Palmer pain as stars stay away

Arnold Palmer, inset, is disappointed the world’s top two Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy decided not to play in the PGA Tour event bearing his name this week.

“I’m certainly not happy that those fellas chose not to come this year,” said Palmer yesterday on the eve of a tournament which does not have anyone from the world’s top six in the field.

“To have a couple of the top players internationally and US not here, I’m kind of sorry for that, but I think we can get that squared away and maybe we’ll entice them to come in the future.”