OPEN PALMER Some people are afraid to win, some people are afraid to lose, I was probably the latter of that. I was afraid I was going to lose and it made me play harder and made my desire to win even greater. TITLE GRAPHICS NARRATION ARNOLD PALMER IS ONE OF THE GREATEST ATHLETES OF THE 20th CENTURY. NAMED ATHLETE OF THE DECADE IN (TK) BY (TK), HE... (quick summation of golf career, business success, pilot, etc) NARRATION WE SAT DOWN WITH HIM IN DECEMBER 2011 AT A GOLF SHOP IN MANHATTAN TO TALK ABOUT HIS LEGACY. QUESTION You’re credited with making golf popular in a new and different way. It was the TV era of golf that was just beginning. Did you sense that you were doing that for the game? Did you know, OK, I’m not just winning, I’m advancing the game? PALMER Well, you know, enough people recognized that that was happening. The golf on television was coming on, President Eisenhower was an avid golfer and we became close friends and we played a lot of golf and were both on television a lot and that got peoples attention and I think that, whether it was a fact or just a good circumstance, it worked. His golf and my success kind of went hand in hand at a time for improving and making people more aware of the game. NARRATION ARNOLD DANIEL PALMER WAS ON BORN SEPTEMBER 10, 1929. HE WAS RAISED IN A SMALL, MODEST, WORKING CLASS TOWN IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA CALLED LATROBE. ARNOLD WAS TAUGHT THE GAME BY HIS FATHER, WHO WAS THE GROUNDSKEEPER, AND LATER THE HEAD PROFESSIONAL, AT THE LATROBE COUNTRY CLUB. Do you think part of it was your story, because you were the son of someone who worked for a living and worked hard and worked with his hands and came from Western Pennsylvania? Did that kind of background appeal to people? PALMER Oh, I think so. (EDIT) I worked in the steel mill, my father was a golf professional, but he also worked in the steel mill and I think that tied together and it made people aware it wasn’t just people that worked in an office building and made lots of money, that golf was for them, it was for everyone. And of course, that caught on and caught on very rapidly. NARRATION AFTER HIGH SCHOOL ARNOLD ENROLLED AT WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY ON A GOLF SCHOLARSHIP. BUT IN HIS SENIOR YEAR HE WITHDREW FROM THE SCHOOL BEFORE GRADUATING AFTER THE UNEXPECTED DEATH OF HIS ROOMMATE. PALMER When my roommate got killed in an automobile accident, that was a shock to me, personally, and I had to make some decisions in my life. Of course, then I signed up for the Coast Guard and looking back now, that was probably one of the best things I ever did. It gave me a chance to grow up, to become more mature, (edit) and then I went back to Wake Forest and that was a help too, to finish senior year and immediately went to work in Cleveland, OH, as a manufacturer’s rep and I was still looking. I was trying to satisfy that driving desire to go play professional golf and of course, when I won the Amateur that was the ticket I was looking for, and that gave me the confidence that I needed, that I was ready to go play professional golf and as it worked out, it worked out very well for me. I won the Amateur in August ‘54, I won my first professional tournament August of ‘55, and so on. NARRATION IN HIS CAREER, ARNOLD HAS WON TKTK... ARNIE’S ARMY TK... ALONG THE WAY DEVELOPED FIERCE RIVALRIES WITH HIS OPPOSITION, MOSTLY FAMOUSLY, JACK NICHOLAS. PALMER Of course you’re referring to Nicholas, I guess, mostly. The fact that he was so good, and of course he took my measure at times and I got his a few and people liked that, they liked what was happening. And then you can put Gary Player in the argument too. And there was a competition there that was a very heavy competition, even though we were all good friends. NARRATION (BUSINESS SUCCESSES/THE DRINK/ HIS NET WORTH/ segue into: that drive for perfection led to countless hours tinkering with his clubs. You spent a lot of time, many hours in your workshop working on clubs, you reportedly ha