The United States Golf Association confirmed Sunday evening that golf legend Arnold Palmer passed away at the age of 87. It tweeted that the organization is "deeply saddened" by Palmer's passing, and referred to him as golf's "greatest ambassador."
Palmer, who won 62 PGA Tour titles between 1955 and 1973, died in Pittsburgh, Pa. He was a Latrobe, Pa. native.
A four-time Masters champion, Palmer was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. He then received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2012; at the time, he was only the second golfer to have received it.
In a 2008 interview with Golf Digest, Palmer acknowledged that he was having a difficult time adjusting to aging--and that even as he approached 80, he liked to "think young."
"Maybe that has something to do with [my impact on younger generations]," he said at the time. "I'm not much for sitting around and thinking about the past or talking about the past. What does that accomplish?"
When Palmer turned 87 on Sept. 10, golf heavyweight Tiger Woods thanked him for "25 years of friendship."
Sunday evening, fans, sports writers and colleagues expressed their sadness for the loss.
Clippers point guard Chris Paul tweeted a nostalgic photo with Palmer, a fellow Wake Forest University alum.
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Palmer once reportedly said that “what other people find in poetry, I find in the flight of a good drive.”
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