Palmer's first tour win came during his 1955 rookie season, when he won the
Canadian Open and earned $2,400 for his efforts. Palmer is also credited by many for securing the status of
The Open Championship (British Open) among U.S. players. Before
Ben Hogan won that championship in 1953, few American professionals had traveled to play in The Open, due to its extensive travel requirements, its relatively small purse, and the style of its
links courses (radically different from most American courses). Palmer wanted to emulate the feats of his predecessors
Bobby Jones,
Sam Snead and Hogan in his quest to become a leading American golfer. In particular, Palmer traveled to
Scotland in 1960 to compete in the British Open for the first time. He had already won both the Masters and U.S. Open and was trying to emulate Hogan's 1953 feat of winning all three tournaments in a single year. Although he failed to win, losing out to
Kel Nagle by a single shot, Palmer went on to win the Open Championship in 1961 and 1962, and last played in it in 1995. Martin Slumbers, chief executive of
The R&A, called Palmer "a true gentleman, one of the greatest ever to play the game and a truly iconic figure in sport". Palmer's most prolific years were 1960–1963, when he won 29 PGA Tour events, including five major tournaments, in four seasons. In 1960, he won the
Hickok Belt as the top professional athlete of the year and
Sports Illustrated magazine's "
Sportsman of the Year" award. He built up a wide fan base, often referred to as "Arnie's Army", and in 1967 he became the first man to reach $1million in career earnings on the PGA Tour. By the late 1960s
Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player had both acquired clear ascendancy in their rivalry, but Palmer won a PGA Tour event every year from 1955 to 1971 inclusive, and in 1971 he enjoyed a revival, winning four events. For each of his wins at the Masters, Palmer's caddie was
Nathaniel "Iron Man" Avery; at the time, Augusta National required all golfers to use the club's own caddies. Palmer won the
Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average four times: 1961, 1962, 1964, and 1967. He played on six
Ryder Cup teams: 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1971, and 1973. Palmer was eligible for the Senior PGA Tour (now
PGA Tour Champions) from its first season in 1980, and he was one of the marquee names who helped it to become successful. He won ten events on the tour, including five
senior majors. golf tips before being awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2004 In 2004, he competed in the
Masters Tournament for the last time, marking his 50th consecutive appearance in that event. At his death, he and Jack Nicklaus were the only two Masters champions to be regular members of Masters organizer
Augusta National Golf Club (as opposed to the honorary membership the club grants to all Masters champions). From 2007 until his death, Palmer served as an honorary starter for the Masters. He retired from tournament golf on October 13, 2006, when he withdrew from the Champions Tours'
Administaff Small Business Classic after four holes due to dissatisfaction with his own play. He played the remaining holes but did not keep score.
Golf businesses Palmer had a diverse golf-related business career, including owning the
Bay Hill Club and Lodge in
Orlando, Florida, which is the venue for the PGA Tour's
Arnold Palmer Invitational (renamed from the Bay Hill Invitational in
2007), helping to found
The Golf Channel, and negotiating the deal to build the first golf course in the People's Republic of China. This led to the formation of Palmer Course Design in 1972, which was renamed Arnold Palmer Design Company when the company moved to Orlando, Florida, in 2006. In 1971, he purchased
Latrobe Country Club (where his father used to be the club professional) and owned it until his death. On March 12, 2014, a Florida jury ruled in favor of Gotta Have It on its breach of contract and other related claims. The same jury rejected the counterclaims of Palmer and Woods, and awarded Gotta Have It $668,346 in damages. One of Palmer's most recent products (mass-produced starting in 2001) is a branded use of the beverage known as the
Arnold Palmer, which combines sweetened iced tea with lemonade.
Automotive businesses As a member of the Lincoln-Mercury Sports Panel, in the early 1970s Palmer was a brand ambassador for
Lincoln-Mercury. In 1974, Palmer, along with partners Mark McCormack and
Don Massey, purchased a
Cadillac dealership in
Charlotte, North Carolina. Over the years, Palmer would acquire several other dealerships in several states including a
Buick-Cadillac store in his hometown of Latrobe. The Latrobe dealership, known as Arnold Palmer Motors, closed in 2017 after 36 years in business and several months after his death. ==Legacy==