Arnold Palmer captains winning side in Champion Golfers' Challenge
Wednesday 15 July 2015 19:52, UK
Arnold Palmer was the winning captain as some of the sport's greatest names lined up for the Champion Golfers' Challenge at St Andrews.
The 85-year-old only played the first hole of four, but walked around the rest of the course with his victorious team-mates Bill Rogers, Darren Clarke and Paul Lawrie.
Four teams tied on three under but Palmer's side claimed the £100,000 prize for charity as they had the highest average age.
The reaction of a big crowd on the Old Course left Palmer almost speechless, as he said: "I looked at these stands and they were full of people and it was amazing. I have never seen the golf course look so magnificent."
Lawrie was the star of Team Palmer with an eagle at the second and birdie on the last, and he added: "I haven't played with Arnold before, so it was a dream come true."
A handful of players involved in the event will go on to play in the 144th Open, which starts on Thursday morning, and among them was former world No 1 Tiger Woods, who was in a jovial mood after his four-hole warm-up
Woods, out first in Tom Weiskopf's team with good friend Mark O'Meara and Nick Price, drained a 20-foot birdie putt at the Road Hole as they set the pace with a three-under score over four of the Old Course's signature holes - the first, second, 17th and 18th.
His Road Hole birdie produced one of the biggest cheers of the afternoon, and Woods admitted it was nice not to have to play off such tough tees as they will once the championship proper begins.
"It was nice to play the 'up' tee - I got a chance to use driver, rip it down there and hit an eight iron in." Woods said.
"All these guys (his playing partners) are my friends. It was just four friends out there playing golf and being at the home of golf made it even better.
"It was incredible in 2000 to watch from the balcony to see all the great champions - Sam Snead, the legends of the game - and it inspired me to win that year."
