HUNT VALLEY, Md. -- Arnold Palmer isn't kidding himself. As
he prepares to play in his first tournament in nearly a year, the
77-year-old golfing great isn't exactly crafting a victory speech.
Palmer plays very little golf these days, so he will carry
extremely modest expectations into the Constellation Energy
Classic, a Champions Tour event that gets under way Friday.
"My intentions are to just play as hard as I can possibly can,
and do as well as I possibly can," Palmer said Thursday. "The
fact that I am getting a little older is also a consideration I
have to put into the whole scenario."
Palmer won his first tournament in 1955 and had 62 career wins,
including seven majors, during his PGA career. He long ago stopped
playing the game competitively, mainly because he's too busy
building courses and making business deals.
Golf is still part of his life, but his days on the tour are
nearly over. He agreed to play this week because he has ties with
Constellation Energy and has teamed with Baltimore-based Union
Memorial Hospital to create the Arnold Palmer SportsHealth Center.
Shaking hands with businessmen occupies far more of his time
these days than chipping and putting.
"I'm really sort of winding up my Champions Tour golf. I'm not
going to play very much, if any, in the future," he said. "I'll
do an occasional event like this, if I have an outside interest in
the company or the people putting on the tournament."
The last time Palmer played was in October, in the Administraff
Small Business Classic. He shot a 239, eight strokes behind the
nearest competitor and 39 behind the winner.
Not that it matters. Golf fans still flock to see Palmer, even
if his days of winning the Masters are decades behind him.
"The fans have been as wonderful as ever," he said.
His golf game, however, is in poor shape.
"I play occasionally at home," he said. "Maybe I'm a little
disillusioned with my game, and that may have something to do with
it. For the most part, I'm very busy doing other things."
Palmer knows better than to expect to do well this weekend, but
that won't stop him from muttering to himself when he watches far
less accomplished players pass him on the leaderboard.
"That (desire) never seems to go away, even when you're not
playing up to the standards you should," he said. "What made it
happen 50 years ago is still in the back of your mind."
It was 50 years ago that Palmer won the Eastern Open in
Baltimore, his second career victory on the PGA Tour.
"My first shot hit the road left of the first hole," Palmer
recalled. "I was tired and really a little disgusted. I looked at
Doug Ford, my playing partner, and said, 'I'm out of here. I think
I'm going to go to Pennsylvania.'
"He looked at me and said, 'Aw, c'mon Arnie, you can spot the
field two strokes and still win.' None of us believed it at the
time, but that was the case. I'll always remember that."
Defending champion Bob Gilder and Hale Irwin, the career money
leader on the Champions Tour, are among 79 golfers vying for the
top prize of $255,000 at the Hayfields Country Club.