WE DIDN’T KNOW HIM THEN, NOT REALLY. In 1958, the club professional-greenkeeper’s son from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, was just a hardworking American guy from the sticks who cut a nice figure in slacks and had some talent on the course. It didn’t matter that he’d been a professional golfer for three years, that he’d distinguished himself in college and as an amateur.
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hen arnold Palmer won the st. Petersburg open at the Lakewood Country Club, Florida in the spring of 1958, his eighth PGA Tour victory, the March 24 New York Times devoted almost as much space to Ted Kroll’s hole-in-one during the tournament: “the fifth hole-in-one of his career,” it read (Kroll finished out of the top 20). The only quote attributed to Palmer following the victory was in regards to his stepping back from a putt on 18 after a camera shutter went off—big noise in those days. “I just didn’t have the nerve to hit it,” Palmer reportedly told the Associated Press (AP). But the quote seems suspicious now we know nerve is something Palmer had plenty of, too much if you asked some people—some people in 1958, that is. That Palmer—the Palmer with nerve, the Palmer of Arnie’s Army, the Palmer eventually known as the King, and now as ‘Mr Palmer’—was introduced to the world just weeks later at Augusta National. It was sooner than some liked, and sooner than all expected. All except for Palmer himself, and those closest to him. You see, Arnie knew he was good. And after he made that eagle at 13, he knew he was going to win the 1958 Masters. From then on, everybody would know him, and everything would change.
Venturi to March to Inevitable Victory?
iT was hardly GoinG To be worth watching the Masters in 1958, if you read the papers. Everyone knew Ken Venturi had it in the bag—he’d come so close in ’56. Then again, Sam Snead was there, and Ben Hogan. And there was the ’57 champ Doug Ford, though the beat writers weren’t optimistic about him: “Only Doug himself and possibly a very few others have paid much attention to the possibility of his becoming the first player ever to win the Masters two years in succession,” read an AP report, which then quipped, “Ford picks himself to win, just as he did a year ago.” Most of the papers ran the stuff from AP’s Hugh Fullerton, Jr., who was writing about Venturi and the big names, and giving space to Japanese players Torakichi Nakamura and Koichi Ono, both great putters. Notably, Lincoln A. Werden got it right in the New York Times, listing Palmer among the contenders. No wonder there’s a golf journalism award in his name today.
How Did Palmer Get an Invite to the Masters?
Azalea Open. His frustration, compounded by a midnight drive across South CaroaccordinG To The aPril 2 lina to reach Augusta National, didn’t help New York Times, there were red faces Palmer’s focus, and he admits he played around the staid, straight-laced Augusta “abysmally” in his practice round, accomNational golf course days before the panying Hogan and Jack Burke. His play1958 Masters kicked off. A 23-year-old ing partner and friend Dow Finsterwald salesman from St. Louis named Allen played well enough for the two to win a W. Perkins had managed to sneak into friendly wager, but the atmosphere in the Augusta National, obtain a locker in the locker room afterwards was anything but, bachelors’ quarters and putt a few balls as Palmer recounted in his autobiography, around the practice area before getting A Golfer’s Life: “A little while afterward, as onto the course (where Snead, Hogan we were changing in the club locker room, and Venturi were playing). I heard Ben Hogan remark to Jackie, ‘Tell He hit five 7-iron shots to the first me something, Jackie. How the hell did green before being spotted by Johnny Palmer get an invitation to the Masters?’” Spence, a pro who recognised the pracTo this day Palmer’s not sure if Hotice shots to the 1st hole as a breach of gan meant for him to hear the comment protocol and alerted security. Perkins or not, but it was unlikely that Hogan was promptly booted out—after he intended the words to have the effect cleaned out his locker. Attendants had they did. “The question burned me up assumed the prankster was an amateur and set my mind on showing him why Masters entrant, and had extended him the hell I’d been invited to the Masters. every courtesy prior to his removal. So perhaps I owe Ben a tip of the cap While Perkins was enjoying a fine for helping me focus my mind on my April Fool’s joke, Palmer was in North business the way Pap always insisted I Carolina, fuming off a Monday playoff would have to in order to win a major loss to Howie Johnson in Wilmington’s golf tournament.” oh yes, this was going to be a great Masters. 045