Golf' s superstar Arnold Palmer dies aged 87

Arnold Palmer golf's first superstar, has died from complications after heart surgery. He was 87.
The American won seven Majors and 62 PGA Tour titles but his influence on the sport went beyond his considerable on-field achievements.

Young, dashing with matinee idol looks, the working-class hero was Pennsylvania was known simply as The King as he attracted a new fanbase to golf known as Arnie's Army and made the game cool.

And he made millions of dollars along with agent Mark McCormack as he was rewarded with lucrative endorsement deals at the start of the age of TV.
Palmer was also crucial in making golf a worldwide game, especially with his support of the Open which he won in 1961 and 1962.

He convinced other Americans to cross the Atlantic to compete for the Claret Jug.
When he made his farewell Open appearance at St Andrews in 1995, Sir Nick Faldo said: “If Arnold hadn’t come here in 1960, we’d probably all be in a shed on the beach.” 

He ranks fifth on the PGA's list of tournament victories. His biggest win may have come in 1960, when he won the U.S. Open after being down seven shots in the final round in the greatest comeback in that tournament's history.

He beat Jack Nicklaus, a then 20-year-old amateur, by two shots, prefacing a rivalry between the two that lasted throughout the 1960s.

He was especially dominant from 1960 to 1963, winning 29 PGA Tour events. He was named Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year in 1960.
Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and others have paid their tribute to the star through social media.

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