Gary Player has found the fountain of youth — a younger girlfriend, who he met last year at Shell Bay Club in Hallandale, Florida.
“Can you imagine getting a girlfriend at 90?” he said. “I feel like I’m 40. What the heck is going on here! I think we need to make sure my birth certificate is genuine.”
It checks out — Nov. 1, 1935. Player is celebrating the occasion in his native South Africa, where the Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational, named for he and his late wife, is a two-day tournament at Sun City played at both The Lost City Golf Course and Gary Player Country Club (host of the Nedbank Golf Challenge). BMW is auctioning off a Gary Player Signature 7 Series this week and there will be multiple parties, including a welcome function where the theme is Echoes of Africa with traditional African Bush Glam as suggested attire. The birthday celebration on Saturday? A black-tie affair at the Super Bowl in Sun City, which has been the site of heavyweight title fights. On Sunday, Player’s life documentary debuts. Before the party got rolling, Player sat down and chatted with Golfweek for this Q&A filled with a lifetime of wisdom and plenty of chuckles along the way.
GWK: The more I practice, the luckier I seem to get seems to be your best known quote but what’s your favorite quotation?
GP: That applies to golf but my life is more important than golf, though golf is right up there. I have lots of gratitude and love in my heart. How many people that have ever lived have had a life that I’ve had – played golf and had meals with every president, traveled more miles than any human being, won the most number of tournaments worldwide, only man ever to win the Grand Slam on the regular and senior tour. I mean, how can you have a life like that and a wife like I had for 70 years and a family of 40 people, whatever the number is, I have to win the damn tournament to break even. I’ve had some kind of a life and I’m still shooting par.
GWK: What remains undone that you still hope to achieve in your life?
GP: One thing: I’ve raised enough money in perpetuity for my African-American school in South Africa. Now, we’ve got our Vivienne and Gary Player Foundation for inner-city schools in America and I’d like to get it to $50 million in the coffers so that when I die, my daughter can continue to run it in perpetuity. That’s the only thing I still have to do.
It’s a debt I feel I have as an American. No American loves America more than me, that’s a fact. I’ve seen things no American has seen. I realize the true value of freedom. I realize what Eisenhower did at Normandy. Every child in America should be shown that in school or see it in person.
GWK: How has your life been since the death of your wife?
GP: I had the most incredible wife a man could have. She died 4 ½ years ago. For four years I was in the desert and then I met this chick. I said to her straightaway, I don’t have time for romance at 90. I said, I’m looking for an American girlfriend. She said I’ll think about and that’s how it started.
I went to a ladies luncheon the other day, 100 ladies, and afterwards they said do you mind if we ask you a few questions? I said, Anything you like. The first lady said, you’re 90, do you hold her hand? I said, All the time. The next lady said, do you kiss her? I said, Ma’am, I kiss her all the time. I said before you ladies become too familiar I want you to know she’s pregnant!
She loves golf, she loves gymnasium, she loves to travel and she laughs all day long. She watches what she eats, she doesn’t smoke, she keeps in shape and we want to go to a lot of places in the world together. It’s incredible you can find a woman like that at 90. It’s an act of God. The only trouble I have now is when my wife dies and (my girlfriend) dies, my wife may be on the north side of heaven and she may be on the south side.
GWK: When you’re down, what do you do to feel better?
GP: I don’t get down because as a youngster I lost my mother at a young age, my brother was fighting for America at 17, my sister was at boarding school and my father was working at a mine 8,000 feet under the ground. I cried in my bed on and off for two years. But that’s why I became a world champion because I suffered. So I don’t get down. I’ve traveled and seen things. Most people in the world don’t get one meal like we’ve had. But do we sit down and say how lucky we are? No! We’ve been spoiled rotten. I’m aware of gratitude and say a prayer for it at least five times a day. I say thank you across the spectrum. Thank you is a small word. I mean, a dog wags its tail when you give it a treat.
GWK: What was it like talking with Nelson Mandela?
GP: Every time I was with him and I was with him a lot – we raised $20 million for young black children – I cried. A man could go to jail for 20 years and be deprived of a life and he comes out and only has love, no hatred, no revenge. I was blown over by this. He was always gentle and kind to me. He’d say, thank you, Gary, for what you’ve done for our country, for speaking up for me, for changing the lives of young people in South Africa. I couldn’t help but cry.
GWK: Why did Ben Hogan refuse to help you with your game when you called him?
