An inevitable question
Arnie's idea of quitting - 10 years
NEW YORK (UPI) - Yup, Arnold Palmer has an idea of quitting.
Ask him and he'll tell you.
"I'd like to keep playing at least 10 more years," he says.
That's Arnold Palmer's idea about quitting.
A lot of people, particularly the older and bolder ones, keep asking the moneyed, 39-year-old Palmer if he intends storing his golf clubs in the closet soon—as far as making a living with them is concerned, anyway—and he never flinches.
The reason they keep asking him this same question: he hasn't been burning up the league lately.
The subject came up again when Palmer received an award from the New York Metropolitan Golf Writers Association. The trophy, known as the William D. Richardson Award, honors a former golf writer and is bestowed each year in recognition of a major contribution to golf.
Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen are among past winners; each receiving the silver trophy long after his prime.
Flies to N.Y.
Anyway, Palmer got in his Lear Jet with his wife Winnie, his administrative assistant Doc Giffin, and his pilot Darrell Brown and flew from Latrobe, Pa., to New York City.
"It's a great day for flying,"
Arnold Palmer
said Palmer, taking note of the near-perfect weather.
Arnie first went to inspect the latest office opened up by Arnold Palmer Enterprises last month, which he hadn't seen as yet.
Then came the short trip over to the midtown hotel where he was to receive his award, and also the inevitable questions. Like:
"No. Actually, I'm trying to lose weight."
8 KANSAN Mar. 7 1969
"What about your game?"
"How's your hip?"
"Worrying about your game?"
"My putting is the only thing I'm concerned about. The rest of it seems to be coming along."
"How's your weight?"
Then came the zinger. "What about your future, Arnie?" one guy purred. "I mean now that you've won this Richardson award and all."
"Fine."
Past his peak
"Real good. I've lost 12 pounds in the last month and a half."
Palmer studied the guy who asked the question a moment before replying. Then he said: "I don't want to be skeptical, but most of the people in golf who have won this award have been—let's say past the peak a little—when they received it. I hope it's not the case with me. I hope I can pull up my
showestrings and win a few more. I think I can."
"Including the Open?" the guy persisted.
"Including the Open," Arnie said, displaying the perfect Palmer charm.
Later on there were other questions, but none dealing with this immediate future. Palmer seemed happy that they changed the subject.
Now they were asking whether he didn't feel golf was being "over-televised."
Overexposure
"I certainly don't think golf is over-televised," he came right back. "Look at it this way: you have a hard time watching golf eight hours a day on TV anyday of the year, but you can sit down and watch eight hours of football any Sunday."
Fine. Now what did he think about the possibility of two separate professional golf tours?
"I think it is inevitable," he said. "I think it's an absolute necessity. We're playing 130-140 players a week. You have 300 others sitting out. You must do something.
Palmer's personal solution would be the addition of a so-called satellite tour "in the reasonable vicinity" of the principal one. The secondary tour would be subsidized by the main one, with some of the purse even channeled to the satellite if necessary.
"You can't allow it to go on. It's something we have to face and something we have to handle."
That's the way Arnold Palmer sees it.
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