Arnold Palmer.

Arnold Palmer. Arnold Palmer, born in 1929, American golfer, the first to win the Masters championship four times and one of the most successful and popular golfers of all time. Born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Palmer began playing golf at the age of three. He entered Wake Forest University in 1947, but interrupted his schooling to serve in the United States Coast Guard from 1950 to 1953. In 1954, after returning to Wake Forest, Palmer won the U.S. Amateur championship. He left the university that same year to begin a career as a professional golfer. His professional victories include four Masters championships (1958, 1960, 1962, 1964); the 1960 U.S. Open; and the 1961 and 1962 British Open championships. By 1968 Palmer had become the first golfer to earn more than $1,000,000 in Professional Golf Association tournament prize money. In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s his fan following increased, and he is credited with popularizing professional golf during that period, especially on television. Palmer's enthusiastic fans became known as Arnie's Army. After joining the Senior tour, he won the 1980 Seniors Championship (his first event on the tour) and the 1981 U.S. Senior Open. He continued to increase his public recognition through a number of commercial product endorsements and established himself in the business community through his company, Arnold Palmer Enterprises. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.