After Mistake, Palmer Is Teed Off at PGA : He Uses Wrong Markers in Senior Tournament, Is Penalized 2 Strokes

An angry Arnold Palmer lashed out at the PGA Friday at La Costa after being penalized 2 strokes for teeing off from the wrong markers on the second hole in the second round of the MONY Tournament of Champions’ senior division.

Palmer, professional golf’s most popular figure, said he was so angry that he almost walked off the course.

“The only reason I didn’t take a hike was because it was my mistake,” Palmer said. “But I’m still upset.

“It is the same thing I have fought since the seniors first played in this tournament.”

This is the only tournament in which the regular and senior touring pros play together. On about half the holes--the longer ones--the age 50-and-over group plays from markers closer to the green. Sometimes it’s only a couple of club lengths, but, on occasion, it is 20 yards or more.

On Friday, Palmer’s playing partner, Harold Henning, birdied the first hole and had the honors at No. 2. He stepped up to the tee and hit his drive on the 526-yard par 5 from the regular PGA markers, about 10 yards behind the senior markers. Palmer did the same.

“The first year, I said I wouldn’t play if the tees weren’t the same,” Palmer said later. “I wasn’t here the next year, and they moved the seniors up a few yards. When they do that, it takes away from us. Dale Douglass shot the lights out yesterday, and people say, ‘But he was hitting from the front tees,’ and they dismiss it. It’s not fair.

“Maybe we should have a separate T of C.”

Douglass, who retained a 1-stroke lead in the senior division with a 72 for a 36-hole total of 139, 5 under par, agreed with Palmer.

“In this tournament, we have the top players in our group,” Douglass said. “We can play the same tees as the boys. But on our regular tour, we have so many older guys that we need to shorten the holes or they have no chance. Here, we have the best.

“The mistake on the tees could happen to anyone. Once each day my caddy has gone to the wrong markers. I told him, ‘That’s 2 strikes.’ ”

Yet it is rather surprising that golfers could make a mistake such as Palmer and Henning made. The markers for the regular PGA Tour are white blocks with the T of C emblem on them. For the seniors, the markers are oversized blue golf balls.

According to the rules, if Palmer and Henning had played out the second hole and teed off on No. 3, they would have been disqualified. But Henning’s younger brother, Brian, tournament director of the Senior Tour, saved them. A spectator had informed him of the error, and Brian Henning arrived after Palmer’s third shot on No. 2.

He told them about the error, and they went back to the tee to start over, with the 2-stroke penalties. Henning took an 8 on the hole and Palmer needed only 4 shots to get a 6, 1 over par.

The rule states that a player may tee off as much as 2 club lengths behind the markers. Because they teed off farther than that behind them, they were guilty. “I guess I’m just stupid,” Harold Henning said, after finishing with a 78 and a 153 total. “But the markers are close together.”

Despite his anger, Palmer, who 3-putted 18, had a 74. At 149, 10 strokes behind Douglass, he is probably out of contention.

“I really felt I was ready to make a move,” Palmer said. “My anger is over an average of 10 yards. I think it’s bull.”

“Brian Henning told us about the mistake. He said we would have been disqualified if we had finished the hole and teed off on 3.

“It’s the only tournament in my career in which men tee off from different markers. The only exception is when we play with the women, and then the tees are separate.

“I have complained from Day 1. Maybe we shouldn’t be here--or should play at a different time. I don’t think that’s exactly first-class treatment. I’m still upset.”

Chi Chi Rodriguez said he nearly made the same mistake.

“I heard some players teed off from the wrong tees yesterday,” he said. “If they did, they signed the wrong cards and should be disqualified.”

Brian Henning said he had been told by a spectator that some players hit from the wrong markers Thursday. But, he said, he personally asked every player--and none admitted it.

“Notes were placed in lockers and on the first tee,” Henning said. “There couldn’t have been a misunderstanding.”

The excitement all but obliterated the feats of Miller Barber and Bruce Crampton as they closed in on Douglass. Barber shot a 5-under-par 67, tying Jay Haas of the regular tour for the best round of the day. Crampton, also at 140, had his second straight 70.

It was a bad day all around for Harold Henning. He wound up tied for last place with Lee Elder in the field of 14 seniors and broke a New Year’s resolution.

Although he was No. 5 on the seniors’ money list last season with a career-high $366,230 using a long-handled putter and a pendulum stroke, he “vowed to get rid of my crutch (the unorthodox putter),” he had said Thursday.

The resolution lasted 1 round. He was back to the 50-inch handle Friday.