in the minds, hearts and spirits  of the golf world.

It was more than a treasure having him aboard for the Masters’ 80th on the brink of his 87th.

Amen…without corners, or caveats.

CAG Contributor Kaye Kessler has covered more than 60 Masters tournaments in his illustrious career.

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ALSO SEE:

A Look Back: The Day Arnie Threw Down

Golfers, athletes, celebrities mourn the loss of The King, Arnold Palmer. 1929-2016.

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