Five years after Arnold Palmer’s death, his tournament is still one of best on PGA Tour | Commentary
Mr. Palmer.
Five years after his death, this is how everybody at Bay Hill still refers to Arnold Palmer.
Not Arnold.
Not Arnie.
Not The King.
But Mr. Palmer.
“It’s the ultimate show of respect,” says Joi Chitwood, the new tournament director of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. “I never had the honor of meeting him, but he’s still Mr. Palmer to me.”
Hard to believe it’s been five years since Palmer has been gone, but as the world’s greatest golfers get ready to tee off this week at the PGA Tour event named in his honor, he will never be forgotten.
His classic photographs, his 10-foot bronze statue and mostly the stories people tell about him are still omnipresent among the pristine lakes, rolling hills and the green, green grass of Arnie’s home.
Arnie fell in love with this place nearly 75 years ago when he was a sophomore golfer at Wake Forest way back in 1948. That’s when his team came to town for a match against Rollins College. Arnie was so taken aback by the beauty of the landscape (and the co-eds) that he wanted to transfer to Rollins immediately. Even though he ended up staying at Wake, there was no question in his mind that he would return to Orlando someday.
He did exactly that in 1965 when the original developers of Bay Hill invited Arnie and Jack Nicklaus to town for an exhibition match to promote their new course. Arnie’s love affair with Orlando was rekindled. He destroyed Jack by seven strokes and he would end up buying Bay Hill five years later.
“This was all orange groves and two-lane roads when we started,” Arnie told me once. “We were here before Disney.”
The rest, of course, is history. When Arnie moved here, he not only turned Central Florida into a recreation destination, he turned the entire State of Florida into a golfing mecca. After Bay Hill, other high-end Central Florida golf and real estate sanctuaries were built at Isleworth and Lake Nona.
Nicklaus then followed Arnie to Florida and moved to Jupiter. The PGA Tour then moved to Ponte Vedra. The LPGA Tour moved to Daytona Beach. The PGA of America moved to Palm Beach. Tiger Woods and dozens of other famous athletes migrated to Orlando.
Arnie co-founded the Golf Channel just a tee shot away from Bay Hill in 1995. Arnie and his first wife, Winnie, led the charge and fundraising efforts to build The Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in 1989 and the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies in 2006.
“He was not only one of the greatest golfers of all time, but also a generous man who gave so much to charitable causes in our community,” Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said on that Sept. 25 day when Arnie passed away in 2016. “I am proud he will live on in Orlando in the people’s lives he touched and through the great legacy he leaves.”
When Arnie died, there was rightfully a concern that many of the world’s top golfers would stop showing up at his tournament. Let’s face it, when “The King” was alive and made the call to invite you to play in his tournament, it was difficult to say no.
Five years after his death, the PGA Tour is doing its best to make sure the top players still consider The Arnie as a special place. Along with Jack’s tournament (The Memorial) and Tiger’s tournament (at Riviera), The Arnie has an elevated status with more prize money than regular PGA Tour stops and additional exemptions as well.
However, it’s still a challenge with The Arnie sandwiched between a more lucrative World Golf Championship event and the more prestigious (and lucrative) Players Championship. Even so, 12 of the top 25 players in the world will tee it up this week at Bay Hill.
“The players and the fans know what Mr. Palmer meant to the game,” Chitwood says. “This isn’t just a golf tournament; it’s his golf touranament. We make sure that when you are on property, his aura and imagery is everywhere.”
Like his famous quotes and immortal words of wisdom that are inscribed and displayed at various places throughout Bay Hill:
“The road to success is always under construction.”
“You must play boldly to win.”
“What other people may find in poetry, I find in the flight of a good drive.”
“It’s a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.”
“When people ask what’s driven me all these years, I always give the same answer. It’s you.”
Five years after his death, his love and connection with the fans remains the lasting legacy of Arnold Palmer — an Orlando icon who won four green jackets but never, ever lost his blue collar.
This column first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on Twitter @BianchiWrites and listen to my Open Mike radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on FM 96.9 and AM 740.
