Peter Thomson’s tribute to Arnold Palmer

Australian golf legend Peter Thomson has issued a short statement about the passing of Arnold Palmer.

Arnold was the folk hero of golf.

Not only was he the greatest personality the game has produced, he was King of the fairways every time he played.

We were only two weeks apart in age and great rivals. We certainly had some wonderful times together.

The last time we played was an exhibition at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney on November 24, 2004. The occasion was the centenary of the Australian Open and Bruce Devlin joined us for the nine-hole match on the eve of the tournament.

At last year’s Open Championship at St Andrews, we were rival captains in the four-hole Past Champions event and, although our team scores were the same, Arnold’s team won the charity donation by being the older team of the two.

St Andrews was a fitting final place for us both to meet.

Mary and I are terribly saddened by the news of his death, and our thoughts are very much with Kit, and his daughters and their families.

Bless you always, Arnold.