Thursday 6 April 2017 21:13, UK
There was a familiar face missing at the first tee when the 2017 Masters got underway on Thursday.
This year's tournament is the first since the passing of four-time winner and the Masters' Honorary Starter Arnold Palmer last September.
Since his first appearance back in 1955, Palmer, widely regarded as golf's first superstar, has been a constant at Augusta every April.
'The King' became one of the sport's 'Big Three' as his rivalry with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player dominated golf throughout the 1960s and 70s, with Palmer winning The Masters four times between 1958 and 1964.
He claimed his first victory in 1958, edging out Doug Ford and Fred Hawkins to win by a single stroke and after finishing third the following year, regained his title by seeing off Ken Venturi, again by a solitary shot, in 1960.
A double bogey at the last cost him the 1961 tournament, Player earning a one-shot win. But he bounced back once more to triumph over Player and Dow Finsterwald in a play-off the next year.
Palmer's fourth and final Masters victory was also his most convincing as he cruised to a six-shot success in 1964.
He competed in his last Masters, the 50th of his career, in 2004 before taking up the role of the tournament's Honorary Start in 2007.
The 87-year-old had been troubled by ill health in the year prior to his death, with Palmer too frail to hit his ceremonial tee-shot at last year's Masters.
To honour Palmer, Augusta National ensured that every patron on the grounds received a Commemorative Badge at Thursday's Honorary Starters Ceremony.
