ORLANDO, Fla. -- Arnold Palmer bought Bay Hill Club & Lodge because he loved the golf course and wanted it for his own, not having any idea where it all would lead.

Now his name adorns a PGA Tour event that has been a staple of the Florida Swing for 35 years. It's also carried by two hospitals that specialize in children - one named after his late wife, Winnie, and where more than 93,000 babies have been born since 2006.

Oh, and he's having dinner with Kate Upton this week.

"Did you see this?" Palmer said, holding up the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue with Upton on the cover. "She's coming here. Did you know that?"

He put it back on his desk, gave it one last look, and then grabbed a stack of papers to place over the magazine.

"I better cover this up," he said.

He grinned. The man is simply timeless.

How a supermodel wound up at Bay Hill explains so much about the 83-year-old Palmer, who built his kingdom by being a man of the people.

The manager for Upton is Lisa Benson, whose father is from Punxsutawney and used to regularly play golf with Palmer at Latrobe Country Club. She was looking for a job at IMG, which, in addition to managing sports and entertainment, also represents top models. Her father talked to Palmer, who talked to IMG to arrange an interview. She got the job and years later connected with Upton.

Upton grew up in Melbourne on the central coast of Florida, and her parents were huge Palmer fans. Given the back story, Upton thought it would be a great idea to come to Bay Hill, meet with Palmer and see the work he is doing with the hospitals. She also plans to take part in a social media campaign involving the "Arnold Palmer" tea drink.

So in a roundabout way, a casual round of golf leads to dinner with a supermodel?

"That's been a fun deal," Palmer said when he finished telling the story.

There have been thousands of casual rounds like that for Palmer, whose passion for golf never dies. There have been more friends than he can count. There are probably more stories like this, all because he takes an interest in people.

"It's easy," Palmer said. "And I love it."

Brad Faxon surely had Palmer in mind when he said years after a golf trip, "I wish we had more guys on tour who liked meeting people."

Palmer is one of those guys. Always has been. And that's why so many people want to meet the King.

A staff member came into the room and mentioned two men who were outside the office and wanted to say hello. One was Seth Jones, the editor of Golfdom magazine who recently interviewed Palmer for a project he was working on.

"Well, bring him in," Palmer said, rising from behind his desk with a broadening smile. Dressed in slacks and a pink shirt, Palmer made sure the two men met everyone in the room and made small talk for a few minutes before closing with that powerful handshake and a smile. "Nice to see you guys," he told them.

He sat back down at his desk and picked up a sheet of paper. It was a letter to David Frost, who won the Toshiba Classic on the Champions Tour the day before.

"Congratulations on your strong performance in the Toshiba Classic," he said, reading the letter aloud. "He's playing pretty good."

He reached for a black pen and signed his name, as famous as any signature in sports.

The other letter on his desk was for Kevin Streelman, who won the Tampa Bay Championship for his first PGA Tour title in 153 tries. Palmer watched most of the back nine on television and was impressed with what he saw. He had this letter placed in Streelman's locker downstairs.