1961 Masters

No international player had ever won The Masters until Gary Player’s victory in 1961. He defeated Arnold Palmer and amateur Charles Coe by one stroke, keeping his composure to get up and down from the bunker on the final hole. It was the first of three green jackets for the Black Knight, and the second of his Major Championships. He was half way to the career Grand Slam by age 25.

1988 Senior British Open

Gary Player came to the Senior British Open at Turnberry in Scotland having had a reasonably successful Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes just the week before, so he was keen to do well.

He had been playing very well on the Champions Tour in 1988 and took that confidence into the first round at the Ailsa course at Turnberry, opening with a five-under par 65. This gave Player the tournament lead, which he was able to hold onto throughout, despite some fine golf from a charging Billy Casper.

The final round was typically blustery, but two good birdies on the 12th and 16th allowed the Black Knight to win his first Senior Open Championships by one shot over Billy Casper.

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!

1997 Senior British Open

In the late 1990s much had changed in the world including Gary Player’s home country of South Africa, which had its first democratically elected government and was thriving under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. Player was just a couple of months shy of his 62nd birthday, but feeling as fit and strong as a man decades younger.

The 1997 Senior British Open was played in Northern Ireland at Royal Portrush, which was once a venue for The Open (back in 1951 when Max Faulkner won). In typically windy and cold Irish summer weather, he opened with a very solid 68, but found himself two shots behind fellow countryman John Bland who shot an excellent 66. The tournament turned into a head-to-head duel between the two of them, with one outscoring the other by two shots each day. Englishman Noel Ratcliffe held the halfway lead after a spectacular 65 in the second round, but he faded with a disappointing 75 in the third.

This left Bland and Player battling it out to the finish, finishing tied on 10-under par 278 after 72 holes of regulation play. They were then faced with a sudden-death playoff, which Player won with a birdie on the 18th, the second playoff hole.
This marked his 9th senior Major Championship, equaling his total on the Regular Tour!