GP: I got on very well with Mr. Hogan. He said to me, “You’ll be a great player one day, son.” He offered me a contract for $2,000 a year. This was 1958. The same day I got an offer for $9,000 from Dunlop. I had a wife and a child and I needed the money. I wanted to go with Hogan but I went with the other one. A friend of mine and I were discussing the backswing at a tournament in Brazil and I said the man who knows the most about the golf swing is Ben Hogan and my friend said, “Why don’t you call him?” I said, “You don’t do that. You just don’t.” And he said, “C’mon, don’t be a chicken.” So, I called him and said, “Good evening, Mr. Hogan.” He said, “Who’s that?” I told him it was me. He said, “What can I do for you?” I said, “I’d like to ask you something about the swing?” Dead silence. I said, “Hello?” He said, “I’m still here. I’m going to be real curt with you, fella. Who do you work for on Tour?” I said, “Dunlop.” He said, “Call Mr. Dunlop.” And put the phone down!
GWK: Didn’t Hogan another time give you a tip that was useful?
GP: Yes. He said you can never swing too flat and rotate your hips like a cobra.
GWK: Why did you wear black from head to toe, even in the heat?
GP: When I left South Africa, my father was mad at me. He said you can’t even win the club championship, how are you going to turn pro? But he gave me a tip. He was an uneducated man but he spoke three languages and was a brilliant man without an education because he had to support a large family. He said if you’re going to be a pro, you need to have a brand. I had no idea what he was talking about. I came to America and I saw a movie, “Have Gun, Will Travel” with Jack Paladin. He had this beautiful black outfit on with silver holsters and I said that’s for me. I’m going to wear black and I’m from black Africa and it was the best thing I ever did. It gave me a brand, which is essential for an athlete to have.
GWK: Has golf been fair to you in terms of your legacy?
GP: No, it has not been fair. I’ve won the most golf tournaments in the world. I’m the only one to win the Grand Slam on the regular and senior tours. I won more national titles – U.S., British, Australia, etc. – than Arnold, Jack and Tiger combined. I’ve lasted longer than anybody who has ever played golf. I’m never rated in the top 5. The only way you judge somebody is you look at the record book and they don’t do that. They put Bobby Jones in the top 5 ever. Nobody loves Bobby Jones more than me; nobody has more respect for him but he’s definitely not in the top 10 that ever lived. No, sorry.
GWK: You were a trailblazer on golf fitness. How did realize its importance ahead of everyone else?
GP: When my brother at age 17 left to fight for the American flag, I was nine years old and he said to me, “What are you going to do with your life?” I said, “I want to be a sportsman.” He said, “You’re too small and too weak.” He bought me a second-hand set of weights. I had to promise him faithfully until the day I died that I would exercise and keep fit. When I started lifting weights in 1953, the only exercise a pro did was lift an olive from one martini to another.
GWK: At what age do most people become old and what is the secret to staying young?
GP: We read about people living a long time. To the contrary, they don’t live a long time, they exist. They’re full of medicine. I don’t take one single pill. I exercise profusely. I sleep nine hours a night. I try not to overeat or have big dinners. You need to be thin to win; fat and you’re on the mat. I don’t drink or smoke. The United States of America, the greatest country God ever made, it’s a nation of obese people.
GWK: How much longer do you foresee yourself being one of the starters at the Masters and hitting an opening tee shot?
GP: Maybe 10 years at the most. I’d like to do it at 100 as long as I am capable.
GWK: If you could pick someone to join you, who would it be?
GP: Ideally I’d like to do it with Jack.
GWK: Is there someone you’d like to see replace him when the time comes?
GP: Well, I have great respect for Tiger Woods.
GWK: What do you believe will happen to you after you die?
GP: I hope I’m the head pro at Augusta. But they won’t let me play a single round with my three grandchildren so they’re not going to let me be the head pro there.
GWK: Why are you not a member there?
GP: That’s something you have to ask Augusta, not me.
GWK: You and Jack have become quite close and that extends even to some golf course design work you’re doing together. How does that work?
GP: He’s my best friend. We have similar ideas. I’m a farmer and my brother was the world’s biggest conservationist and brained-washed me on soil and water conservation. What is blowing my mind and has become a fad in America is to cut all the trees down. We should be planting trees, not cutting them down. It has nothing to do with grass growing. You have these crazy architects and crazy greenkeepers and all they want to do is cut down trees. Look at what they did at Oakmont. The committee should be penalized. They shouldn’t be allowed to ever play a tournament on that course again. They cut every single tree down. It’s a tragedy. Without trees we wouldn’t be able to breathe.
GWK: If you live to be 100 would it be more important to have a sharp mind or a fit body?
GP: You can’t really enjoy life without either one. I do believe emphatically that when you do die get the hell out of here. You’ve had your life, don’t go taking up all kinds of space. You go to New York and there’s almost 100 acres of graves in the middle of the city. You have people needing homes and a place to live. You go to heaven and a better place. Don’t worry about where your bones are here.
GWK: Is there a place that you’d like your ashes spread?
GP: I’d like them to be spread on Pine Valley and St. Andrews. I’m an honorary member at both so half on each at what I consider to be the two greatest clubs in the world. The only problem is if I did it at St. Andrews the wind would blow and my ashes would wind up out of bounds.
