If Palmer Is Hurting, Golf Does the Suffering : Arnie Remains Big Key If the Sport Is to Stay Both Healthy and Wealthy

Everyone connected with professional golf is breathing easier. The king is not ready to abdicate.

Arnold Palmer, the man most directly responsible for the success of both the PGA Tour and the PGA’s Senior Tour, hasn’t won a tournament in almost three years, but he is not ready for retirement.

Palmer is here to play in the GTE Senior tournament at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley. The $275,000, 54-hole event begins Friday over the 7,020-yard layout.

The most popular player in PGA history lured a big crowd to a 10-player shoot-out Tuesday that officially opened the week of events.

“I love the game, I love the competition,” Palmer said. “And, as long as I feel I can still hit the ball well enough to compete, I will keep playing. Right now, I’m hitting my drives as well and as far as I ever did. But I’m not playing well. On a scale of 1 to 10, my game is a 2. For me to win, it has to be from a 7 to a 10. Last week and this week, I’m getting business out of the way early and practicing or playing the rest of the time.

“The next two or three weeks I will concentrate on golf. That should give me an indication of whether I can keep playing. Right now, I’m finishing from 5th to 15th. I need to get it down to 1-5, or I’m not going to keep playing.”

Palmer said that in the last couple of years, he has been suffering, in part physically because of torn cartilage in his knee, but more mentally. But if he quits, professional golf will do the suffering.

That is especially true in Southern California. The first two years of the Los Angeles senior event, it was a well kept secret. Hardly anyone showed up at MountainGate Country Club. But last year it moved to Wood Ranch and became the GTE tournament. As a GTE representative, Palmer was there. The tournament became an overnight success.

Probably the best indication of Palmer’s popularity, though, was the 1983 Los Angeles Open at Rancho Park. Palmer was in contention on the last day. A crowd of 35,000 showed up. Most of them followed Palmer. When he fell out of contention with a few holes left, there was an exodus. Gil Morgan won the tournament in comparative privacy.

“I should know what my problem is,” Palmer said. “My father told me about it when I started 50 years ago and never stopped reminding me until the day he died. Golf is 90% above the shoulders. The guy who is concentrating and has the confidence wins.”

In recent years, the old Palmer confidence has been missing as he stands over his putts.

“You’ve got to have some tough moments, some grinding times,” he said. “Otherwise, there wouldn’t be nearly as much fun in playing and winning.”

Palmer said that his driving is great, his iron play is not what it should be, and that his putting is frustrating and preventing him from winning.

“When you have putting problems for a long period, you get so you enjoy hearing people say, ‘You putted poorly,’ ” he said. “In fact, you start saying you didn’t putt well and sure enough, you don’t. I don’t want anyone saying that to me. If they do, I’ll tell them it’s none of their business--or ignore it.

“Right now, I’m just working on my fundamentals. On the last round at the Vintage (Sunday in Indian Wells), I used the putter invented by Dr. Joe Corvi. I’m not using the long-handled model used so successfully by Orville Moody and Harold Henning last week.

“I have experimented with the long handle, but I didn’t feel comfortable. I’m happy for Orville, because I know what he went through. Last week had to be the happiest in his life. But I don’t see myself using it. In fact, my wife told me that if I have to go to unorthodox putting, it’s time for me to quit.

“I am going to give the same putter Orville used, only with the normal length handle, a longer test. Joe Corvi Jr. (son of the inventor) claims that the normal length makes it scientifically a sounder putter. He may be right. I know it feels good and I’m going to give it a shot.”

Palmer, who played in 17 senior events last year, earned $128,910 and didn’t finish higher than third. At Atlanta last October, he went into the last round leading by four shots, but shot a 77 and finished seven shots behind Larry Mowry, the winner.

“I have been having last-round trouble,” he said. “I played poorly on 15, 16 and 17 at the Vintage, or I would have been higher.”

Being tired was not the problem. In fact, Palmer hasn’t given up his crusade to have the 50-and-older golfers discard carts. He has mellowed a bit and concedes that someone with a physical problem, for example Charles Owens, would need to ride.

“If they ever do adopt the rule, it will probably be about the time I’ll need to ride,” he said.

Not only was Palmer instrumental in backing the seniors, but he also has suggested other formats.

“I see the day, not too far distant, when every tournament has at least a $1-million purse,” he said. “Eventually, they will have to have a second tour for the younger golfers.”

“It was tried once, but didn’t have the full support. They will have to rob from the rich and give to the poor to get it started right. But, they won’t have trouble finding sponsors. They are out there. That’s why the seniors boomed.”