Gary Player

Gary Player
Personal information
Full name	Gary Player
Nickname	The Black Knight
Born	1 November 1935 (1935-11-01) (age 74) Johannesburg, South Africa
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Nationality	South Africa
Residence	Jupiter Island, Florida; Colesberg, South Africa
Career
Turned professional	1953
Current tour(s)	PGA Tour (joined 1957) Champions Tour (joined 1985)
Professional wins	164
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	24 (25th all time)
Champions Tour	19
Other	120 (regular) 14 (senior)
Best results in Major Championships (Wins: 9)
The Masters	Won: 1961, 1974, 1978
U.S. Open	Won: 1965
Open Championship	Won: 1959, 1968, 1974
PGA Championship	Won: 1962, 1972
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	1974 (member page)
PGA Tour leading money winner	1961
Southern Africa Tour Order of Merit winner	1976/77, 1979/80
(For a full list of awards, see here)

Gary Player (born 1 November 1935) is a South African professional golfer. With his nine major championship victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf.

Player was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has logged more than 15 million miles in travel, probably more than any other athlete.^[1] Dubbed the Black Knight ^[2], Mr. Fitness, and the International Ambassador of Golf, Player is a renowned golf course architect with more than 300 design projects throughout the world.

His business interests are represented by Black Knight International, which includes Gary Player Design, Player Real Estate, and Gary Player Enterprises, aspects of which include licensing, events, publishing, wine, apparel and memorabilia.

The Gary Player Stud Farm has received worldwide acclaim for breeding top thoroughbred race horses, including 1994 English Derby entry Broadway Flyer. He operates The Player Foundation with its primary objective to promote education around the world.

In 1983, The Player Foundation established the Blair Atholl Schools in Johannesburg, South Africa, which has educational facilities for more than 500 students from kindergarten through 8th grade. In 2008 it celebrated its 25th Anniversary with charity golf events in London, Palm Beach, Shanghai and Cape Town, bringing its total of funds raised to over US $30 million ^[3].

Background and family

Gary Player swings at the 2009 GPI in Edinburgh, Scotland

Gary Player was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the youngest of Harry and Muriel Player's three children. When he was eight years old his mother died from cancer. Although his father was often away from home working in the gold mines, he did manage to take a loan in order to buy a set of clubs for his son Gary to begin playing golf. The Virginia Park golf course in Johannesburg is where Player first began his love affair with golf. At the age of 14 Player played his first round of golf and parred the first three holes. At age 16 he announced that he would become number one in the world. At age 17 he became a professional golfer.

Player married wife Vivienne on January 19, 1957, four years after turning professional. Together they have six children: Jennifer, Marc, Wayne, Michele, Theresa and Amanda. He is also a grandfather to 21 grandchildren.^[4] During the early days of his career Player would travel from tournament to tournament with wife, 6 children, nanny and a tutor in tow.

Eldest son Marc, owns and operates Black Knight International, which represents Player in all his commercial activities, including golf course design and real estate development.

He is also the brother of world renowned wildlife conservationist Dr. Ian Player who saved the white rhino from extinction.^[5]

Regular tour career

Player is one of the most successful golfers in the history of the sport, ranking third (behind Roberto de Vicenzo and Sam Snead) in total professional wins, with at least a hundred and sixty-six, and tied for fourth in major championship victories with nine. Along with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus he is often referred to as one of "The Big Three" golfers of his era — from the late 1950s through the late 1970s — when golf boomed in the United States and around the world, greatly encouraged by expanded television coverage. Along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, he is one of only five players to win golf’s "career Grand Slam". He completed the Grand Slam in 1965 at the age of twenty-nine. Player was the second multi-time majors winner from South Africa, following Bobby Locke then succeeded by Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

Player played regularly on the U.S. based PGA Tour from the late 1950s. He led the money list in 1961, and went on to accumulate twenty four career titles. He also played an exceptionally busy schedule all over the world, and he has been called the world's most traveled athlete, clocking up more than 14 million miles. He has more victories than anyone else in the South African Open (thirteen) and the Australian Open (seven). He held the record for most victories in the World Match Play Championship, with five wins, from 1973 until 1991 when this feat was equaled by Seve Ballesteros, finally losing his share of the record in 2004, when Ernie Els won the event for a sixth time. Player was ever-present in the top ten of Mark McCormack's world golf rankings from their inception in 1968 until 1981; he was ranked second on those rankings in 1969, 1970 and 1972, each time behind Jack Nicklaus, and had those rankings been based on just the most recent two seasons (like their modern counterpart) Player would have been number one several times.

