Palmer the Mother Teresa of golf – Trevino

Lee Trevino has described friend and opponent Arnold Palmer as the “Mother Theresa of golf” who could reach out to people from all walks of life.

Palmer died at the age of 87 on Sunday, with tributes flooding in for ‘The King’ and the influence he had on moulding golf into the game it is today.

Alongside Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, Palmer was part of golf’s ‘Big Three’ in the 1960s with the trio helping to grow the game across the world.

Trevino was one of the many to benefit from that as he came to the fore in the same decade before winning five of his six majors in the 1970s, building up a good friendship with Palmer.

And it was not his prowess on the golf course that Trevino will remember the most, instead focusing on his impact off the course.

“We will always close our eyes and see him and his charismatic style and the impact he had on golf,” Trevino told Golf.com.

“It didn’t matter if you were white collar, blue collar, no collar, Arnold Palmer was your man. He was somebody who reached out to you, from the Queen to the commoners.

“He was the Mother Teresa of golf. He was loved by everybody and that’s never easy.

“Losing Arnold Palmer is staggering. I sort of feel like the Scots did in the 1800s when they lost Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris. You simply cannot replace him.”