Gary Player - The Legend

Player’s Warning for Immelman

Apr 22, 2008 | Filed Under: General News

By Peter Bills
Independent Online
April 20, 2008

He stands on the verge of golfing immortality. Trevor Immelman is the new Masters champion and the world is at his feet, says his long time mentor Gary Player.

Immelman’s triumph at Augusta proved Gary Player right. He told me three years ago Immelman had the talent to win the Masters. Last Sunday the young South African did it, clinching his first major title by three shots.

So how good can Immelman now become? Where is he at, in Player’s judgement? Does this mean a series of major titles stretch ahead of him or are there dangers to be faced? Player, 72, was on holiday this week, but still hitting balls, still giving media interviews.

That is what you need to be a champion.

“For me, there are four categories of player. You have superstars, stars, the very good and the good,” said Player.

“At the moment, Trevor is approaching the star group with the ability to be a superstar. But only he can decree whether he reaches superstar status.”

What does it take to enter the Pantheon of the sporting Gods? Player can tell you. Winner of nine majors, he has probably been the man most dedicated to golf anywhere in the world in the last 50 years. How does he describe it?

“I couldn’t beat enough golf balls in practice. I was a maniac. When I got married, I told my wife I was going to be a world champion and if she wasn’t prepared to come along with me, she had better go and find someone else. And I would have walked away from this marriage halfway through (he’s now been married 51 years) if it had threatened my desire to succeed in golf, to keep winning. That is what you need to be a champion.

“Is Trevor like that? I don’t know. When I first won the Masters in 1961, they paid me $20 000. Trevor won $1,3-million. Is he satisfied with money alone? If he wants to match the best and be the best he will have to make sacrifices.

‘I was very impressed’
“I cannot sit down and give people my animal instinct. In this situation, Trevor has the choice of switching the light on or off. It will boil down to whether he switches it on convincingly or half-heartedly.

“I think 70 percent of professionals dream of doing well, but don’t really dedicate themselves to doing it. I have seen so many players who could really play, who had a far better swing than me. But golf comes down to qualities like mental strength.”

What was it Player saw in young Immelman that convinced him he could one day be a champion? “I saw something that you only rarely see when you have been through the mill like I have,” he said.

“I was very impressed. For a start, he was very well mannered. Then he did very well as a junior. I played golf with him for the first time when he was 16 or 17. I could see that he had that flair. I watched him and spent a lot of time with him.”

Player picked a young Immelman, who had been a scratch golfer at the age of 12, for the 2005 President’s Cup team. He was lambasted for it by the Australian media as it meant omitting the Aussie Steve Elkington. But again, his judgement was proven right. “I knew what a player this guy would be. I kept telling him what a magnificent swing he had. He said: ‘Yes, but I have got to believe it myself’.”

Yet for all his praise, Player reserves final judgement on his protégée. “All I can say is that he will have to make sacrifices if he wants to be the best, just like I did.

“I suffered, I lived away from my family, I was poor, I struggled. I practiced so hard one pro in South Africa told me ‘You will break your body’. But my appetite never dimmed. Tiger Woods has enough money to retire, but he’s still hunting trophies.

“I don’t know whether Trevor is like that. But he has such talent I believe he will go on to win more majors.”

The other ingredients? Everything, says Player: eating the right food, sleeping well, being courteous, enjoying suffering. Oh yes, there will be plenty of the latter.”

And Player’s final word of warning to Immelman? “God loaned you a talent; it can be taken away in one second. I have seen talent taken away from a lot of people in my life.”

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