Palmer’s L.A. Story Had a Happy Ending

At the 11th hole at Rancho Park Golf Course, a gallery of several thousand groaned.

Their favorite, 33-year-old Arnold Palmer, had sent his tee shot deep into the rough.

Same old story for Palmer at the Los Angeles Open, they figured.

Palmer had been the tour’s leading money winner in 1962, banking more than $81,000.

But he had never finished higher than 10th at the L.A. Open. And here he was, making a patented Palmer final-day charge, grimacing as his horrible shot disappeared into the rough.

He had made four straight birdies in the middle of his round to take the lead.

But now, his second shot on 11 flew over the green, and he finally scored what he would later laughingly call “an easy six.”

Then, Palmer closed the show:

* He birdied the 12th with a 25-foot putt.

* At the 388-yard 16th, his mighty drive landed just shy of the green and he made an eight-foot putt for another birdie.

* At the 17th, from 10 feet off the green, he chipped in from 50 feet for another birdie.

First-place money for Palmer, who won by three strokes with a last-day 66, was $9,000.

Also on this date: In 1960, ex-L.A. Ram coach Sid Gillman signed a three-year contract at $25,000 per year to coach the Los Angeles Chargers of the new American Football League. . . . In 1974, UCLA’s basketball team won its 85th straight game, a 55-45 victory at Washington State.