Last Stand for Arnie's Army

Arnold Palmer, who did more than any other single figure to drag sport out of the amateur era and into a world in which men and women could become millionaires from playing games, will make his last appearance in a major golf tournament today, at the age of 72.

Leaving the 18th green at Augusta National after posting a score of 89, 17 over par and 22 shots behind the leader Davis Love in the first round yesterday afternoon, Palmer quietly made the announcement that many had anticipated but to which none had looked forward. This time, he said, he would be missing the cut for good.

Palmer won the Masters four times, more than anyone except Jack Nicklaus, in a career which also included two victories in the Open championship, in 1961 and 1962, and the US Open title in 1960. In partnership with Mark McCormack, the pioneering sports agent, he used his success and his charisma as the basis to establish the proposition that sport could become a worldwide commercial proposition. The Michael Jordans and David Beckhams of subsequent eras will be forever in his debt.

This week Palmer has been making his 48th appearance at the Masters, and today's round will be the 147th in the tournament. He won the title in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964, but has failed to make the cut since 1983. An operation for prostate cancer in 1997 reduced his powers, and this year's increase in the length of the Augusta National course seems to have clinched the decision.

In fact it was as early as yesterday's 1st hole that he made up his mind, although Tiger Woods said later that Palmer had been dropping hints of his intention during Wednesday's par-three tournament, when the two played together.

Palmer was pleased when his opening drive and his approach put him on the edge of the 1st green on the newly extended hole yesterday, but he was less happy when he four-putted to drop two shots straight away. "Then I kind of knew the writing was on the wall," he said. "I'd been contemplating this for some time, anyway. I just think it's time. My golf has been pretty lousy of late and it doesn't warrant being here playing. If I thought there was a chance of playing the kind of golf I would expect myself to play, I certainly wouldn't stop."

Woods, whose commercial success has taken him a quantum leap beyond anything Palmer knew, was among the first to pay tribute to the old champion's achievements. "For him to compete so long has been incredible," Woods said. "He's kept himself in good enough shape to hit the ball as far as he does. For him to stick around this long is awfully impressive. The golf course just got a little too big for him.

"I've picked his brain plenty of times in the past. We've shared a lot of good times, a lot of good conversations. And there will come a point in time when it will be neat to be able to tell my grandchildren, 'Hey, I played with the great Arnold Palmer in his last Masters - even though it was on the par-three course."

The Augusta National Golf Club issued its own tribute. "It would be impossible to enumerate all the contributions Arnold Palmer has made to the Masters," Hootie Johnson, the club's chairman, said. "He has provided us with countless years of excitement and thrills, and has shown us how the game of golf is supposed to be played. He will always have a very special place in Masters history."

No golf tournament in America is more aware of its own traditions and the organisers will have been delighted that, at the end of the opening day of the 66th Masters, yesterday's leaderboard prominently featured Davis Love III, whose father, Davis Love Jr, held the lead jointly with Palmer and two others at the end of the first round in 1964, the last time Palmer won the event.

"There's no question that Augusta has meant a great deal to me over the years," Palmer said. "It may be the one tournament that really kicked me off and got me started on my career. So it will be emotional. But, you know, these things happen, and I'm not sad about it. I am unhappy that I'm not playing well enough. I hit the ball, and I think I hit the hell out of it, and I look up and these young guys are 100 yards in front of me. That's a pretty good message right there."

Even yesterday, before the announcement, the galleries were effusive in their appreciation of the old hero. Greg Norman was preparing to hit his drive from the 4th tee when Palmer's arrival on the 3rd green was greeted with a standing ovation that spread to the grandstands around Norman. When Palmer waved an apology, Norman responded with an affectionate salute.

And so, although Palmer promised that he would go home and work on improving his game in preparation for future appearances at occasional seniors events, Arnie's Army will march alongside their hero for the last time at a major tournament today.

"I'm not going to make a big announcement," he said last night. "I'm just going to fade away." It has been some story, and it will be some fade-out.

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