Surrounded by three youngsters who owe him everything, Arnold Palmer stuck a tee in the ground Saturday and won nothing. If only cheers were currency.
Whenever the 64-year-old Palmer plays golf, which isn’t often anymore, it is an experience to be both seen and heard. Galleries part so he can pass, then roar to keep him going. No athlete of yore is as viable in the present tense.
Fred Couples, born in 1959, collected $150,000 at Bighorn over the opening nine holes of the annual Skins Game. Payne Stewart, born in 1957, snared $60,000 toward his attempt to three-peat as champion of this annual TV shootout. In 1958, when Palmer and television discovered they were made for each other, he claimed his first major title, the Masters, and led the sport’s money list with $42,608. The cash was just as green then, but most of the pictures were black and white.
“It’s a thrill to have him here,” Couples said of Palmer’s presence as an emergency replacement for th suspended John Daly. “He makes the event.”
If only “the King” could have made a putt. He had his chances. On No. 8, a 205-yard par 3 over desert rocks and cactus plants, Palmer was left with a definite birdie possibility for two units worth $30,000 each. But the hands aren’t quite as steady as they once were. Palmer took an awkward practice stroke, then steadied, then fired, then missed from about 10 feet.
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“I tried to shovel it in the hole,” Palmer recounted, “when I should have played the break.”
Off camera, where Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully prepared a tape to be shown later, Palmer muttered, “Darn it.” So it went.
Everybody seemed to be pulling for Palmer, including friendly adversaries Couples, Stewart and Paul Azinger-all of them are among the top six career wage-earners with a gross haul of $19.4 million in official cash. Palmer, with 60 tournament triumphs, is at $1,902,697 and holding.
No matter. The King, in effect, has signed a lot of checks, for contemporaries and followers. He put the PGA Tour in a dress shirt four decades ago. And 10 years ago, when the Skins Game was conceived, Palmer got the call to join Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson. Has it worked? The last one of these posted better TV ratings than the last British Open. God save the Queen? No, Palmer merely saved golf.
“I wasn’t disappointed with the way I played,” he went on.
Indeed, Palmer almost chipped in for eagle at No. 1, a par 5 bearing a $20,000 price tag. The dough was carried over to No. 2, where Stewart’s 2-foot birdie putt netted him $40,000. At No. 3, he knocked in another birdie from 3 feet for another $20,000.
Azinger, bedeviled by a back so sore that he almost withdrew, winced on every follow-through at the practice range. But he loosened up sufficiently to birdie for a halve with Palmer at No. 5. Then at No. 7, the King learned all about these modern magicians. Couples, having banked $60,000 with a birdie on the previous hole, rescued par despite taking a drop after this tee shot disappeared into the Santa Rosa Mountains. Palmer shook his head, hitched his pants and tapped in for a halve.
“How long was your putt?” Palmer inquired.
“About 30 feet,” said Couples, blushing. “Ridiculous. I had no business being in that hole.”
Palmer chuckled.
“You guys are good,” he said. “Age is a factor, whatever you’re doing. It took me a full day to finally decide whether to play in this one. A few years ago, I took the initiative not to play. I wouldn’t be doing it if not for the fact that I was taking Daly’s place.”
Couples completed his kill with a 6-foot birdie putt at No. 9 for three skins at $30,000 per. Sunday, holes 10 through 12 are for $30,000. The rest are $40,000.
“Didn’t you know?” Palmer said to Couples. “We’re having a depression back home in Pennsylvania. I need the money.”
“I need it worse,” said Couples, referring to his recently settled divorce.
“I won’t argue with you on that one,” concluded the King.