Peers Salute General of Arnie’s Army : Golf: Players acknowledge a debt to Palmer for helping to make them wealthy and famous.

Whenever Senior PGA Tour players get together, the conversation eventually gets around to Arnold Palmer. Palmer’s peers are in Arnie’s Army.

Chi Chi Rodriguez once said: “Every professional golfer should say a prayer every day and thank God for Arnold Palmer. He has made us all rich and famous.”

Only winning would have made Lee Trevino happier than when Palmer, reaching into the past, won the Senior Skins Game last month in Hawaii, picking up $240,000--$215,000 on one hole.

Both the regular and senior tours owe their success, in large measure, to Palmer. A sponsor knows his tournament will be a success if Palmer decides to play.

He is asked more frequently now about how much longer he will go on playing. His answer: as long as he enjoys it and feels competitive.

A trimmer Palmer, rejuvenated by his skins victory, played in the first four senior events of the new season in Florida. Last week he captained the U.S. team that won the Chrysler Cup in Florida. He also finds time to build golf courses, a booming business.

Palmer turned 60 last September and thus eligible for the super seniors, a tournament within a tournament on the senior tour. But he will not take on the real old-timers. He is still highly competitive on the main senior tour, save for his putting. He is No. 2 among the seniors in reaching greens in regulation but only 34th on the money list. Trevino, the top putter, is the runaway money leader.

Palmer said that he feels better both physically and mentally than he did 10 years ago. He won’t say so, but it is, in part, because Jack Nicklaus turned 50 in January.

The Nicklaus-Palmer rivalry was one of the greatest in sports during the 1960s. Unless Nicklaus changes his mind about the senior tour, however, they won’t meet all that much in the ‘90s.

Palmer beat Nicklaus in the senior skins. Their next meeting is expected to be at the Tradition at Scottsdale, Ariz., the first weekend in March.

Some seniors are miffed at Nicklaus because he said most of those playing well on their tour had been marginal players on the regular tour. He also panned their use of shorter courses.

Tim Crosby, tour media director, said that Dave Hill, after shooting a 68 in the first round at Key Biscayne, Fla., two weeks ago, walked into the media tent and said: “I had a 68, not bad for a marginal player. I’m disappointed in Nicklaus. I had a lot of respect for him. I think he owes us an apology.”

Hill won 12 tournaments on the regular tour and was in the top 50 for 17 consecutive years.

Palmer, however, said he understands how Nicklaus feels. He went through the same thing.

“It’s a nostalgic feeling when you reach 50,” Palmer said. “You feel great and you think you shouldn’t join the seniors because you can still win on the regular tour.

“Once you realize they hit the ball farther, have more stamina and putt better, the senior tour starts looking better.

“I remember saying before I reached 50 that I didn’t expect to play with the old men. I thought it was a nice idea, but not for me.

“(But) once I started playing with old rivals such as Gary Player, Miller Barber and Billy Casper, I found my competitive spirit just as keen as ever. I really enjoyed it. Jack will, too, eventually.”

Because of a knee problem, Palmer played in only 16 tournaments last season, his fewest since 1985. A rigorous conditioning program has prepared him for more tournaments this season. He runs four or five miles a day and works out on weights and a stationary bicycle.

After a strenuous morning workout in January, he returned home breathing heavily and drenched in perspiration. His wife, Winnie, was aghast.

“Don’t you think you’re overdoing it?” she asked. “Are you sure you won’t have a heart attack? Is all that work worthwhile?”

Palmer wondered.

“There were times when I asked myself if all the work I’d done getting myself in shape was worth it,” he said. “But when I won the skins, I had my answer. It was definitely worth it. It was heartwarming to hear the fans cheering me.”

The love affair between golf fans and the King, as his fellow pros call him with affection, flared anew in Hawaii. It began shortly after Palmer became a professional in 1954 and has seldom wavered.

When Palmer joined the tour, there was still a bit of a stigma attached to professionals. Golf purists thought it was a gentleman’s game, to be played for a small wager but not for a living.

Palmer’s star quality changed that. In 1958, the first year he was the leading money winner, Palmer earned $42,608 on a 37-tournament tour worth barely $1 million. Thirty years later, Curtis Strange won $1.1 million in a season.

His peers say Palmer and his charisma, the ready smile and enthusiasm, were the major ingredients in raising interest and prize money.

Arnie’s Army, though, did not begin until 1960, when Palmer was winning his second Masters at Augusta, Ga. An Augusta sportswriter, John Hendrickson coined the phrase. In those days at the Masters, soldiers from nearby Fort Gordon manned scoreboards around the course and rooted for Palmer. They had signs on the boards that read, “Go Arnie!”

The army grew and so did pro golf. It mushroomed during the rivalry of Palmer and the young Jack Nicklaus, and Nicklaus became almost as popular as Palmer.

At the senior skins, it seemed that the tide had finally turned. Nicklaus had everyone’s attention at a press conference before the first practice round. Palmer seemed uncomfortable at not being asked questions. Nicklaus practiced before big crowds. In the pro-am before the two-day event started, Nicklaus had a bigger gallery.

But when skins play began, there was no doubt as to the fans’ favorite. On the second day, when Nicklaus made a birdie to win a $140,000 skin, there were cheers. They were mild, though, compared to the cheers when Palmer had a chance to pick up $25,000 on the next hole. And when he won the big one, there was bedlam.

The senior tour was being formed about the time Palmer became eligible. Don January, Sam Snead and Gardner Dickinson thought it would be a good idea to stage three or four tournaments a year so old-timers could get together, play a little golf and tell stories.

There were two events in 1980. The next year, Palmer began to show up and interest started to soar. In less than a decade, it surpassed the LPGA.

“Golf had been so good to me,” Palmer said. “It was up to me to give something back. Besides, there were all my friendly rivals.”

In its 11th season, the senior tour has 42 events for a total purse of more than $17 million.

Palmer last won a tournament in 1988. Winning depends on his putting.

He has accumulated more than 1,000 putters and has used most of them, either in competition or practice.

His struggle continues. “I have to do something about it or I can’t compete,” he said.

A reporter remarked that Palmer had never been an outstanding putter.

“If you had been as good a putter, for instance, as Ben Crenshaw or Bob Charles, you probably would have won 30 more tournaments,” the reporter ventured.

“More than that,” Palmer replied tersely.

Trevino suggested that Palmer change his putting grip for the last day of the skins game, and Palmer later gave Trevino much of the credit for his success.

The hot putting carried over the next week at Key Biscayne, Fla., where he opened the tournament with a 66. He faded a bit in the next round and admitted that he had started to lose confidence again in his putting.

That has happened many times in Palmer’s 36-year career as a pro, and he has always come back. But whether he does or not, you can bet that Arnie’s Army will be there cheering.