Arnold Palmer dead: Barack Obama leads tributes to The King after legend dies aged 87
Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods also honour one of golf's greatest who died in Pittsburgh hospital
US PRESIDENT Barack Obama lead the tributes to golfing legend Arnold Palmer who died aged 87.
President Obama tweeted a photo of a lesson that Palmer gave him in the Oval Office at the White House.
Presidential hopeful Donald Trump also tweeted his sadness at the news while former President Bill Clinton called Palmer “golf’s everyman.”
He said:”We loved him most as the underdog who never gave in and often came from behind to win.
Former President George W. Bush said: “There has never been a sight quite like Arnold Palmer walking down the fairway toward the 18th green.”
His father George Bush Snr also wrote of his sadness at the passing of golf’s first superstar.
Palmer died on Sunday in Pittsburgh, following heart complications.
Today’s golfing superstars Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods also honoured the man who brought golf to the masses with his energy and charisma in the 1950s and 1960s.
Palmer won 62 tournaments on the US PGA Tour, including seven Major championships.
His influence on the modern game however reaches beyond his record.
He helped energise golf, brought The Open to an American audience and attracted sponsors and increased prize money to the sport.
Eighteen-time major champion Jack Nicklaus summed up the mood of shock and grief after the sport lost one of its true greats.
Nicklaus, Palmer’s close friend and fierce rival, said: “I was shocked to hear we had lost a great friend – and that golf had lost a great friend.
“We just lost one of the most incredible people in golf, and in all of sport. My friend, many people’s friend, just wore out.”
Today’s stars recognise the debt they owe to the player dubbed The King.
McIlroy won the £9million jackpot on Sunday by winning the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
He won the three-man play-off with American rivals Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell to clinch the biggest prize in golf, just days before the Ryder Cup kicks off at Hazeltine.
Other golfing stars also took to Twitter to express their sadness.
Palmer is survived by his second wife Kit, daughters Amy Saunders and Peggy Wears and six grandchildren, including Sam Saunders, who plays on the PGA Tour.