72 + 51 = Gary Player

By Nick Seitz
Illustration By Hanoch Piven April 2008

Gary Player is the Little Guy of the ever-popular Big Three, along with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer (and what we wouldn't do for a modern answer to that grouping). But Player is the one still competing seriously, at 72 (even par), his batteries never running down. He will break Palmer's record for most Masters Tournaments when he plays his 51st starting April 10.

Palmer's reaction has been at once dismissive and amusing. "Well, if he isn't embarrassed, I won't be embarrassed for him," Arnold said in response to a question at the 2007 Masters. And before that, this: "Gary's going to do whatever he can to top whatever I've done. That includes living longer."

Palmer said with a grin that Player won't really break his record -- Arnold played 50 straight, and Player missed the 1973 tournament while recovering from surgery. Palmer added that Player is "a good friend who has been wonderful for international golf. He's probably going around the world seven times this year, and he's flying commercially. I wouldn't do that. Whatever he does, I think is great."

I called Player this winter at home on his 13,000-acre ranch in South Africa to ask about his Masters plans, our chat postponed briefly by a severe electrical storm at his end; he said a neighbor had died on the phone from a lightning strike. Player had just completed a 13-hour day working on a course he's building on his property that will be, in his world of superlatives, "the most ecologically correct ever."

Player had been moving rocks, mixing cement and doing other heavy labor -- "I'm working with so much energy it's amazing." He was to leave that weekend for the United States by way of Abu Dhabi and China to check in on other course projects.

As for Palmer's comments, he said in his clipped accent, "I didn't pay much attention. I'm not out there to beat his record. I want to show people about fitness. I think -- I know -- I've been the hardest training athlete in the history of the game. I love young people and want to see them stay healthy. I've traveled more than any human being who ever lived [more than 15 million miles, by his estimate], and in my humble opinion obesity is the biggest danger in the world today. I want to show them how they can live longer and keep sharp. Adults, too, instead of just fading away as old farts."

He will be proud to have played the most British Opens (46) and Masters -- and doesn't want to say '08 will be his last Masters. The way he left off last year, shooting 77 the second day, and the way he has been practicing (he has his own driving range in addition to the playable new course) encourage him.

He says many under-privileged, active people in the world's outback live to be 100, and though he didn't say he'd like to tee it up at Augusta at 100, he did say a goal is to live that long and be productive.

"Par for me was 80 that day I shot 77. The course was the most difficult I ever saw it. I hit woods for approaches on all but a couple holes." Among the 38 players he tied or beat that day: Sergio Garcia, David Toms, Adam Scott, Steve Stricker and Chris DiMarco.

THE GAME AT 72

He drives the ball an average of only 245 yards with his distinctive step-through swing, but with predictable accuracy. He is still better in the sand than a camel, and his putting has held up despite studies of aging that show it shouldn't have. He made 90 percent of his putts from inside 10 feet on the Champions Tour last year, which would have been second on tour had Player played enough events (he played eight, and intends to play 12 this year).

He has added a third hybrid to his bag -- his first iron is a 6-iron -- to go with three woods, three wedges (52, 56 and 58 degrees) and the putter.

Player shot his age on the senior tour in '07, including two 69s in one tournament in Hawaii, where he celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with his wife, Vivienne. They were married the first year he came to America to play the Masters, 1957, at 21, after his father wrote a letter to Cliff Roberts.

How does Player account for his steady putting nerves?

"I've kept so fit. I think it has to do with oxygen intake and diet and mind-set."

And he never drank, right?