When Arnold Palmer was approached about helping to create a Seniors Tour, “I wasn’t terribly excited,” he wrote in “A Golfer’s Life.”

“At age 50, I wasn’t sitting around thinking what a great time I could have playing ‘senior’ golf.” Palmer felt he had unfinished business on the PGA Tour, but acknowledged that his game—strong as ever on some days—wasn’t as consistent. With his last tour win in 1973, he liked the idea of being competitive again. And so, when PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman and a number of the old guard launched the Senior PGA Tour—now the PGA TOUR Champions—Palmer helped. His win at the 1980 PGA Seniors’ Championship was a first statement, but it was his victory in the 1981 Senior Open that gave the tour the shot in the arm it needed. Proud of helping with the tour’s success, Palmer noted that, “By the way, it also felt wonderful to win.”

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