ARNIE'S BACK FOR HIS ARMY; PALMER STOPS AT RALPHS.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Daily News Staff Writer

The drives are shorter, the putts are longer and his army is older.

But Arnold Palmer is on the march again this week at Wilshire Country Club, and that's good news for golf.

``It's great for the Senior PGA Tour to have him still playing,'' said Gil Morgan, defending champion of the Ralphs Senior Classic, which runs today though Sunday at Wilshire. ``He's a great ambassador for the game.''

If the always-accommodating but still-competitive Palmer had his druthers, he'd probably like to work in an occasional victory with this good-will stuff. Heck, he'd settle for a sub-par round. At 68, Palmer, who is making his first area stop since undergoing surgery for prostate cancer, would love to just shoot his age.

``Right now, a good round for me is 72 and a bad round is 74-76.'' he said before Thursday's pro-am. ``This is not acceptable to me.''

But for Arnie's Army - looking more like a collection of graying bird colonels than those raw young recruits who flanked him by the thousands during the 1950s and '60s - just watching the King play at any level is reward enough.

He drew the largest gallery and biggest cheers Thursday, taking time to shake hands as he parted the crowd at his first tee and signing autographs on his way to his second tee.

``Folks, I won't be able to sign any more until after I'm done playing,'' he told his fans then. Then he was signing again before he reached his third tee.

He might be called the King, but a big part of Palmer's long-lasting popularity - he is now in his 43rd year of professional golf - stems from his everyman image.

Obviously, he's one of the greatest golfers ever to play the game. He's won three of the four majors on both the PGA Tour and senior tour and 13 majors overall (the U.S. Amateur was a major when he won it in 1954, the year he turned pro). But, golfing ability aside, his appeal is that he consistently comes across as one of the guys.

When a pro-am teammate pulled a ball into the rough Thursday, Palmer immediately said, ``I've been there.'' After a recent appearance at the Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout, he could be seen hours after the competition talking with fans in the parking lot. And those huge circles of fans standing outside the clubhouse at many senior tour events? The bigger the crowd, the better the chance Palmer is in the middle of it, cheerfully signing autographs.

It is not uncommon for Palmer to spend up to three days catching up on correspondence at home after a stretch on the tour. Before his cancer surgery earlier this year - when the sheer volume of well-wishing mail necessitated a public thank you - he made it a point to answer every fan letter personally.

``If they take the time to write me, that's the least I can do,'' Palmer said before last year's Ralphs Classic.

His fellow senior-tour players appreciate Palmer as much as the gallery does.

``It's always great to have Arnie out here,'' said Lee Trevino. ``What is he, 67? And he still supports our tour. That shows how much he loves the game, and the people show how much they love him.''

How much longer he will play on tour, however, is something many are wondering, and Palmer, who has gone nine years without a victory, is one of them.

``I hope a long time,'' he said, ``but you never know. I take it day by day. I enjoy what I'm doing - that doesn't seem to stop and it pleases the hell out of me.''

Pro golf without Palmer could be as tough on the King as his Army.

``I couldn't sit around and not do anything,'' he said. ``I'm not a big fisherman and I don't read that much. . . . I do a lot of charity work with the National Cancer Foundation and the Childrens Hospital of Orlando, and I will continue to do as much as I can.''

But what he'd really like most is to play the kind of golf he believes he is capable of playing.

In that respect, the King is an everyman like the rest of us.

``I'm not playing the kind of golf I'd like to play,'' he said. ``But I am playing and I'm enjoying it, and like all golfers who play the game, I hope it will get better.''

AT A GLANCE

Arnold Palmer's career highlights:

Years as professional- 43 (17 on Senior tour)

PGA Tour wins-60 (seven majors)

Senior PGA Tour wins-10 (five majors)

International wins- 19 (including two British Opens)

Other-Won 1954 U.S. Amateur (then a major)

Career low round-62 (twice)

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--color) Arnold Palmer accommodates fans with autographs at the Wilshire Country Club.

John McCoy / Daily News

(2) no caption (Arnold Palmer)

Box: AT A GLANCE (see text)