Arnie

He seemed human, with his weird-looking backswing and his somewhat ruffled appearance.He was a chain smoker and he liked a few highballs after a round. He wasn't patrician in the least. He was a great ambassador for the game and a worthy champion. Arnold Palmer has died.

I'm too young to have seen Palmer during his heyday -- when Palmer won the Masters in 1964, in the clip I've posted above, I had a rattle in my hand, and I didn't see his great battles with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, among others. I saw plenty of Nicklaus and Player growing up, but while they were great champions, they weren't the same type of personality that Palmer was. While Nicklaus was certainly a greater golfer than Palmer, he was never as popular.

These days golf is technically better than ever, but it's become a sport that's not the same any more. We're about to host the Ryder Cup here in Minnesota and the best golfers in the world will be coming here to play. Not one of them will have the force of personality that Arnold Palmer had. RIP.