Palmer, 77, Says He's Done With Competitive Golf

[goasu984Life]

SPRING, Texas -- Arnold Palmer tearfully said it was time to stop playing competitive golf after withdrawing from a Champions Tour event early in the first round.

The 77-year-old Palmer hit two balls into the water on the fourth hole Friday, then said he was withdrawing because of a sore lower back. He continued playing with his threesome of Lee Trevino and John Mahaffey but did not keep score the rest of the round.

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2624135

[AZGrizFan]

SPRING, Texas -- Arnold Palmer tearfully said it was time to stop playing competitive golf after withdrawing from a Champions Tour event early in the first round.

The 77-year-old Palmer hit two balls into the water on the fourth hole Friday, then said he was withdrawing because of a sore lower back. He continued playing with his threesome of Lee Trevino and John Mahaffey but did not keep score the rest of the round.

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2624135

It's a sad day for the golf world. :bawling: :bawling: :bawling:

[goasu984Life]

It's a sad day for sports in general.

[Mr. C]

I had a chance to spend some time with Arnold Palmer in 1990 the week of a senior golf tournament in Ojai, Ca. We hung out with him during his practice round and he was a delightful guy. Later in the week, I also got to watch him play a number of holes during the tournament and was part of several media sessions with him. There was a charisma about him that I have only witnessed a handful of times in my life (Steve Garvey and former Fresno State/Washington State/Montana State head coach Jim Sweeney are a couple of others). He had these blue eyes and smile that just commanded your attention. He was the center of the universe when he walked into a room. There was this one extremely tough hole on the course that was normally played from an elevated tee, sitting over a huge gulley. It was so tough that the senior tour let the players tee off from below on the women's tee (true story :nod: :D). Anyway, Palmer in the practice round hits his tee shot into the woods. In the midst of these old, narly oak trees, his second shot hits a tree and nearly clobbers him. Finally, he was able to hit an approach that landed 40 feet from the green. Needing to sink this putt to save par, Palmer rolls the putt towards the hole and drops it into the center of the cup. We turned and looked at him and he was grinning from ear to ear. Right there, we got a small glimse of what made him so special.