Golf

Shocked Palmer still flies on own

By TIMES WIRES
Published October 13, 2006

SPRING, Texas - Arnold Palmer arrived at Augusta Pines Golf Club the way he usually shows up for a tournament: flying his own plane.

Palmer, a pioneer among athletes who fly their own planes, expressed shock Thursday at the death of Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, killed Wednesday with his flight instructor when their plane hit a 40-story condominium tower in New York.

"I'm terribly sorry," said Palmer, 77. "I've lost a number of friends the same way. I've been flying all my life. When I started playing the tour, I started flying. It's the greatest thing that could ever happen to me, and to see a tragedy such as this, well, I just can't tell you how I feel about it."

Palmer, who joined the PGA Tour in 1955, will make a rare tournament appearance beginning today in the Administaff Small Business Classic on the Champions Tour.

He flew to the event from his home in Latrobe, Pa., and plans to keep flying.

"It's a convenience, it's a business tool for me, and it's also one that I enjoy doing," Palmer said. "I've been doing it 18,000 hours. That's almost a lifetime in itself."

In earlier years, Palmer was known for flying over a tournament course and tipping a wing to the gallery.

"I used to do that quite a lot, and then the rules for flying got a little restricted, and you can't do that as much as I used to," Palmer said.

His game is not where he'd like it to be, he said, but he still enjoys playing golf and mixing with the fans.

"I hope to finish. My golf isn't too good," Palmer said. "I enjoy the people and what's happening. I'm grateful they still want to see me top a golf ball."

A rough round for Wie

Michelle Wie didn't exactly steal the show at the Samsung World Championship in Palm Desert, Calif.

If anything, she held it up.

Starting her second year as a pro, Wie took a half-hour to play the 14th hole at Bighorn with two rulings, a whiff, an unplayable lie from a desert bush and a shot off the cement cart path just to get back to the fairway. She ended up with quadruple-bogey 8 on the shortest par 4 at Bighorn, sending her to 2-over 74.

The real show belonged to some familiar names on the LPGA Tour - Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam.

Both waited endlessly along the back nine for the Wie rulings, although it hardly affected their games.

Ochoa fired off four birdies in five holes, and Sorenstam caught up with her in the final holes as both finished at 67.

Seminole's Brittany Lincicome finished tied for 17th in the field of 20, with 4-over 76.

PGA: Bob Tway and Steve Flesch had 8-under rounds to share the lead in the Frys.com Open in Las Vegas. Tway, the 1990 winner, shot 63 on the TPC Canyons course that plays to a par of 71, and Flesch had 64 on the 7,243-yard, par-72 TPC Summerlin. The players alternate between the courses for the first two days of the tournament, with the final two rounds at Summerlin.

NATIONWIDE: Brandt Snedeker posted 6-under 66 to take a one-shot lead over Craig Bowden and Tim O'Neal at the Permian Basin Charity Golf Classic in Midland, Texas.

usga SENIOR WOMEN'S AMATEUR: Diane Lang successfully defended her title, beating Anna Schultz 1-up at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga. Lang, 51, who lives in Weston, became the seventh woman to win consecutive titles in the event.

ASIAN TOUR: Defending champion Retief Goosen and Michael Campbell each shot 8-under 64 and trailed leader Lu Wen-teh of Taiwan by a stroke at the China Masters in Sanya.

[Last modified October 13, 2006, 06:28:11]