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1987 Senior TPC

1987 Senior TPC

By 1987 Gary Player was having so much fun on the Seniors Tour and was really enjoying competing again.  For him, it really felt as though life begun at 50!

By the time the Senior Tournament Players Championship came around, Player was quite frustrated as it had been nearly 12 months since he’d won a tournament – despite numerous top five finishes.

Going into the week, once again, the man to beat was Chi Chi Rodriguez who was gunning for his fifth consecutive victory on tour that year.  And in the first round, he was doing no different, opening with a tournament-record 65 making six birdies and an eagle to end the first round one shot ahead of Billy Maxwell. There were only six other players, including Player and Palmer who broke par that day.  Player struggled with his putting during the second round, finishing with a 73, but bounced right back in the third round shooting a 69 – the best of the leading bunch. Sunday turned out to be a three-way battle between Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Bruce Crampton.  They were tied for the lead on the last hole where Player ran in a seven-foot birdie putt to win. “Beats a sudden-death play-off,” he said!