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Sunday, September 25, 2016

“The King,” Arnold Palmer

drew his final breath in a

hospital in Pittsburgh. He was

scheduled to receive a heart

procedure the next day, but

it came too late. Palmer may

have not been the best player

ever, but he was, by far, the

Most Important

” golfer in

the history of the game.

To say that Palmer achieved

the “American Dream,” is

a gross understatement. He

rose from working-class

roots to winning major

championship, leading his

own army and hobnobbing

with Presidents. Arnie was

recognized off the golf

course, as well. He was

awarded the Presidential

Medal of Freedom and the

Congressional Gold Medal.

Palmer bridged the gap

between Hogan, Nelson and

Snead and brought golf into

the modern era. He made

golf cool for blue-collar

America and they responded

by making him their King.

A cigarette dangling from

his lips, a tug at the waist of

his trousers and his “go-for-

broke” style enamored men

and women alike.

He won his first official PGA

Tour tournament at the 1955

Canadian Open. His final

and 62

nd

 win of his career

came in the 1973 Hope

Desert Classic. Along the

way, he won seven major

championships, including

four Masters’ Green Jackets.

Augusta National and Arnold

Palmer will be forever linked

in golf history.

Throughvarious endorsement

agreements with Fortune 500

companies, Palmer was still

annually one of the highest

grossing sports figures in

America. He along with

Mark McCormack’s IMG

management company set

the standard for athlete’s

marketing strategy.

Palmer’s golf design company

was founded in 1972 and

built over 300 golf courses

worldwide. He was most

proud of his Bay Hill Golf

Club in Orlando and made it

his winter residence for many

years. Bay Hill also hosts the

Arnold Palmer Invitational

every March, a favorite

among tour professionals.

He was instrumental in the

foundation and development

of the Golf Channel. It was the

Golf Loses an Icon

Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated; it satisfies the

soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and

maddening - and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has

ever invented……Arnold Palmer

NWO Golf Links