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Player Adds to his Moniker of “World’s Most Traveled Athlete”

Dec 2, 2009 | Filed Under: General News   Share

From there he traveled to California to receive the first ever Breeders’ Cup Sports and Excellence Award prior to the Breeders’ Cup horse races.  During the trip he took time to visit Callaway’s global head quarters in Carlsbad, California and before heading back to Los Angeles for the Breeders’ Cup races he jaunted to La Paz Mexico to review the progress of his new course at CostaBaja Resort and Marina – the first ever Gary Player Signature Designed course in Mexico.  Possibly the highlight of Mr. Player’s trip was his fist ever visit to a Whole Foods Market where he was taken aback at the plethora of organic fruits and vegetables, all natural products and free range antibiotic free meats.  Needless to say this self proclaimed nutrition nut was in heaven.  The visit was capped off with a fan approaching Mr. Player at the check out counter and saying “Hey I know you, you’re Gary Player.”  Not missing a beat Mr. Player responded “No I’m not, I’m Arnold Palmer.”  As he swiped his credit card through the machine the machine returned an error message.  Looking perplexed Mr. Player said “Maybe I should just sign Jack Nicklaus.”  Unfortunately, the clerk at the check out counter had no idea who Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer are so he was left to laugh alone.

Not done with North America he headed to Vancouver, Canada to receive the inaugural Golf Business Lifetime Achievement Award as a tribute to not only his distinguished golfing career but also his leadership and success in growing the game internationally.  Fellow Masters Champion and Canada’s own Mike Weir attended via videoconference to congratulate his former President’s Cup Captain on the recognition and gave a heartfelt tribute to his friend. 

From Canada he flew to Morocco for the grand opening of Mogador to, then to Abu Dhabi for the launch of the Guggenheim Museum and capped the visit off with a trip to Saadiyat Island.  He finally headed back to George, South Africa to ready himself for the GPI at Fancourt and the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City.  After the GPI and Nedbank he finally made it back home to the stud farm.  Whew….

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