By Luke Kerr-Dineen | USA TODAY
Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer took on each other in their primes. Golf was Arnie’s when the younger Nicklaus arrived for the crown and the crowd — dubbed Arnie’s Army — couldn’t stand him because of it.
Rivalries like that often get heated. The two will share a mutual respect but will largely stay out of each other’s way. Not so with Arnold and Jack.
The crowd never turned the rivalry poisonous largely because Palmer wouldn’t let it. The two greats became friends, and so when word came down of Palmer’s passing at the age of 87 on Sunday, Nicklaus honored the King with a beautiful message on his official Facebook page: