1978 Masters

The 1978 Masters Tournament saw 42-year-old Gary Player create one of golf’s most memorable comebacks. He overcame a seven-shot deficit going into the final round to win his third Masters and ninth Major Championship. Player shot a record-tying 64 (−8) in the final round to win by one stroke over runners-up Rod Funseth, Tom Watson and 54-hole leader Hubert Green. He had to wait nearly one hour for the final group to finish.

1987 US Senior Open

Gary Player says the US Senior Open at Brooklawn Country Club was one of his finest Major performances ever. He opened with a solid 69, but Gordon Jones, who posted seven birdies during an eight-hole stretch, and Peter Thomson shared the opening-round lead at 66 (five under par). Chi Chi Rodrigues, who fired a second-round 68 to match his opening round, held the halfway lead, just one shot ahead of Player and John Brodies, while Arnold Palmer was a further shot behind on 138.

Chi Chi was the star player on the Champions Tour that year and already won six events going into the Senior Open, so he was certainly the one to beat. On the 17th hole of the third round, Player made birdie at the 415-yard par four to catch Chi Chi for the first time and then take the lead for the first time in the tournament.

In the final round, Gary Player had a dream start, making four birdies in the first eight holes to go six ahead – a lead that he kept to the finish!

1988 Senior PGA Championship

By the start of the 1988 season Gary Player had been playing on the senior circuit for two full seasons and had eight victories. Significantly, three of those victories were Majors, which was a great thrill for him.

PGA Senior Championship was once again played Palm Beach Gardens in Florida at PGA National’s Champions Course. While the early going belonged to New Zealand lefthander Bob Charles, his relatively quiet 2nd round allowed others in the field to come within reach, including Arnold Palmer in a group of three just three shots behind.

At the end of a very windy 3rd round, Chi Chi Rodriguez and al Geiberger had the lead at 213 and, following a 73 and 72, Gary Player had come within one shot of the leaders. In the final round, he hit one of his best four-irons ever to just inches short of the cup on the 8th, and with the leaders struggling at the 8th and 9th, I never trailed after that. Birdies at the 14th and 16th followed and I ended up winning my second PGA Senior Championship by three shots.

1988 US Senior Open

As good a year as Player had on the Champions Tour in 1987, 1988 was quite unbelievable. In the 12 starts leading up to the US Senior Open, he had won three times and had not been out of the top 10.
In 1988 Medinah was a typically tough USGA layout, with narrow fairways and penal rough. The USGA certainly didn’t go easy on the seniors, Player recalls. So it wasn’t surprising when he opened with a 74, his worse round of the year – and to make matters worse, this put him five shots behind first-round leaders Billy Casper and Walt Zembriski. Luckily there was plenty of golf to be played.

Billy Casper extended his lead to four shots after the second round, but after Player’s third-round 71 they were neck-and-neck going into the last. It was New Zealand’s Bob Charles who made the early charge in the final round and he was three ahead by the 14th, playing superb golf, but three bogeys brought Player and Charles level. Both shot par on the 18th and finished with a tie after 72 holes. Player was able to clinch victory after an 18-hole play-off, and better still, back-to-back US Senior Opens… What a proud moment!