Gary Player - The Legend

Gary Player – Still Having Fun at 75

Mar 1, 2011 | Filed Under: General News   

He’s 75 years old now, for goodness sakes, an age when most senior citizens are much more interested in comfortably sitting down instead of doing their sit-ups. Seventy-five, when there generally is a paunch around the middle and a widening shimmer of baldness surrounding the noggin.But normality doesn’t sit very well with 75-year-old Gary Player.

He is a very trim 32 inches around the waist. His hair is affixed firmly on top of his head, albeit with flecks of silver now. He walks upright, his handshake is still firm, and he’ll gladly show you that he can still touch the floor while standing stiff-legged.  And he scoffs now at those of years gone by who thought it impossible to work out while playing professional sports.

“There was a famous golf architect, I’ll not mention his name … and this architect said, ‘Gary Player [exercises too much and] has no chance of playing golf after 35 years of age.”
Hmmm … all Player has done is win nine major championships. When he was 50 years old - far removed from 35 – he joined the Champions Tour and won another nine major championships. He has traveled the world innumerable times, flown 15 million miles, and he’s still exercising.

And, he’s still performing, still answering the call to go play professional golf. He only played three events last year – his work as a golf architect keeps him extremely busy, as well as the time spent on his frequent journeys to his native South Africa. But he is playing the ACE Classic Champions Tour event this week in Naples, Fla., and just last year he won the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, a team event when he partnered with Bob Charles.  Don’t whine about the trip from South Africa to the U.S. taking 16 hours by jet. When Player made the trip the first time in 1955, it took 40 hours in a Constellation prop plane. That was Johannesburg to New York, and it required five stops. Not surprisingly, Player perfected the art of sleeping while flying. Now he has no problem stretching out in the cabin and catching zzz’s while traveling at 35,000 feet.  “To be a good sleeper is a big, big plus,” he said.

Player was born in poverty, the son of a South African gold miner. He learned to play golf on a public course in Johannesburg, and became proficient enough to be invited to play in the British Open at age 20. But he couldn’t escape the fact that he was poor, and those two circumstances made for a very interesting week.  It began with a father who purposely over-drafted a 200-pound check (about $300 by today’s standards) to pay for his son’s adventure. Remember, he only made 100 pounds a MONTH as a miner.

“I had two pairs of pants, I had a little suitcase this big,” Player recalled. “I had two sport shirts, I had one sweater and a black knit tie. Remember the old black knit tie? That was my belt.”
It was a particular mild day when the 20-year-old kid from South Africa nervously got to the first tee in an early practice round.

“And I’m playing and I’m so nervous and it’s hot as hell and I’ve got this sweater on,” Player said. “Everybody’s saying, ‘Take your sweater off.’ And I said, ‘No, I’m feeling great.’ But I didn’t want them to see this knitted tie.”
Eventually, he would make it around the course with the sweater hiding his makeshift ‘belt.’ But the ‘belt’ and sweater weren’t the ultimate embarrassment. That happened on the opening hole, after his first shot.

“The first fairway’s so wide, Ray Charles couldn’t miss it, but I hit this little hook and it was going out of bounds and I said, ‘Oh, no.’ It hit the out-of-bounds stake and came back on the fairway.”
Psyche crushed by the wayward shot, he bent over to pick up his tee. It was then that he heard the voice of the rotund starter. “He says, Come here a minute, laddie! What’s your name?”

“I said, ‘It’s Gary Player, sir.’ And he said, ‘And where are you from?’ I said, ‘I’m from South Africa.’ And he says, ‘What’s your handicap’ And I said, ‘No, I’m a pro.”
The thunderstruck starter was silent that for a moment, then said, “You’re a pro?” Player answered, “Yes, sir.” And the started replied, “You must be a hell of a chipper and putter because you sure can’t hit the ball.”

Player would return to St. Andrews four years later as the youngest ever to win the British Open. And there to meet him on the first tee was that same starter. “He sees me coming and I’m Open champion and he says, ‘It’s a bloody miracle! How the hell did you ever win the Open?” Player said.

And he’s been confounding people ever since. He stands only 5-feet-7, yet he excelled in an era that produced Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. Bernhard Langer, who himself has compiled an enviable record on the Champions Tour, is awestruck at the Player story.

“I think everybody agrees that he’s a phenom,” said Langer. “The way he looks, he can still make a 90-degree shoulder turn, which you look at Jack or Arnold or some other fantastic players, they’re not in the same physical category. So it pays off, and that’s what Gary’s done all his life.”

So, if you see a middle-aged man doing his 1,000 daily sit-ups, don’t be shocked. Though he’s not really ‘middle-aged,’ it’s just Gary Player going through his daily routine. Could anything be more natural for this man?
Article courtesy of George White and GolfObserver.com

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