Sports Illustrated - USA (2022-04)

17

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PHOTOGRAPH BY WALTER IOOSS JR.

ALTER IOOSS JR. had

already captured the shot

of the day at the 1965

PGA Championship: four-time

Masters winner Arnold Palmer

draping a pink Laurel Valley

Golf Club blazer over the

shoulders of former President

Dwight D. Eisenhower. Later on,

Iooss followed Arnie into the

clubhouse. (Who knows whether

he was allowed there? “I always

tried to push the limits of where I

could go,” says Iooss, who was 21

at the time and would be escorted

off more than one course during his

career for stepping in a sand trap

or roaming too far inside the ropes.

“Not being a golfer and knowing all

the rules, I always had problems.”)

But he knew Palmer was the

perfect subject. “There was only

one guy to photograph, and that

was Arnie with his army. No hats,

cigarettes. Emotions on the putts,”

Iooss says. “Every man, woman

and child wanted to be near Arnie.”

In the clubhouse he found

Palmer, then 35, sitting next to

Jack Nicklaus, the 25-year-old

reigning Masters champ. Iooss

knew the background and

positioning worked, but he had no

idea the image he captured would

become iconic. Says Iooss: “This

moment takes place between two

players—and you can’t imagine the

significance 50-plus years later—

sitting there, chainsmoking their

Larks, terribly lit.” —Claire Kuwana

APRIL 2022

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