Arnie's Earnings

Less than two months ago, his game in tatters, golf's No. 1 money winner, Arnold Palmer, quit the pro tour to think things over at home. "Every time I turned around," he complained, "somebody was writing my obituary." But last month, rested and relaxed, Arnie beat Paul Harney in a play-off at New York's $100,000 Thunderbird Classic. He then tied for first in the U.S. Open, losing the play-off to Julius Boros. And last week Palmer found himself in a third straight tie -- this time with Tony Lema and Tommy Aaron in the $110,000 Cleveland Open.

Before the 18-hole playoff, Palmer blithely climbed into his own brown-and-white Aero Commander and flew home to Latrobe, Pa., "to get a change of socks." Back next day, he birdied three of the first six holes, shot a four-under-par 67, and won easily. For his work, Arnie collected $23,400 --$22,000 for winning the tournament, $550 for finishing fourth in a prelimi nary pro-amateur, plus an $850 cut of the play-off gate receipts. All told, in three short weeks Arnold Palmer had earned a cool $54,000 in official purses and had already broken his record ($81,448 in 1962) for money winnings in a single season. Pro golf's top ten, with six months still to go on the tour: Tournaments Dollars Won Won 1. Arnold Palmer 5 $85,545 2. Julius Boros 3 63,996 3. Jack Nicklaus 3 62,140 4. Tony Lema 1 60,963 5. Gary Player 1 46,665 6. Dow Finsterwald 1 38,438 7. Gene Littler 0 25,439 8. Tommy Aaron 0 22,734 9. Don January 1 21,089 10. Paul Harney 0 21,018

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