It was the year that the sport and its vivid personalities exploded on the consciousness of the nation, when the past, present, and future of the game collided. Television, still a new medium, provided a fresh window to this fascinating show and enabled this "rich man's sport" to win over millions of new fans. Here was Arnold Palmer, the working man's hero, "sweating, chain-smoking, shirt-tail flying," winning, it seemed, every tournament with a last-second charge; grim Ben Hogan, Arnie's opposite, the greatest player of the '50s, a perfectionist battling the twin demons of age and nerves; and, making his debut in the big time, a chunky, crewcut college kid who seemed to have the makings of a champion: twenty-year-old Jack Nicklaus.