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PALMER TO DINE WITH FELLOW MASTERS CHAMPIONS
His string of consecutive playing appearances in the Masters Tournament ended at 50 when he competed for a final time in the 2004 championship, but Arnold Palmer will be in Augusta, Georgia, again this April, a stop he has made every year since he and his late wife, Winnie, arrived there in their car and trailer in 1955 for his first one.
As he did last year, Palmer will go to Augusta Tuesday, April 4, to attend the Champions dinner that evening in the historic Augusta National clubhouse. Tiger Woods, the defending champion, hosts the dinner, at which virtually all of the living former winners of the classic event, playing or non-playing, will gather. As tradition dictates, Augusta National Chairman William (Hootie) Johnson will be the only non-champion on hand.
Interestingly, Palmer and Woods each hold four Masters titles, trailing only Jack Nicklaus with his six championships in the history of the 73-year-old tournament, established in 1934 by the legendary Bob Jones and his close friend and confidante, Clifford Roberts.
Palmer expects to visit with his many friends among his fellow members Wednesday before departing the scene and returning to his home base at Bay Hill in Orlando.
He still recalls with pleasure his first trip to Augusta for the tournament. He and Winnie had traveled the PGA’s Winter Tour in two different trailers – a way of life they jettisoned weeks later when they returned to their home in Latrobe, Pennsylvania – and had yet to score his first professional victory. He received his invitation to the Masters that year as the current U.S. Amateur Champion.
The Palmers parked in a location near Daniel Field, Augusta’s non-commercial airport, where little more than a decade later, they would be landing in the first of the jets which he has owned and piloted ever since.
As for Palmer’s playing plans this year, his first tournament start may be in the Senior PGA Championship the last full week of May at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond, Oklahoma. He won that championship twice in Florida – at Turnberry Isle Country Club in North Miami in 1980 and PGA National Golf Club in Palm Beach Gardens in 1984. The 1980 win was his first as a senior.
Posted by dgiffin at March 29, 2006 12:50 PM