Augusta, Ga. ? One last walk for the fans. Forty-eight years of memories somehow condensed into 18 holes.

Today, Arnold Palmer says goodbye to the Masters.

A tournament and a player whose marriage meant so much to the sport will part ways after nearly a half century, bringing an end to one of the great eras of the game.

At 72, Palmer can’t even reach some greens with 3-woods at the beefed-up Augusta National. After needing to make an 8-foot putt just to break 90 on Thursday, he knew enough was enough.

“I’m just going to fade away,” Palmer said. “I’m not sad about it. I’m sad I’m not playing well enough to represent the kind of golf I want to represent.”

Palmer will walk to the first tee today for his final Masters round, still hoping he can recapture some of the long-lost magic that helped him win four green jackets.

He’ll get a standing ovation, the first of many as he takes a ceremonial stroll around Augusta National for the final time. Fans will salute the King one last time, and so will he.

“It will be emotional,” Palmer said. “I just think it’s time. My golf has been pretty lousy as of late.”

His decision comes a week after six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus announced he would skip the tournament because of a bad back. It’s only the second time since 1959 that the 62-year-old Nicklaus has missed the Masters.

Palmer already said his farewells to the U.S. Open and PGA in 1994 and the British Open a year later. He hasn’t made a Masters cut since 1983 and hasn’t been competitive in a quarter century.

But he lingered on the deep green fairways of Augusta National until now, unwilling to break with the tournament he first played when he was 25 in 1955.

“There’s no question Augusta has meant an awful lot for me over the years,” Palmer said. “It may be the one tournament that kicked me off and got me started on my career.”

As much as the Masters meant to Palmer, his swashbuckling play in the tournament meant just as much to the game of golf. His go-for-broke style was perfectly suited to the back nine of Augusta National and his fans grew so much that “Arnie’s Army” was born here.

“It’s sad because he did so much to basically publicize the Masters,” Tom Watson said. “It was the way he won it, those three wins … with him charging from behind. That was his legacy. That’s the way people will always remember Arnie here.”

Palmer won his four green jackets between 1958 and 1964. Even the Masters he lost had drama, none more so than in 1961 when he hit it into the bunker on the 18th hole, made double-bogey and Gary Player won by a stroke.

He was walking down the fairway on the final hole that year when a friend called him over to congratulate him on the win. It was a mistake he would never forget.

“My mind left my body. It just went away,” Palmer said. “That was the saddest situation I had here.”