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Arnold Palmer, then 25, hugs the Seagram Trophy after winning the 1955 Canadian Open at Weston Golf and Country Club, his first of many PGA titles. (Greater Toronto Area Golf Association) (GTAGA).
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Arnold Palmer, then 25, hugs the Seagram Trophy after winning the 1955 Canadian Open at Weston Golf and Country Club, his first of many PGA titles. (Greater Toronto Area Golf Association) (GTAGA).
Winning the first Major of your career will always be special for a golfer. Arnold Palmer has 7 Majors to his name, but his 1958 Masters win will always be much closer to his heart. However, the late golfer’s crowning of Green Jacket wasn’t an easy route as he ended up having an argument with an official during his 1958 Major win in Augusta National.
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Palmer’s win at the 1958 Masters marked the beginning of the journey of one of the greatest golfers. But his triumph was no easy walk, as the Hall of Famer had to endure the challenging rainy weather conditions a few days before the Major.
Though the prior rain also brought changes in a few regulations at Augusta National, ‘The King’ was declined an opportunity to exercise one such change. Let’s look at what the seven-time Major had to go through a few hours before winning his Maiden Major.
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The misery of Arnold Palmer at the ‘Amen Corner’
Undoubtedly, Augusta National is one of the oldest courses in the world. In the most renowned golf club, the 12th hole is coined as the ‘Amen Corner’. In the final round of his 1958 Masters win, Palmer came across the notable hole. “My tee shot at twelve [155 yards, six-iron] flew the green”, said The King in a 2014 Golf Channel Column.
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June 20, 1963: Arnold Palmer Ligonier, Pennsylvania, winner of the U.S. Open golf championship in 1960, watches flight of his tee shot on first hole at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., at start of the 1963 USGA Open. Playing in threesome with Palmer are Jay Hebert, right, of Lafayette, La., and Doug Ford of Brookville, N.Y. (AP Photo)
Since the heavy rainfall at Augusta National before, Arnold Palmer’s tee shot got embedded in the mud between the back bunker and the fringe. According to the golfer, the shot deserved a drop without penalty. “To me, an obvious drop without penalty”, he said.
However, the official standing didn’t agree with Palmer, as the golfer said, “But the official standing there, Arthur Lacey, said, ‘It’s only half-plugged.’ I said, ‘That’s like being half-pregnant”.The Hall of Famer further claimed that the golfers only played with wet weather rules on Sunday.
Palmer told Lacey, “I’m going to play two balls”, to which the official replied, “You don’t do that here”. Palmer received an unopposed free drop after slightly moving the indented ball into a puddle of casual water. However, he needed a chip and a few putts to make a double-bogey 5.
The legendary golfer dropped another ball over his shoulder as he returned to face the embedded scratch. It ultimately fell into place after rolling twice closer to the hole, and this time he stood up and shot for three. Nonetheless, the controversy didn’t faze Arnold Palmer much as he continued his top-notch form to bag the first Major of his career later that evening.
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Written by
Edited by
Manaal Siddiqui