There’s only one way to start this week’s report and that is for me to pay my own personal tribute to the legend Arnold Palmer, who passed away at the weekend, and to convey my sincere condolences to his loving family at this sad time.
What a man, what a golfer. His contribution to golf is beyond measure and it’s no exaggeration to say that the modern game would not be as it is now without Arnold Palmer. Obviously his prime playing days were before my time, but we’ve seen the classic footage and the old black-and-white photographs in which Arnold’s film-star good looks, warmth and huge charisma just shone out. He attracted an almost frenzied following from galleries, the famous Arnie’s Army. Golf loved him and he loved it back in equal measure. He won majors, he won tournaments, and he lost tournaments, in his own unique, inimitable way. He was built like a middleweight boxer and he slashed and heaved at the ball with his huge hands and forearms; it was as though he was summoning every fibre in his mind and body to overpower a golf course. I remember John Jacobs saying ‘the ground shook when Arnold hit a golf ball’. You can imagine!
Arnold was not only a great, great golfer, but also a man of enormous heart and generosity; one of the game’s true gentlemen and someone who did an enormous amount of good work for others, not least through his charity ‘Arnie’s Army Charitable Foundation’, which for more than 50 years has raised millions of dollars to improve the lives of people in need.
He was also incredibly kind to young players, including me at the start of my career when he invited me to play in his tournament in 1993. We played the first two rounds together that year and it was an experience that I still cherish. For me and for many players it remained one of the highlights of the year to play his tournament and meet up with him at his beloved Bay Hill. For me to win the tournament twice, in 1998 and 2010, was of course the greatest thrill and honour. Honestly, I look at the photos today of him presenting me with the trophy and us laughing together beside the 18th green (pictured below), and it sends a shiver down the back of my neck.
There will never be another golfer like Arnold Palmer and the game of golf will miss him so much. But we can all feel blessed to have shared a little slice of time on this earth with the great man and we should celebrate the fact that he lived the fullest life imaginable. His legacy, his record, his charitable spirit, will live on forever. RIP ‘the King’.
It’s tempting to leave it there for this report, but of course life goes on, so we should take this opportunity to reflect on last week’s Porsche European Open. It was nice to be playing this event for the first time since 1994. It now has a really great sponsor in Porsche and I must say everything about the event was really well done.
Obviously there were some issues with the weather and anyone seeing the photos of the course the Saturday before will not believe we tee’d it up at the same place on Thursday. The greens staff at Bad Griesbach did an amazing job keeping the course playable despite the rain. With that extra moisture in the ground, along with the warm days and cold nights, it meant we experienced heavy fog and some delays. It was tough to keep the rhythm in these stop-start conditions, but congratulations to Alexander Levy on a well-deserved victory; he produced some wonderful bursts of scoring. Over in America, congrats also to Rory McIlroy on taking care of business at the Tour Championship to win this year’s FedEx Cup. He played some amazing golf down the stretch to firstly put himself into that position and then to seal the double victory.
Anyway, back to my game. As I said, I was excited about playing again in Europe after a bit of a tournament break, and I’ve always had a nice relationship with the German public, so for all of those reasons I was keen to put in a strong performance. That didn’t happen, but there were certain aspects of my game that give me cause for optimism. I’ve been working on some swing thoughts that kind of take me back to where I was in my late 20s and I think we can build on that and move forward in the coming months. That’s going to be my primary focus during the weeks at home when I can work on my game.
Right now I’m back in the US, before we fly to Scotland for next week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. I’ll enjoy spending some time with the family, which I’ve done more of this year than normal. It’s meant a lot to me. It’s my daughter Samantha’s last year at school and I wanted to be there for her and go with her to visit some colleges that she’s looking to go to. We did a couple of road trips together and, as any father would understand, that was a wonderful experience.
Also this week I’ll be watching the Ryder Cup, as I always do. I was speaking last week to Ryder Cup stalwarts Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer, and rookie Thomas Pieters, and you could really feel the passion they have for this event. It was great to hear their thoughts on how to approach the various elements of the week as they spoke to many of the sponsors. For me personally, I love the spectacle of it. The guys really flourish and produce some of the best golf shots you’ll ever see. All I know is it will be an almighty battle, as both sides want to hold that trophy aloft on Sunday night, and that we will be in for some exciting golf.
Okay, that’s it for now. Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.