He was the only player in the 20th century to win the (British) Open in three different decades.^[6] His first win, as a 23-year-old in 1959 at Muirfield, came after he double-bogeyed the last hole, and broke down in tears thinking he had lost his chance, but none of the remaining players on the course could match the clubhouse lead he had set. In 1974, he became one of the few golfers in history to win two major championships in the same season. Player last won the U.S. Masters in 1978, when he started seven strokes behind the leaders entering the final round and won by one shot with birdies at seven of the last 10 holes for a back nine 30 and a final round 64. One week later, Player came from seven strokes back in the final round to win the Tournament of Champions. In 1984, at the age of 48, Player nearly became the oldest ever major champion, finishing just behind Lee Trevino at the PGA Championship. And in gusty winds at the 1998 Masters, he became the oldest golfer ever to make to the cut, breaking the 25-year-old record set by Sam Snead. Player credited this feat to his dedication to the concept of diet, health, practise and golf fitness.^[7]

Being South African, Player never played in the Ryder Cup in which American and European golfers compete against each other. Regarding the event, Player remarked, "The things I have seen in the Ryder Cup have disappointed me. You are hearing about hatred and war." ^[8] He was no longer an eligible player when the Presidents Cup was established to give international players the opportunity to compete in a similar event, but he was non-playing captain of the International Team for the Presidents Cup in 2003, which was held on a course he designed, The Links at Fancourt in George, South Africa. After 2003 ended in a tie, he was reappointed as captain for the 2005 Presidents Cup, and his team lost to the Americans 15.5 to 18.5. Both Player and Jack Nicklaus were appointed to captain their respective teams again in 2007 in Canada; the United States won.

In 2000 he was voted "Sportsman of the Century" in South Africa. In 1966, Gary Player was awarded the Bob Jones Award, the highest honor given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974 and "Gary Player — A Global Journey" exhibition launched by the Hall of Fame as of March, 2006.

In 2000, Player was ranked as the eighth greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.^[9]

In 2002, Player was voted as the second greatest global golfer of all time by a panel of international media, golf magazines and fellow professionals conducted by the leading Golf Asia Magazine.

On 10 April 2009, he played for the last time in The Masters, where he was playing for his record 52nd time. He was the last of The Big Three (Nicklaus, Player & Palmer) to retire from this tournament, a testament to his longevity.

On 23 July 2009, at the age of 73, Player competed in the Senior British Open Championship at Sunningdale Golf Club, 53 years after capturing his maiden European Tour victory at the Berkshire venue.^[10]

Major Championships

Wins (9)

Year	Championship	54 Holes	Winning Score	Margin	Runner(s)-up
1959	The Open Championship	4 shot deficit	E (75-71-70-68=284)	2 strokes	Fred Bullock, Flory Van Donck
1961	The Masters	3 shot lead	-8 (69-68-69-74=280)	1 stroke	Charles Coe, Arnold Palmer
1962	PGA Championship	2 shot lead	-2 (72-67-69-70=278)	1 stroke	Bob Goalby
1965	U.S. Open	2 shot lead	+2 (70-70-71-71=282)	Playoff 1	Kel Nagle
1968	The Open Championship (2)	2 shot deficit	+1 (74-71-71-73=289)	2 strokes	Bob Charles, Jack Nicklaus
1972	PGA Championship (2)	1 shot lead	+1 (71-71-67-72=281)	2 strokes	Tommy Aaron, Jim Jamieson
1974	The Masters (2)	1 shot deficit	-10 (71-71-66-70=278)	2 strokes	Dave Stockton, Tom Weiskopf
1974	The Open Championship (3)	3 shot lead	-2 (69-68-75-70=282)	4 strokes	Peter Oosterhuis
1978	The Masters (3)	7 shot deficit	-11 (72-72-69-64=277)	1 stroke	Rod Funseth, Hubert Green, Tom Watson

¹ Defeated Kel Nagle in 18-hole playoff - Player (71), Nagle (74)

Results timeline

DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

Summary of major championship performances

• Starts – 158
• Wins – 9
• 2nd place finishes – 6
• Top 3 finishes – 18
• Top 5 finishes – 23
• Top 10 finishes – 44
• Longest streak of top-10s in majors – 7

Player has won over 160 professional events worldwide, including:

PGA Tour wins (24)

• 1958 (1) Kentucky Derby Open
• 1959 (1) The Open Championship
• 1961 (3) Lucky International Open, Sunshine Open, The Masters
• 1962 (1) PGA Championship
• 1963 (1) San Diego Open Invitational
• 1964 (2) Pensacola Open, 500 Festival Open Invitation
• 1965 (1) U.S. Open
• 1968 (1) The Open Championship
• 1969 (1) Tournament of Champions
• 1970 (1) Greater Greensboro Open
• 1971 (2) Greater Jacksonville Open, National Airlines Open Invitational
• 1972 (2) Greater New Orleans Open, PGA Championship
• 1973 (1) Southern Open
• 1974 (3) The Masters, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, The Open Championship
• 1978 (3) The Masters, MONY Tournament of Champions, Houston Open

Major championships are shown in bold.

