I'm too young to have seen him playing at his best but the fact that he remained in the focus of the game for so many years after he stopped competing says so much about him, his style and his personality.
If my memory serves me correctly someone said once and I think it was Arnold Palmer who resurrected the Open Championship and golf in the UK from the doldrums by coming over here and playing it. I believe it was a pretty lack luster affair before then. So we owe him a great debt of gratitude for that.
Saw him play at the open in 1981 at St. Georges. Made the cut....
When I first got into golf in 1970 Jack was The Man but there was still something extra special about The King and he quickly became my golfing hero . Visited Bay Hill once in the hope of just bumping into him and shaking his hand, sadly that will never happen now.
Thanks for all the memories Arnie, may you rest in peace.
My dad's golfing hero. He would always point me to Arnie's instructional Video when I was learning the game as a kid. In fact he still refers to it to this day as he got it converted to DVD.
Very sad news and some marvellous tributes across TV and social media. Sadly I missed him in his prime but he was still an icon when I got into the game in the late 70's and loved his fearless style.