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50 free Arnold Palmer trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Arnold Palmer learned golf from his greenskeeper father at Latrobe Country Club, served three years in the Coast Guard, won the 1954 U.S. Amateur and then turned a working-class game face and a go-for-broke swing into the first superstar career of golf's television age. He won seven majors between 1958 and 1964, became the first player to earn a million dollars on tour, dragged American pros back to the Open Championship and built an empire of courses, dealerships, a hospital and a drink that carries his name. This quiz covers the playing record and the life around it: the Cherry Hills charge from seven back, the Masters wins with Iron Man Avery on the bag, the playoff heartbreaks at the U.S. Open, the Ryder Cup captaincies, Mark McCormack and the birth of sports marketing, Bay Hill, the Golf Channel, the first course in China, the pilot's licence, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the estate he left behind. Fifty questions with four options each and a short explanation after every answer. Play on your phone or print it for the clubhouse.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Arnold Palmer was born in which Pennsylvania steel town?
Latrobe
His father Deacon was head professional and greenskeeper at the local country club, which Palmer bought outright in 1971.
Q 02Palmer attended which college on a golf scholarship?
Wake Forest
He left after the death of his close friend Bud Worsham and returned to finish his college golf career after military service.
Q 03In which branch of the US military did Palmer serve from 1951 to 1954?
Coast Guard
While stationed at Cape May, New Jersey, he built a nine-hole course to keep his game sharp.
Q 04Which 1954 title did Palmer call 'the turning point in my life' before turning pro?
U.S. Amateur
He won it in Detroit, quit his job selling paint and announced on November 17 that he was turning professional.
Q 05What job did Palmer quit in 1954 before playing the Waite Memorial?
Selling paint
He then played the Waite Memorial in Shawnee-on-Delaware, where he met his future wife Winifred Walzer.
Q 06Which event gave Palmer his first PGA Tour win as a rookie in 1955?
Canadian Open
The win was worth $2,400; his first Masters cheque three years later was $11,250.
Q 07How many PGA Tour titles did Palmer win between 1955 and 1973?
62
That leaves him fifth all-time behind Sam Snead, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan.
Q 08How many major championships did Palmer win?
7
All seven came in a six-year burst from the 1958 Masters to the 1964 Masters.
Q 09Which major was the only one Palmer never won?
PGA Championship
He finished a tie for seventh in the 1960 edition, two weeks after his Grand Slam bid ended at St Andrews.
Q 10How many times did Palmer win the Masters?
Four
He won in 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964, always with the same Augusta National caddie on his bag.
Q 11Who caddied for Palmer in every one of his Masters victories?
Nathaniel Avery
Augusta National required all players to use the club's own caddies at the time.
Q 12Which pioneering agent signed Palmer as his first client around 1960?
Mark McCormack
McCormack listed Palmer's looks, modest background, risk-taking style, TV finishes and affability as the five things that made him marketable.
Q 13Palmer lost the 1960 Open at St Andrews by a single shot to which golfer?
Kel Nagle
He shot 70-71-70-68, which he called the four best rounds of his career, and returned to win the next two Opens.
Q 21The 1966 U.S. Open collapse happened at which San Francisco venue?
Olympic Club
It was played on the Lake Course, which had also ended in a playoff in 1955.
Q 22Which two players did Palmer beat in the 18-hole playoff for the 1962 Masters?
Player and Finsterwald
Palmer shot 68 to Player's 71 and Finsterwald's 77, with first, second and third places all decided by the playoff.
Q 23Who were the runners-up, one stroke back, when Palmer won his first Masters in 1958?
Doug Ford and Fred Hawkins
Palmer eagled the 13th on Sunday after a disputed embedded-ball ruling at the 12th went his way.
Q 14Whose 1953 feat of winning the Masters, U.S. Open and Open in one year was Palmer chasing in 1960?
Ben Hogan
Hogan's 1953 trip had also been the first time in years that a top American bothered to cross the Atlantic for the Open.
Q 15Palmer won his first Open in 1961 at which course?
Royal Birkdale
He beat Dai Rees by a stroke in a week of gales and rain, becoming the first American to lift the Claret Jug since Ben Hogan in 1953.
Q 16Palmer's only U.S. Open win, in 1960, came at which course?
Cherry Hills
The Colorado course sits more than 5,300 feet above sea level, which helped him drive the green on the par-4 first.
Q 17How many strokes behind did Palmer start the final round of the 1960 U.S. Open?
Seven
He was tied for 15th, birdied six of the first seven holes and shot 65 to beat amateur Jack Nicklaus by two.
Q 18Who led the 1960 U.S. Open by seven shots after 54 holes before Palmer overtook him?
Mike Souchak
He shot a final-round 75 and slid to a tie for third while Palmer fired a 65.
Q 19What score did Palmer shoot in the final round of the 1960 U.S. Open?
65
He drove the first green, chipped in at the second and was six under on the front nine before cooling off.
Q 20Who beat Palmer in the 1966 U.S. Open playoff after erasing a seven-shot deficit on the back nine?
Billy Casper
Palmer had been eyeing Hogan's scoring record at the turn, then shot 39 coming home; the playoff was his third U.S. Open playoff loss.
Q 24Which phrase did writer Herbert Warren Wind coin describing the 1958 Masters Palmer won?
Amen Corner
The Sports Illustrated piece used it for the stretch of holes where the final day's drama had unfolded.
Q 25What was Palmer's fan following famously called?
Arnie's Army
His charitable foundation later took the same name and funded a children's hospital and a nature reserve.
Q 26In which year did Palmer become the first golfer to pass $1,000,000 in PGA Tour career earnings?
1967
He had won 29 tour events between 1960 and 1963 alone, including five majors.
Q 27Which two rivals made up 'The Big Three' with Palmer in the 1960s?
Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player
The trio reunited as Masters honorary starters in 2012, when Player joined Palmer and Nicklaus on the first tee.
Q 28How many times did Palmer win the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average?
Four
He took it in 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1967.
Q 29In which year was Palmer the Ryder Cup's last playing captain?
1963
He played on six Ryder Cup teams and captained again as a non-player in 1975; the US won every time he was involved.
Q 30Palmer's 2004 Masters was his last and marked how many consecutive appearances?
50
He went on to serve as the tournament's honorary starter from 2007 until his death.