Augusta, Ga. ? Arnold Palmer strolled through the mist and fought back tears. His long goodbye to the Masters came to a melancholy close Saturday.

The 72-year-old champion played his last six competitive holes at Augusta National 90 minutes of bittersweet golf that brought back a thousand memories under a gentle, gray sky.

Arnold Palmer waves to the gallery as he makes his way to the 18th green. Palmer didn't make the cut Saturday at the 2002 Masters with his 36-hole score of 174, ending his 48-year career at the Augusta Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.

Watching it from behind the ropes was “Arnie’s Army,” the cult of personality that learned to love Palmer as much for his charming ways as for the herky-jerky swing that won him four Masters titles.

When it was over when the standing ovations had ceased and the nonstop applause had faded Palmer was as overwhelmed by the fans as they were smitten by him.

His swashbuckling style put Augusta National on the map, and few patrons wanted to miss one last chance to thank him.

“I’ve seen big crowds, and I’ve seen people,” Palmer said. “But this was unbelievable.”

About 10:35 a.m., it came to an end, 48 years after it started, and 44 years since he charged to win his first green jacket with help of an eagle on No. 13.

“I thought I would keep the emotion down a bit,” Palmer said of his walk up the final fairway. “But, yes, there’s a lot of feeling.”

The other players felt it, too.

David Duval, having just walked off the course after failing to make the cut, stuck around at the scorer’s tent to watch Palmer putt for the final time the King’s hunched shoulders and knock-kneed stance always a dead giveaway.

Greg Norman and Ernie Els watched, too.

The rest of Arnie’s fans crammed 10- and 20-deep in the mud-caked gallery, jostling for position. They were standing on tiptoes, craning their necks.

“Everything we have, everything we achieved, is because of the opportunities he gave us,” Ben Crenshaw said. “This tournament won’t be the same without Arnie.”

Palmer had been thinking about saying goodbye for a while. It has been 19 years since he’s made the cut in the Masters. He shot 89 in the opening round Thursday, and felt like an embarrassment, even though his fans weren’t nearly as concerned.

“If I played pretty well, then maybe I would have considered another year or two,” he said. “But you know, my game is just really not it’s not good.”