Other wins

In addition to his wins on the PGA Tour, Player won more than 100 other tournaments in "regular", that is non-senior golf.

South Africa Tour (now the Sunshine Tour)
73 wins between 1955 and 1981 including:

• South African Open: 13 times between 1956 and 1983
• South African Masters: 10 times between 1959 and 1976
• South African PGA Championship: 5 times between 1959 and 1976

PGA Tour of Australasia
18 wins between 1956 and 1981 including:

• Australian Open: A record 7 times between 1958 and 1974. Jack Nicklaus won 6 and Greg Norman 5 times.

Other
At least 20 other wins between 1955 and 1984, including:

• World Cup: individual title in 1965 and 1977
• Piccadilly World Match Play Championship: 5 times between 1965 and 1974 (played in England, but not an official European Tour event at that time)
• World Series of Golf: 1965, 1968 and 1972 (U.S. - not a PGA Tour event at that time)
• Trophée Lancôme: 1975

Player also collected wins in Australia, Brazil, North and West Africa, Canada, Japan and Latin America.

Champions Tour wins (19)

• 1985 (1) Quadel Seniors Classic
• 1986 (3) General Foods PGA Seniors' Championship, United Hospitals Senior Golf Championship, Denver Post Champions of Golf
• 1987 (3) Mazda Senior Tournament Players Championship, U.S. Senior Open, PaineWebber World Seniors Invitational
• 1988 (5) General Foods PGA Seniors' Championship, Aetna Challenge, Southwestern Bell Classic, U.S. Senior Open, GTE North Classic
• 1989 (2) GTE North Classic, RJR Championship
• 1990 (1) PGA Seniors' Championship
• 1991 (1) Royal Caribbean Classic
• 1993 (1) Bank One Senior Classic
• 1995 (1) Bank One Classic
• 1998 (1) Northville Long Island Classic

Senior majors are shown in bold. See "Other senior wins" below for Player's wins in the Senior British Open.

Other senior wins (14)

• 1986 Senior Skins Game (South Africa)
• 1987 Northville Invitational (United States), German PGA Team Championship
• 1988 Senior British Open (European Seniors Tour), Nissan Senior Skins (South Africa)
• 1990 Senior British Open (European Seniors Tour)
• 1991 Nissan Senior Skins (South Africa)
• 1993 Irish Senior Masters (European Seniors Tour)
• 1997 Dai-ichi Seimei Cup (Japan), Senior British Open (European Seniors Tour), Shell Wentworth Senior Masters (European Seniors Tour),
• 2000 Senior Skins Game (U.S. - unofficial event)
• 2005 Nelson Mandela Invitational (Sunshine Tour - unofficial event)
• 2009 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf - Demaret Division (with Bob Charles)

The Senior British Open is shown in bold as it is generally recognized as a major and it is now an official Champions Tour event and major. However, it was not an official Champions Tour event as recognized by the US PGA Tour when Player achieved his wins, and in contrast to early wins in regular British Opens by PGA Tour members, which are now included in their official PGA Tour win tallies, wins in early Senior British Opens by Champions Tour members have not been retrospectively designated as Champions Tour wins by the PGA Tour at this time. The Senior British Open is however recognized as a major by all other international bodies, such as the European Tour. It is widely believed the Americans will eventually designate these as majors just as they have the regular tour's British Open

Equipment

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

Callaway is Gary Player's preference, and it is all that is in his bag.

• Driver: FT-5 Callaway
• Fairway Woods: Strong 4, 5 and 9 Callaway Steelhead Woods
• Hybrid: Callaway Heavenwood 4H
• Irons: 5-PW X-Tour Callaway
• Sand wedges: 56 Degree and 64 Degree X-Tour Callaway
• Putter: Odyssey Whitehot #1
• Ball: Callaway HX Tour
• Glove: Callaway
• Shoes: Gary Player Collection
• Putter Grip: Odyssey
• Apparel: Gary Player Collection
• Belt: Gary Player Collection

Controversy

This article's Criticism or Controversy section(s) may mean the article does not present a neutral point of view of the subject. It may be better to integrate the material in those sections into the article as a whole. (October 2009)

In July 2007, a media controversy emerged over his statements at the British Open golf tournament about the use of performance enhancing drugs in golf. Subsequently, the PGA Tour introduced a formal policy.

Player has almost always "spoken his mind" and been considered a controversial albeit frank and forthright professional golfer. He has been a pioneer of diet, health and fitness although he upset the Atkins Diet organization by disagreeing with their "all protein" approach. He was branded a "traitor" by South African Nationalist Government supporters for inviting and bringing both black tennis pro Arthur Ashe and golfer Lee Elder to play in South Africa. He was the first golfer to call on mandatory drug testing on all tours around the world.

