Arnold Palmer Would Tell Rickie And J.T. To Shut Up And Just Play On

Arnold Palmer was the icon’s icon.

He made golf cool, he was bold, daring but the greatest part of Arnold is that he was one of us.

He was one of the guys, a regular guy who just happened to make it big — really big.

This week at Bay Hill serves as a reminder of how much Arnold Palmer is missed.

You see, for the longest time — it was Arnold Palmer who ran the PGA Tour.  He was the Commissioner, best player, most visible face and pre-eminent spokesman all rolled into one incredibly charismatic figure.

Palmer kept order.  There was no bitching, pissing and moaning like we’ve had the past few weeks from the likes of Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and a bunch of other spoiled houseguests known as modern PGA Tour players.

Back in the day, Arnold would pull them aside, individually, and basically tell them to shut up, read the damn new rules, learn them and quit complaining.

Arnold saw a lot of change in his playing days and he was right in the center of it all.

Demands on Arnold were ridiculous.  He never complained.

This tournament moved to Bay Hill in 1979.  Before that it was kinda rinky-dink.  It was called the Citrus Open and it was played over on the other side of town at a fairly boring, pine-tree lined layout called Rio Pinar.  It was a totally vanilla event.  Not much excitement.

Then Arnold changed all of that.

Bay Hill was a big-boy layout and no one was bigger than Arnold.  Talk about a great host.  The first year there Palmer came up to the guys covering his event, he found time to pull us aside, individually.  “Tom, is everything okay?  Anything you need?  If you need anything, please let ME know.”  I can remember Arnold taking me aside and asking.  As a young golf writer, it was fairly overwhelming.  Tried to be cool about it and told Arnold:  “Arnold, everything is great — kinda like you.”  Hey, what the heck — if you’re gonna suck up to someone, make sure it’s an icon and Arnold was that and more.

That response from a young writer brought a big laugh from Arnold, yeah, he knew he was a big deal, deep down inside, but he’d never act like it.  The more time you spent with him, the more you realized that, yes, he’s sure one of us — at least his character and deportment reflected that.  It was just Arnold being Arnold.  Non-pretentious, approachable, everyman’s man.

Which brings us back to these players who just can’t wrap their arms around a few rules changes and are basically throwing tantrums like a bunch of spoiled kids.

Spoiled?  That’s an “oh hell” to the “yes.”

These guys are America’s House-guests.

Their bank accounts are fatter than a guy who’s been on a donuts-only diet the past 10 years.

This rules stuff got so crazy that the  Sheriff Of Nottingham  had to step in and send a memo to his players telling them to calm down.

Lay off the USGA.

Which reminds us that for years and year, Arnold Palmer was the spokesman for the USGA.

It was Arnold who sent us letters asking us to become “USGA Associates.”

A lot of us joined because who wants to say “no” to Arnold?

The answer is you just don’t say “no” to Arnold Palmer.

Which reminds us how much he is missed.

Miss ‘ya Arnold.

Good thing you’re not around to see a lot of this nonsense that is permeating the PGA Tour.

You’d be damn disappointed.

For sure.