At 72, Palmer’s Game Is Par for the Course

Arnold Palmer flew his Citation jet from Orlando to Orange County so that he could play in the 2001 Hyundai Team Matches at Monarch Beach Golf Links. Palmer stood on the putting green Thursday, intent on making himself comfortable with a new putting stance, rhythmically knocking in 12-foot putts, the click of the putter hitting the ball as reassuring as the sound of a metronome.

Palmer is 72. He doesn’t wear glasses but there is a hearing aid tucked into his right ear. His stomach is flat, his hair is thick as ever, with just a hint of wave. He laughs at a question about whether he plans to retire next year. “Why would I do that?” he asks.

His eyes sweep the territory around him. He sees a clear, sunny December day. He stands on the grounds of a new golf resort that looks out over the Pacific Ocean. He and his partner in this event, Bruce Fleisher, are looking forward to a weekend of competition and relaxation. The event has a team format--four PGA Senior teams, four PGA teams and four LPGA teams.

“Bruce deserves a better partner than me,” Palmer says. “I wish I was playing better. But he’s a good friend and says he wants to play with me.”

As Palmer works with his putter, a man approaches. He stands silently but tiptoes closer and closer to Palmer. Palmer sees him and knows the man is afraid to speak. So Palmer says, “Hi, what can I do for you?”

The man, awestruck, doesn’t say a word for a second, then says that he had played last year in a pro-am with Palmer and is hoping to be assigned to Palmer’s group again this year. He thanks Palmer for the experience and walks away, backward, as if afraid to take his eyes off Palmer.

Last year, Golf World Business published something called the “Golf Personality Index.” It was created to measure the appeal of 50 important golf figures. Those surveyed were asked to measure each person in terms of familiarity, likability and credibility. In a year Tiger Woods was winning three of the four major events and Jack Nicklaus was making a well-publicized final turn at the U.S. Open, Palmer was picked as the most appealing of the 50.

Palmer was first in likability and credibility and tied with Nicklaus and Woods for first in familiarity.

No one would dare sidle up to Tiger on a putting green and that’s not his fault. The times are different. The media attention paid to sports superstars is overwhelming. The demands made by press and public are more stifling now than in the 1960s, when Palmer became the most beloved sportsman in the United States.

But besides being a swashbuckler on the course, being bold and talented and confident and the best golfer the country had, Palmer could also still be human. He could talk to his fans. He could let them touch him, shake his hand, pat him on the back, give him a hug.

Palmer is one of the guys in a way Woods can’t be. The times have changed and Woods doesn’t dare put his hand out, open his arms or feel comfortable if a stranger comes up to him on the putting green.

“I don’t begin to guess,” Palmer says when asked why he is still so popular.

Maybe because he is honest and friendly, thoughtful and willing to speak when asked.

Last January, Palmer found himself in a most uncomfortable position. At least it seemed to be. The U.S. Golf Assn. said it was going to phase Palmer out of its campaigns to attract new golfers. The reason? Palmer had endorsed a new golf club, the Callaway ERC II, a driver that didn’t meet USGA standards.

Palmer said then, and says now, that he is all for technical advances that make the game fun for the rest of us who can’t whack a tee shot 300 yards or hit the hole square on 12-foot putts. Palmer was accused of advocating “cheating,” among other things, with his endorsement.

Eventually the USGA backed off and said it would continue to include Palmer in advertising campaigns. Palmer says he was surprised at the mean-spiritedness of some of the criticism but that he never considered changing his mind, or taking a less public role.

The criticism hurt, he says. At the time, he was adjusting to another role, that of a widower. His wife of 45 years, Winnie, had died of cancer in late 1999. Tears still gather in Palmer’s eyes today.

“It’s hard to not be with someone when you’ve been with them for so long,” he says.

But Palmer has learned to swallow the tears. He has seven grandchildren who keep him busy. His 14-year-old grandson, Samuel Palmer Saunders, is a golfer, a good one, Palmer says.

“Oh, yes, I am his coach,” Palmer says proudly. “Samuel has a plan. He wants to play on his high school team, then go to Wake Forest and play golf, then qualify for the PGA Tour.”

Palmer went to Wake Forest. It makes him happy that his grandson wants to do the same. Palmer also mentions Ty Tryon, the high school junior who just made it out of Q-school and earned his PGA Tour card this week.

“Ty plays at Bay Hill [Palmer’s club],” he says. “He’s got a lot of talent. Can a high school boy make it on the tour? We’ll find out.”

When Palmer is asked whether he’d let his son, or his grandson, head off on the tour while still in high school, he rubs his chin, smiles and says, “I’d better not answer that question.”

And back to that retirement question. Palmer says he will quit when he no longer has a passion for competition, for travel, for the game, for the people, for the fans. Because he is still flying his plane 250 hours a year, because he just became an endorser for Invocare, a company that makes motorized wheelchairs--he is not afraid to be typecast as an old guy--because he might still be the biggest draw the senior tour has, because, without Winnie, Palmer can’t imagine sitting around home, it might be best to retire that retirement question.

*

Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com.

The Facts

* What: 2001 Hyundai Team Matches.

* When: Today (Pro-Am), Saturday and Sunday.

* Where: Monarch Beach Golf Links, Dana Point.

* TV: Saturday, 1 p.m., Ch. 7; Sunday, 1 p.m., Ch. 7 (delayed).