Gary Player, the most interesting golfer of all time, still hosts

After the ceremonial starting shot with Lee Elder on Thursday morning, show newcomer Jack Nicklaus and South African black knight Gary Player discussed a number of topics.

It’s especially interesting to reminisce about Player’s career, with his hair barely gray and his physique leaning to one side. He stays in tip-top shape to compete better in golf around the world and live longer.

Not long ago, he said he wouldn’t retire until he was 90. Judging by the way the 85-year-old looks today, that prediction is likely to hold true for the foreseeable future: He’ll probably hit a golf ball on his 100th birthday.

When you consider the impact of traveling, especially across multiple time zones in a year, you marvel at his ability to be as successful as he has been, winning nine major championships and nine senior titles on the regular tour.

For years, he would book two first-class tickets when he traveled and often slept on the floor of the plane on international flights. When he was up to the 60s, I spoke with him to be the most traveling athlete in the world.

It is doubtful that any athlete has been more kilometers than the player. (Most of the national business leaders and secretaries are Friday, Friday). Of course, none of them stopped as much as a player. Who could argue with him when he says he’s traveled more miles than any athlete in history?

In a previous conversation, he gleefully mentioned that sleeping on a plane is easy. “If I could put it when I sleep,” he said, “I always get a major championship.”

When he won the first master in 1961 60 years ago this week, he was an Arnold Palmer’s beneficiary who was making double bogies in the 18th hole, but as he pointed out. I made a double bogey. Two times as a player, we arrived on the 13th of the 13th of the player in the final. He also bogeyed the par-5 15th hole.

I once visited him at his ranch in South Africa, less than an hour from Johannesburg. He was wearing safari-style overalls and a wide-brimmed hat and was speaking to the farm hand in Afrikaans. He asked me to bring some friends to travel with him. He offered us lemonade while we looked at a nearby baobab tree.

During a long conversation, he talked about the beauty of his home country and the changing political climate. He spoke of his admiration for his brother Ian, who advocated for the conservation of animals on the continent and is credited with saving the white rhino. Ian’s son, Amasus, graduated from the Georgia University Forest School.

With VOORTREKKER’s heart, the first player was not threatened by the challenge of professional tours and harsh days. The changes in lifestyle, scenery and food did not faze or embarrass him, and although he was only 5-6 feet tall and weighed only 160 pounds, his core size was comparable to many of the heavyweights he faced. You might outdrive him, but his iron play and his short game often gave him the advantage he needed to win and win often.

As a member of the Big Three (with Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer), he learned to compete with the best. The trio has won 53 regular and senior majors and over 350 tournaments.

He is the only player to have won a Grand Slam title on both the regular and senior circuits. During his illustrious career, he won 162 tournaments around the world and remains actively involved in golf course design to this day.

When he became the first International Masters champion, his post-tournament press conference was prolonged as sportswriters were fascinated by his accent, enthusiasm and tendency to exaggerate. He was convincing when he said he lifted weights and did push-ups and sit-ups every day.

The winning check for $20,000 – by far the biggest check of his career to date – was in his back pocket, he said, adding: “…it burns my ass.” Gary was always a popular and colorful winner.

The following is a story that has been widely circulated, but is worth repeating. While he was making a name for himself on the PGA Tour, Player decided to call Ben Hogan, whose game he deeply admired, and talk golf. He began by telling Hogan that he was the greatest “golf ball striker” of all time and lavished other praise on him.

At the time, Hogan was still actively running his golf club manufacturing company. When the player asked about the match, Hogan asked briefly, “What club do you play for?”

When the player replied, “For Dunlop.” Hogan said, “Call Mr. Dunlop” and hung up.