ARNOLD PALMER
Through the Eyes of His Wilmington Caddie
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The King
BY ROBER T R EHDER
IN the spring of 1957, before he became The King, before there
was an Arnie’s Army, and before he was golf ’s greatest ambas-sador,
Arnold Palmer had only four PGA Tour victories.
Number five came at the 1957 Azalea Open. Palmer shot
an aggregate 6-under 282 to win the tournament by one
stroke over Dow Finsterwald. With that win, he earned $1,700 and
the love of Wilmingtonians. That victory helped set the stage for a life
filled with fame, fortune and honor.
The next year he went on to win his first major, the Masters, an
achievement that helped usher in golf ’s modern era, the birth of
Arnie’s Army, and Palmer’s legendary career.
A gallery surrounds the ninth green at Wilmington's 1952 Cape Fear Country Club Azalea Open. Arnold Palmer accepts the winning
check from Azalea Queen Kathryn Grayson in 1957.
PHOTOS FROM HUGH MORTON PHOTOGRAPH AND FILMS/WILSON SPECIAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARY/UNC-CHAPEL HILL
The Azalea Open Invitational, an official PGA event in
Wilmington from 1949 to 1970, was the centerpiece of
Wilmington’s annual Azalea Festival. Held at the venerable
Donald Ross-designed Cape Fear Country Club, the 1956
tournament featured the tour’s best golfers. Among them
wasa lean, scrappy, chain-smoking, virtually unknown
professional named Arnold Palmer. His caddie was John
Gemmell Jr., a New Hanover High School golf standout
who recalled his three tournaments with The King from his
hospital bed on June 17, 2022, and then by telephone on
June 21, 23 and 28, 2022.