Friday, April 24, 1998 | 8:34 a.m.
The drives weren't as crisp, the long-iron shots not as accurate, the legion of fans not as strong. But there was no mistaking the silver-haired gentleman who commanded the largest gallery during the opening round of the Las Vegas Senior Classic at the Tournament Players Club at The Canyons.
His game may not resemble the one that carried him to 60 PGA Tour victories and eight major championships during the '60s and '70s, but Arnold Palmer still has a commanding presence on the golf course.
Only on this day, Palmer was upstaged by the elements.
Winds that gusted to 50 mph during his five-hour round Thursday held his once-fabled "Arnie's Army" to a mere 60 or 70 fans at its peak and helped elevate his score to a 10-over-par 81.
"The wind made it very difficult today," Palmer said, still able to produce that easy, infectious smile after a miserable round. "If it were a few years ago, I would have enjoyed it ... but I'm not as young as I once was.
"I can remember playing (in Las Vegas) in the wind and having some pretty good times doing it. I think I won the Tournament of Champions here in a windstorm one time and I didn't mind -- but now it's a little different."
Palmer never really had a chance to get it going Thursday. Teeing off at 1 p.m. and playing during the height of the windstorm, Palmer bogeyed three of his first four holes, injuring his back in the process.
Between helping his amateur playing partners line up putts and joking with the gallery, Palmer often paused to stretch his back, grimacing every time he did.
Making the turn at 5-over 40, Palmer gave his faithful a glimpse of what they came to see: He made par on each of the first four holes on his back nine and still was 5 over after 13 holes.
He bogeyed three of the next four holes, however, and concluded his round with a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 ninth hole at The Canyons.
Although he has not won an official Senior PGA Tour event since 1988, the 68-year-old Palmer said he came to Las Vegas with the intention of winning the Senior Classic.
"Absolutely I did and I'm disappointed," Palmer said. "But I hurt my back early in the day and it got worse as I went around. I'm a little disappointed (because) I felt like I might play a little better here.
"But the wind and the sore back and all those things kind of took its toll on me. I don't know when I did it -- it was fine when I got up -- maybe I was trying to swing too hard in the wind."
Perhaps trying to give Las Vegas golf fans one last memorable moment?
"I was surprised that there were as many as there were out there braving that wind all day," Palmer said of his gallery, which had dwindled to a couple of dozen or so by the time he finished his round. "They did a great job of gallerying and we appreciated it."
archive
