ken venturi: arnold palmer cheated to win ’58 masters
I was not aware of this controversy involving Ken Venturi’s claim that Arnold Palmer broke the rules to win the ’58 Masters. Venturi says that Palmer never declared his intention to play a second ball after a rules official denied his request for a drop due to an embedded ball. Later, the rules official’s decision was overruled, and Palmer got to count his second ball — even though, according to Venturi, Palmer shouldn’t have been allowed to play the second ball without declaring his intention before he hit his first ball.
My take: let sleeping dogs lie. Venturi’s dredging this up again for his upcoming book, but what good will it do for the game of golf. You have to trust the integrity of the game to each individual golfer. If Arnold judged himself to have acted properly within the rules at the time and no rules official had reason to contradict him, then you have to leave it to Arnold’s word and integrity. Since I really didn’t see what happened (not being even born yet), I can’t say who I believe was right on the call. But I do know that Mr. Palmer has proven himself to be one of the best ambassadors for the game of golf.
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