Marching on

Palmer: We need to keep playing for troops

ORLANDO -- Golf is nothing but a show, really, and the show must go on. Not just for us.

Not just to prevent terrorists from scoring another little victory by possibly disrupting our daily lives. Not just to provide a little hope, a little distraction, a little relaxation. Arnold Palmer, a man who has commanded an army of his own for more than four decades, been long-time friends with armed forces supporter Bob Hope and frequent golfing partners of the likes of President Dwight Eisenhower, believes this about his own Bay Hill Invitational, the new baseball season, the NCAA basketball tournament and any other sporting or entertainment event: Let’s do it for the American troops who are stationed overseas and possibly about to go into battle in Iraq.

“I’m not one who likes war, period,” Palmer said Wednesday at the Bay Hill Golf club in Orlando, the day before the start of the PGA Tour’s Bay Hill Invitational.

“There’s not many people in this room that would like to see a war but if it’s necessary and the president thinks we need to go in there, I’m going to support him,” Palmer said. “In this case, I trust our government and the decision they make.”

At 73 and as a member of the Greatest Generation, as Tom Brokaw dubbed it, Palmer wants to support his country as best he can. The only way to do that, in his view, is to make sure the show goes on at Bay Hill. What else can he do?

“I’ve heard many comments about keeping life as it is,” Palmer said. “I don’t think it’s unpatriotic to have a sporting event going on. I think the people over there who are fighting and away from home look to see what we’re doing. I think when they get up in the morning, they look to see who won the golf tournament or who won the baseball game. I think their morale would be lesser if we stopped doing all these things.

"I think they would like to see it, that’s my opinion. You get up in the morning to see who won the basketball game last night. Well, those guys do the same thing. I think that diverts them from the fact that they are in danger. It gives them something to look forward to.”

This week, they’ll be able to check for Palmer’s score one more time.

Although Palmer, who shot 89 in the first round last year and didn’t post a score the second day (but it would’ve been in the 90s if he had), isn’t very optimistic. Officially, this makes 50 years of PGA Tour events for Palmer, although he remembers playing a tour event in Pittsburgh in 1947 when he was in high school.

“I’m glad I’m playing,” Palmer said. “I’m not happy with the way I’m playing. My only question would be how well, or how poorly, I play. I’d like to play better than I’ve been playing.”

No matter how he plays, the fans in his army will surely appreciate the effort. Palmer will soldier on, as will the Bay Hill Invitational.

“We are committed to playing,” Palmer said. “Short of the president or my friend, Tom Ridge, saying it’s critical that you do not play, we’re going to play. I supposed if they requested that we didn’t, we would not play. But i don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Palmer has golfed with many presidents, including former President George Bush, but not his son, the current president, George W. Bush. He has played horseshoes with the younger Bush at the family home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

This week, Palmer is playing golf one more time. As much for the President, the country and our armed forces as for anyone.

 

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