Turning Point: Nearly 70 years ago, the U.S. Amateur changed Arnold Palmer's career path, and golf was never the same again (golfweek.usatoday.com)

He was a 24-year-old paint salesman living in Cleveland, just seven months removed from a three-year stint in the Coast Guard. This was before his army of adoring fans, before his patented charges, and before he made golf cool.

Arnold Palmer, the son of a greenkeeper, entered the national sporting consciousness at the 1954 U.S. Amateur by defeating Robert Sweeny, 1 up, at the Country Club of Detroit.

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