Legendary golfer Arnold Palmer passes away

Palmer became a professional golfer in 1954 and won his first tournament a year later at the 1955 Canadian Open. He won three tournaments the next year, four in 1957 and then captured his first major in 1958, winning The Masters.

Arnold Palmer was a Masters champion four times and also won the 1960 U.S. Open and Open Championship in 1961 and 1962.

Us golfer Arnold Palmer, a winner of seven majors, passed away at the age of 87.

News of Palmer's passing, which was confirmed via Twitter by the United States Golf Association, prompted an outpouring of emotional tributes from the sport's stars of past and present on social media, with Tiger Woods posting: "It's hard to imagine golf without you or anyone more important to the game than the King."

Palmer became a professional golfer in 1954 and won his first tournament a year later at the 1955 Canadian Open. He won three tournaments the next year, four in 1957 and then captured his first major in 1958, winning The Masters.

He was a Masters champion four times and also won the 1960 U.S. Open and Open Championship in 1961 and 1962. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

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Twice the PGA Tour Player of the Year — 1960 and 1962 — Palmer’s interest in golf stemmed from helping his father maintain the grounds at the Latrobe (Penn.) Country Club.

Part of golf's "Big Three" in the 1960s, along with Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus, Palmer also won 10 times on the Senior Tour, including five Senior majors. Palmer was given the honour of starting off The Masters in 2007 with a symbolic tee shot.

Palmer's contributions away from the game were vast. In addition to a drink named after him — a combination of sweet tea and lemonade — Palmer was an outspoken advocate of men's health. He overcame a prostate cancer diagnosis in 1997 and had a pacemaker installed in 2014.

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Palmer's golf legacy lives on in the form of the various courses he designed — most notably Bay Hill in Orlando and the Latrobe Country Club. The PGA Tour's Bay Hill Invitational was renamed the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2007.

Palmer was married to Winnie Palmer for 45 years, but she died at age 65 on Nov. 20, 1999 from complications due to ovarian cancer. Palmer married Kathleen Gawthrop in 2005. The Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies opened in 2006.

Palmer was an avid pilot and flew for 50 years until 2011. It was then that he piloted his Cessna Citation X from Palm Springs to Orlando before deciding to not renew his license. The airport in his hometown of Latrobe, Penn., is named after him.

Palmer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.