Arnold Palmer Invitational, Tucson Conquistadores Classic, Bank of Hope Founders Cup

Player of the Week - Arnold Palmer

Arnold Palmer

— Golfer —
Palmer in September 2009
Personal information
Full name	Arnold Daniel Palmer
Nickname	The King
Born	September 10, 1929 Latrobe, Pennsylvania
Died	September 25, 2016 (aged 87) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Nationality	United States
Residence	Latrobe, Pennsylvania Orlando, Florida
Spouse	Winifred Walzer Palmer (1934–99) (m. 1954–99, her death) Kathleen Gawthrop (m. 2005–16, his death)
Children	2 daughters
Career
College	Wake Forest College
Turned professional	1954
Retired	2006
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Senior PGA Tour
Professional wins	95
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	62 (5th all time)
European Tour	2
PGA Tour of Australasia	2
PGA Tour Champions	10
Best results in major championships (wins: 7)
Masters Tournament	Won: 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964
U.S. Open	Won: 1960
The Open Championship	Won: 1961, 1962
PGA Championship	T2: 1964, 1968, 1970
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	1974 (member page)
PGA Tour leading money winner	1958, 1960, 1962, 1963
PGA Player of the Year	1960, 1962
Vardon Trophy	1961, 1962, 1964, 1967
Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year	1960
Bob Jones Award	1971
Old Tom Morris Award	1983
PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award	1998
Payne Stewart Award	2000
Presidential Medal of Freedom	2004
Congressional Gold Medal	2009

Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and the circuit now known as PGA Tour Champions. Nicknamed The King, he was one of golf's most popular stars and its most important trailblazer, the first superstar of the sport's television age, which began in the 1950s.
Palmer's social impact on behalf of golf was perhaps unrivaled among fellow professionals; his humble background and plain-spoken popularity helped change the perception of golf as an elite, upper-class pastime to a more populist sport accessible to middle and working classes.^[1] Palmer was part of "The Big Three" in golf during the 1960s, along with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, who are widely credited with popularizing and commercializing the sport around the world.
In a career that spanned more than six decades, he won 62 PGA Tour titles from 1955 to 1973, placing him at that time behind only Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, and still fifth on the Tour's all-time victory list. He collected seven major titles in a six-plus-year domination, from the 1958 Masters to the 1964 Masters. He also won the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, and in 1974 was one of the 13 original inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame.^[2]