….Fatiha Betscher, Orlando, FL.

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy has led a player praise of Arnold Palmer ahead of this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in suburban Orlando.

Palmer joked a few years ago about breaking McIlroy’s arm if he didn’t come. He was kidding, of course, but the message wasn’t lost on McIlroy.

McIlroy is a four-time Major winner and this year is making his debut some seven years after turning pro in late 2007.

“What Arnold Palmer has done for our game and what he’s done for the PGA Tour, it was about time that I showed up there and played in his tournament,” said McIlroy. “We wouldn’t play in front of as many people or in front of as many TV cameras or play for as much — obviously the money thing’s been a lot to do with Tiger over the recent years.

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy leads player praise of Arnold Palmer. (Photo – www.pgatour.com)

“But especially getting golf as a product out there, it all happened in the 50s and 60s, Arnold, Mark McCormack, all that sort of started happening around then. If it wasn’t for that, who knows where our game would be. So I think we owe a lot to Arnold for that.”

And this is how they show Palmer their respect, by showing up.

From Jack Nicklaus, to Greg Norman, to Tiger Woods, to McIlroy and everyone in between. Is there anyone Palmer hasn’t been able to convince to show up since he took over the event in 1979?

“I don’t think so,” said Palmer, 85 years old but still sharp. “We’ve had them all.”

This year that includes the top five in the Official World Golf Ranking: McIlroy, Bubba Watson, Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott and Jason Day.

Phil Mickelson isn’t in the field, but he has played the event plenty of times and won it in 1997. Woods isn’t here, either, but that’s only because the eight-time winner of the tournament is still on a break to work on his game.

Woods’ good friend Pat Perez is playing. He says he wouldn’t miss it for the world.

“I think everybody should be here,” Perez said. “Every top player should be here to show respect for what this guy is, how he’s brought this game to where it is. The things he’s done for the game is irreplaceable.”

Earlier this year, however, it looked like Perez might not get in — until he had dinner one night with Palmer in California.

“I told him, ‘Mr. Palmer I’m trying to get in; I’d love to play your event but I’m not in yet,’” Perez remembers saying. “He just looked at me and said, ‘You’re in.’”

Perez ended up qualifying on his own but it didn’t matter how he got in. He just wanted to come back. This is his 14th time playing at Bay Hill.

Through the years, he has had plenty of interactions with Palmer. He relishes them all.

Once, Perez was playing the 16th when he spotted a cart down the left side of the hole. “I go to my caddie, ‘Who the hell is that?’” he said.

Then he saw that it was Palmer. All was good.

“It’s cool just to have him around,” Perez continued. “I notice when he is there. When he is watching I want to hit an unbelievable shot.”

It’s also the kind of reverence players have for only a select few stops. Much of it of course has to do with the tournament’s host.

“He doesn’t have the most majors; he doesn’t have the most wins,” Perez says of Palmer. “But he’s the most respected because of the things he has done for the game.”

* Thanks to www.pgatour.com