Gary Player - The Legend

Gary Player Lightens the Game for Everyone

Mar 14, 2008 | Filed Under: General News

By Bill Dwyre
Courtesy of the LA Times

Playing at the Toshiba Classic in Newport Beach, the 72-year-old South African golfer shows he still has a trim game and is an ambassador for the sport.

The dapper little man in the black golf shirt and the flat stomach had just finished his round Friday in the Toshiba Classic stop on the Champions Tour.

He signed his scorecard in the tent at the Newport Beach Country Club, turned to leave and saw that, as usual, the public awaited him.

Fame may be fleeting for others, but not for 72-year-old Gary Player.

Player shot 73, 72, 71 (beating his age for the 9th time in his Champions Tour career) and the fans along the fence were there for him.

And, as always, he for them.

He signed and chatted. He told a 10-year-old to take up golf.

“It’s the only sport you can do forever,” he lectured, gently. “Those others—basketball, football—you’re done when you’re 30.”

A man approached and told Player he was honored to be able to watch him play and that Friday would probably be the last time he’d be able to do that. Player looked him in the eye, sensing a pressing need but not quite knowing what to say, and said he was pleased he had come. Quickly, the man turned and left in tears.

There was a white picket fence between the players and the fans, and Player worked it like a next-door neighbor.

“How’d you shoot today, Gary?” asked one fan.

The reply came quickly, and proudly.

“I shot one over my age,” he said, “and I three-putted four greens.”

Another fan approached and reminded him they had played together in a golf outing a few weeks ago. Player looked at him, smiled and said, “Yes, of course. It’s Jeff, isn’t it.”

It was, indeed, Jeff, and one more fan left dazzled.

Still another handed him a picture of Sam Snead and that triggered a mini-speech on the impossibility of comparing golf and golfers from different eras.

“Sam Snead,” Player said. “He might have been the greatest golfer ever to play the game. But you can’t compare. Today, with the equipment, the ball goes 50 yards further. The grooves on the clubs, now you can stop the ball. We used to hit fliers through the greens all the time.

“Look at the shoes, all soft spikes now. In the old days, we’d putt over spike marks all day. And now, every player has a jet and plays for a million dollars a week. We used to play for a million dollars a year.”

The fans loved it. His tone was that of an historian, rather than some sour old guy. When he finally finished signing, working his way the entire length of the 20-yard fence, three other threesomes had gone into the tent, signed their scorecards and left, most with little or no fanfare.

Player won’t win this event, nor likely any more pro events. But what he has done, nine major titles on the regular tour and six more on the senior tour, and what he stands for will never be lost on the fans. Most impressive, he is one of only five players ever—Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods are the others—who have won all four of the majors at least once.

“I’ll play eight or nine Champions tour events this year,” he said.

And the Masters?

“Oh yes, I’ll play this year.”

Which will be his 51st, breaking Arnold Palmer’s record.

He has been married for 51 years to Vivienne, has six children and 20 grandchildren. He has two residences, in South Africa where he was born and raised and in Jupiter, Fla.

He is known for being a health and fitness advocate. The last time he had a beer gut was never. When he was in his prime, as a major star in the Palmer and early Jack Nicklaus era of the 1960s and early ‘70s, he played at 166 pounds.

“I’m 146 now,” he said. “I did that on purpose. I stay healthy so I can see my grandchildren. There is nothing better than grandchildren.”

His 20 are “all over the world.” But that doesn’t faze him because, that’s where he is too.

“For the last 55 years,” he said, “I have traveled more than any person on the planet. And it has been an honor and an education to meet the people I have.”

He played this tournament partly because he likes Newport Beach.

“It is so much like South Africa in so many ways,” he said.

Also partly because it is on his way to China, where he will go after this to work on one of the 50 golf courses worldwide he is currently in the process of designing.

“After China,” he said, “it’ll be off to India, then Morocco, back to Florida for a couple of weeks, then over to South Africa.”

To do this at 72, you have to be healthy. Player is beyond healthy into obsessive. He never eats bacon, ice cream, milk or white bread; tries to get in five servings of vegetables and five of fruit each day, and doesn’t eat at all from Sunday noon until Monday lunchtime.

“Right now,” he said, “there are more people dying of obesity-related disease than from wars.”

Despite all the travel and advancing age that brings decreasing distance off the tee—Fergus, 54, and Eaks, 55, were usually 50 to 60 yards beyond him on their drives Friday—his golf is amazing. His 35-38--73 included four 3s on the front nine. Had he three-putted just once, rather than four times, it would have marked the ninth time on the Champions Tour that he had shot below his age. He has matched his age 10 times.

When Player stroked in a four-foot knee-knocker for par on No. 17 and walked off the green, a fan in the bleachers yelled, “Let’s hear it for the old guys.”

Player laughed and waved, then hit his drive on No. 18 and took off down the fairway at a brisk pace. Champions Tour players have the option of riding in a cart, but Player had none of that.

He walked while his caddie rode.

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