When GOLF MAGAZINE was born in April 1959, Arnold Palmer had won 11 times in three years and was the reigning Masters champion. Alas, it wasn't enough: The editors selected Sam Snead for the first cover. There was a Palmer profile inside, but it was hardly deferential; writer Charles Price described the King's "almost girlish 30-inch waist." Palmer laughs when he is told of the description while flipping through the 21 covers with his likeness during a recent talk at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando.
He's thicker around the waist now, a 36, but Bay Hill's 74-year-old principal owner is still a forceful presence. He gets up at 5:30 a.m. and is in the office by eight. Charlie Mechem, the former LPGA boss who works for Palmer these days, picks up the Starbucks -- tall half regular, half decaf for the four-time Masters winner. Palmer will make a record 50th straight Masters start April 8 and says it will be his last. He doesn't expect a four-hankie outing like his final U.S. Open start at Oakmont 10 years ago, when he was overwhelmed by the support in his home state of Pennsylvania and dissolved in tears, but we'll see. For a man of such swashbuckling swagger, Palmer has always been sentimental.
A widower since his wife, Winnie, died of cancer in 1999, he got engaged last year to Kit Gawthrop. And Gawthrop, who lives in Tiburon, California, but visits Palmer at Bay Hill and on the road, is not the only new love of his life. There's also Mulligan, a 3-year-old yellow Labrador retriever that he and Kit adopted. Palmer lavishes the dog with affection and lets him bump around the office at Bay Hill.
GOLF MAGAZINE talked with the King about his future and past and the state of the game he made a major sport.
In the first GOLF MAGAZINE 45 years ago, Charles Price declared that you had "an almost girlish 30-inch waist." That has to be the only time someone has described anything about Arnold Palmer as girlish.
That was only to describe my waist, I hope. It was 29 in the early days.
You've been on our cover 21 times. Do you have a favorite?
I don't like these cigarettes. [Palmer was smoking on the July 1967 cover.]
They gave you quite a battle.
That's so long ago now I've forgotten. In fact I've learned to really not like cigarettes. I don't like the smell.
You'll play in your 50th and final Masters this spring and you've been attending the Champions' Dinner since 1959. Do you remember what you served that year?
Strip steaks. But we gave 'em an option of fish too. And chicken.
Masters champions have been known to throw a good party. Any Champions' Dinner moments that still make you laugh?
The fact that a lot of the old traditional guys aren't there anymore has taken a little away. I suppose I can include myself in that group now. From Henry Picard to Craig Wood to Ralph Guldahl, Sam Snead -- goodness, he was a riot -- and Bobby Jones himself.
Snead would jump up and kick the top of the door frame every year.
Always. Until his death.
Byron Nelson has retired as a ceremonial first-ball hitter at The Masters. Have you discussed taking over that role with Augusta Chairman Hootie Johnson?
The subject has come up and you never know, but not now. I'm not making any predictions.
You have a new fiancee and even a new dog. Are you getting ready to settle down and do some serious nesting?
Serious what? No, I don't think I'll change my lifestyle too much. Since my fiancee is out west and the dog's here alone, I usually bring him to the office with me. Until now, I've always had collies. The first one, when I first got married, I had a mix between a German shepherd and a collie, a fantastic dog. Thunder. The only time he was scared was when it was thundering and lightning. So I named him Thunder. And I had Riley -- of course he was named that because he had the life of Riley. And then I had Prince -- he was a prince, dog royalty. And now Mulligan -- he got his name because I've gotten to the stage where I like a mulligan once in a while.
He's thicker around the waist now, a 36, but Bay Hill's 74-year-old principal owner is still a forceful presence. He gets up at 5:30 a.m. and is in the office by eight. Charlie Mechem, the former LPGA boss who works for Palmer these days, picks up the Starbucks -- tall half regular, half decaf for the four-time Masters winner. Palmer will make a record 50th straight Masters start April 8 and says it will be his last. He doesn't expect a four-hankie outing like his final U.S. Open start at Oakmont 10 years ago, when he was overwhelmed by the support in his home state of Pennsylvania and dissolved in tears, but we'll see. For a man of such swashbuckling swagger, Palmer has always been sentimental.
A widower since his wife, Winnie, died of cancer in 1999, he got engaged last year to Kit Gawthrop. And Gawthrop, who lives in Tiburon, California, but visits Palmer at Bay Hill and on the road, is not the only new love of his life. There's also Mulligan, a 3-year-old yellow Labrador retriever that he and Kit adopted. Palmer lavishes the dog with affection and lets him bump around the office at Bay Hill.
GOLF MAGAZINE talked with the King about his future and past and the state of the game he made a major sport.
In the first GOLF MAGAZINE 45 years ago, Charles Price declared that you had "an almost girlish 30-inch waist." That has to be the only time someone has described anything about Arnold Palmer as girlish.
That was only to describe my waist, I hope. It was 29 in the early days.
You've been on our cover 21 times. Do you have a favorite?
I don't like these cigarettes. [Palmer was smoking on the July 1967 cover.]
They gave you quite a battle.
That's so long ago now I've forgotten. In fact I've learned to really not like cigarettes. I don't like the smell.
You'll play in your 50th and final Masters this spring and you've been attending the Champions' Dinner since 1959. Do you remember what you served that year?
Strip steaks. But we gave 'em an option of fish too. And chicken.
Masters champions have been known to throw a good party. Any Champions' Dinner moments that still make you laugh?
The fact that a lot of the old traditional guys aren't there anymore has taken a little away. I suppose I can include myself in that group now. From Henry Picard to Craig Wood to Ralph Guldahl, Sam Snead -- goodness, he was a riot -- and Bobby Jones himself.
Snead would jump up and kick the top of the door frame every year.
Always. Until his death.
Byron Nelson has retired as a ceremonial first-ball hitter at The Masters. Have you discussed taking over that role with Augusta Chairman Hootie Johnson?
The subject has come up and you never know, but not now. I'm not making any predictions.
You have a new fiancee and even a new dog. Are you getting ready to settle down and do some serious nesting?
Serious what? No, I don't think I'll change my lifestyle too much. Since my fiancee is out west and the dog's here alone, I usually bring him to the office with me. Until now, I've always had collies. The first one, when I first got married, I had a mix between a German shepherd and a collie, a fantastic dog. Thunder. The only time he was scared was when it was thundering and lightning. So I named him Thunder. And I had Riley -- of course he was named that because he had the life of Riley. And then I had Prince -- he was a prince, dog royalty. And now Mulligan -- he got his name because I've gotten to the stage where I like a mulligan once in a while.
