Brits Bid Arnie Farewell Salute

Arnold Palmer is going back to St. Andrews, back to the cradle of golf, to play one last British Open this week.

Sixty-five years old now, his mighty swing shortened and his fearless stroke rendered uncertain by time, Arnie is no threat to win this great old championship again. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club changed its eligibility rules to give him one final year of exemption - not to see him win a third Open, but to give him a proper farewell.

This, then, is Arnie’s lap of honor.

Palmer, who would eventually number seven major championships among the more than 100 tournaments he won, captured the British Open in 1961 at Royal Birkdale and in 1962 at Troon, at the height of his powers, and changed golf in two ways.

His daring, two-fisted style of play captivated the rest of the world as it had America, and turned golf into a spectator sport. It also triggered new interest among European players.

Interest in the British Open had sagged. But when Arnie began to play and win, he attracted a large number of American players to Great Britain for the annual July championship. Galleries multiplied tenfold.

Palmer had transformed golf from a quiet, measured game of caution to one of daring. He had made it a game for the people and they raced after him - Arnie’s Army - roaring and groaning as his fortunes rose and fell. Young golfers watched and began to hitch up their pants - Arnie’s trademark - and adopt this style of golf, golf with blood rushing through its veins.

That new interest helped produce, over a couple of generations, such great European players as Tony Jacklin, Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal.

In 1960, Arnie won the Masters in April and the U.S. Open in June. Not a lot of Americans played in the British Open at the time because of the distance and the cost. Prize money was little more than a token. But Arnie went and finished second when Kel Nagle birdied the last two holes to beat him - at St. Andrews.

“From the time I was a little boy,” Palmer said, “my father (the late Deac Palmer) and I spent a great deal of time talking about the British Open, and he and I both decided that when I had enough money to go to the British Open, we would go.

“When I was a kid, I was really hung up on golf. I would read about (Bobby) Jones and (Gene) Sarazen and (Walter) Hagen and (Sam) Snead and (Byron) Nelson. One thing that fascinated me about them and the game was playing in Great Britain.

“I had originally planned to do what Jones did,” Palmer said, thinking of 1930 when Jones won the U.S. and British Opens and the U.S. and British Amateurs - the original Grand Slam of golf.

“I was dreaming a little, but that was my thought. I won the U.S. Amateur, but I couldn’t afford to stay amateur. I had to turn pro. Then my attention changed.”

Palmer envisioned a new Grand Slam, and on a flight from Pittsburgh to Kansas City he brought it up to Bob Drum, then a Pittsburgh sports writer and later a TV commentator.

Palmer recalls, “I said to Bob Drum, ‘Can you imagine. I’ve won the Masters and the U.S. Open already this year. If I win the British Open, I’ll have three legs of the Grand Slam.”’

“Drum said, ‘What?’

“I said, ‘Well, hell, it’s no big deal. If I win the British and then the PGA, I will have won the four major championships in world golf in one year - the Grand Slam.’ He wrote it and that’s when the Grand Slam became a big deal.”

It didn’t happen. He lost to Nagle in 1960. But Palmer told the press he would keep coming back until he won the British Open.

It took one year. He won at Royal Birkdale in 1961 and hit a monumental shot there - a shot that defined his style and career. It came on the 15th hole of the final round. His tee shot bounced into knee-high rough.

“I knew I was in pretty good position to win the tournament,” Palmer said. ” … The rough was about 2 feet deep and there was a little bush behind my ball. No one thought I could hit it on the green. I probably swung as hard at that as anything in my life.

“It was a 6-iron shot and the pin was on the front-right of the green. I can see the ball flying through the air now. It hit the front fringe, took one bounce and stopped 15 feet from the hole. I saved par, then finished birdie- par-birdie. Dai Rees eagled the last hole, but I beat him by a shot.”

He successfully defended in 1962 at Troon, but almost didn’t make it to the tournament. Even as defending champ, he had to qualify. Before his qualifying round, he was awake all night with an intestinal disorder.

When he mentioned it in the golf shop that morning, an old gentleman fetched him a glass of medicine that he promised would cure the problem. Arnie drank it down. He still doesn’t know what it was, but it cured his problem. Problem was, he was so tipsy when he reached the first tee, he almost had to have someone peg his ball up for him.

“Thank goodness there was a cool wind blowing,” he said. “I finally sobered up around the fifth hole. And I went on to play probably the best foreign golf, tee to green, I’ve ever played that week at Troon.”

And because he said he wouldn’t be back if he had to qualify again as, the rule was changed.

Palmer last played in the British Open in 1990. He had announced before the tournament it would be his last, but he missed the cut and left himself and his fans dissatisfied.

“On the 10th or 11th hole of the second round,” he said, “I was one or 2 over par and I said if I could finish the two rounds even par, I would make the cut. I did that, but the weather, which had been rainy and windy, changed. It became a beautiful, calm day.

“The press guys were saying I had made the cut, but I didn’t think so because the scores were going to get better after the weather changed. I was right. It took 143 to make the cut. I shot 144.

“I had planned for that to be my last British Open and I thought it would be - but a lot of people started talking to me. They were saying, ‘Why don’t you come back and play St. Andrews? You ought to finish on a better note … ‘

“My exemption had run out and I didn’t know it, but they changed the rule to make me exempt from qualifying this time.

“I love the British Open. I’ve been doing this for so many years. Thirty-five years I’ve been playing over here. But this will be … my last British Open.”