In 1966, Player was quoted in a book entitled Grand Slam Golf in which he wrote:

Player has apologized profusely about this statement, saying he was a young man who never proof read the book's manuscript prior to going to print and that the quote was never made by him but rather the writer of the book."^[11] It is believed that Player's attitude towards the apartheid regime is very different today and has so far raised over 100 million dollars through his foundation to support under-privileged education in South Africa during apartheid.^{[citation needed]}

In 2002, Player designed a golf course in Burma, named by the developers, The Pride of Myanmar, currently frequented by tourists as well as generals of the army. There are unsubstantiated accusations that the land for the courses was seized from poor farmers without compensation. Regardless, as a designer Player had nothing to do with how the land was acquired.^[11]

Player has hosted the Nelson Mandela Invitational Golf Tournament since 2000. In October 2007, further media controversy arose about his involvement in the 2002 design of a golf course in Burma. As a result of the recent political uprisings in Burma, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund has withdrawn from the fundraising golf tournament because of Player's unsubstantiated business links with the country. Both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have however accepted Player's position and statements on Burma.^[12] Player refused to withdraw as he owns the event and issued a statement rebutting these claims via his website www.garyplayer.com.

The event is now annually staged at the Fancourt Resort as the Gary Player Invitational and is South Africa's largest and most successful charity event, having raised a record amount of over R250 million for various children's charities.^[11]

Distinctions and honors

• Received the 1966 Bob Jones Award from the United States Golf Association.
• Named Honorary Member of the R&A in 1994.
• Received Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from St. Andrews in 1995.
• Received Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland in 1997
• The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational trophy is named the Gary Player Cup.
• Named Honorary Member of Carnoustie in 1999
• Received Honorary Doctorate in Law, University of Dundee, Scotland in 1999
• South African Sportsman of the Century award in 2000
• Received the 2003 Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monte Carlo.
• Awarded the Order of Ikhamanga (in gold) by President Mbeki of South Africa for excellence in golf and contribution to non-racial sport in South Africa.
• He was the world's first golfer to be featured on any country's postal stamp in South Africa.^{[citation needed]}
• Has designed over 300 golf courses on six continents around the world.
• Coined one of the most quoted aphorisms of post-War sport: "The harder you practice, the luckier you get."
• He currently plays on the U.S. Champions Tour and European Seniors Tour occasionally.
• He received the 2006 Payne Stewart Award from the PGA Tour.
• Played in his 52nd Masters Tournament at Augusta National in April 2009, extending his record of for most Masters appearances
• Inducted into the African American Sports Hall of Fame in May 2007, with Lifetime Achievement Award
• Has played in a record 46 consecutive British Open Championships, winning 3 times over 3 decades.
• Stars with Camilo Villegas in a MasterCard "priceless foursome" television commercial launched during the U.S. Open in June 2009
• In November, 2009 he was awarded the inaugural Breeders Cup "Sports and Racing Excellence Award" at Santa Anita Park in California which honors owners and breeders of thoroughbred race horses.

See also

Golf portal

• Career Grand Slam Champions
• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Golfers with most major championship wins
• Golfers with most Sunshine Tour wins
• Longest PGA Tour win streaks
• Golfers with most Champions Tour wins
• Golfers with most Champions Tour major championship wins
• Golfers with most PGA Tour of Australasia wins

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Gary Player

• Gary Player's official site
• Profile on the PGA Tour's official site
• Profile on the European Tour's official site
• Profile on the Sunshine Tour's official site
• Gary Player Profile at Golf Legends
• Gary Player Golf Course Design
• Gary Player Foundation

v • d • e International Presidents Cup team – 2003 Robert Allenby • Stuart Appleby • K.J. Choi • Tim Clark • Ernie Els • Retief Goosen • Stephen Leaney • Peter Lonard • Adam Scott • Nick Price • Vijay Singh • Mike Weir • Gary Player (non-playing captain)

v • d • e International Presidents Cup team – 2005 Stuart Appleby • Ángel Cabrera • Michael Campbell • Tim Clark • Retief Goosen • Mark Hensby • Trevor Immelman • Peter Lonard • Nick O'Hern • Adam Scott • Vijay Singh • Mike Weir • Gary Player (non-playing captain)

v • d • e International Presidents Cup team – 2007 Stuart Appleby • Ángel Cabrera • K.J. Choi • Ernie Els • Retief Goosen • Trevor Immelman • Nick O'Hern • Geoff Ogilvy • Rory Sabbatini • Adam Scott • Vijay Singh • Mike Weir • Gary Player (non-playing captain)