Fit for a King: Arnold Palmer honored perfectly at Augusta National Thursday
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Preparing for sadness is such an odd thing, but that's what Billy Payne had to do in the six months since the death of the King, Arnold Palmer.
The chairman of Augusta National had half a year to prepare his annual address to the crowd on the first tee at Augusta National Golf Club. Payne has made this address for more than a decade, but for obvious reasons, this one would be different than any other. He was nervous.
"It still hurts so bad that he is not here with us," Payne said early Thursday morning, nervousness now cast aside.
You could understand why he originally felt that way. Just moments earlier he arrived with Palmer’s widow, Kathleen, in his right arm, and Palmer’s green jacket in his left. He was surrounded by hundreds—almost all of them wearing Arnie’s Army pins—from Rickie Fowler to Jack Nicklaus, to Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright.
Forgive the cliche, but it was a procession fit for a king. Fit for the King and all those who cherished him—from near or far—and the things he stood for.
Palmer’s green jacket was laid perfectly across the back of a white lawn chair, the same style chair Palmer was sitting in 12 months ago. "I could see him [sitting] in that chair today," Gary Player said afterward. "It’s funny how things come back to your mind."
It was Player and Nicklaus who were Palmer’s greatest comrades, both during his career and at Augusta National. They stood off to the side of the tee, waiting to hit the ceremonial first shots of the Masters. It was a chilly morning. The wind bit and swept overhead. Daniel Summerhays and Russell Henley had the first tee time, minutes later, but no one wanted this celebration to end.
"As he would walk to this very tee for this ceremony, we would point and shout above the cheers to our kids and grandkids," Payne continued. "'Look, look. It’s Arnold Palmer.' The kids would radiate smiles because they knew they were seeing a legend. And you know what? He would always smile back."
Understanding golf was no prerequisite for the moment. Player and Nicklaus wiped tears from their faces following a 10-second moment of silence. Player hit his tee shot, as he so masterfully can at 81 years of age. Nicklaus was next.
In a moment where quippy, scripted lines are repeatedly used to entice laughter from the crowd, Nicklaus plugged his tee into the ground, took a step back and raised his hat up to the sky. The day and its emotions were both long in the making, but it was the perfect way to kick off golf’s greatest event -- both in Augusta, and wherever Palmer was watching.
2017 Honorary Starters Ceremony https://t.co/Fb8hJq7CNN— Masters Tournament (@TheMasters) April 6, 2017
This article originally appeared on 
