The Loop
Gary Player on playing golf (or not) with O.J., President Xi or Kim Jong Un
Jamie McCarthy
Would you play golf with O.J. Simpson? How about President Xi Jinping of China? Or North Korea’s Kim Jong Un?
Gary Player, golf’s indefatigable world ambassador, addressed these questions when he was interviewed by TMZ in a baggage claim area at Los Angeles International Airport.
TMZ, naturally, has been aggressively pursuing the story of Simpson’s release from prison and has reported that he is living temporarily in a friend’s home on a golf course in Las Vegas.
So a TMZ reporter at the airport encountered Player, who was asked about Simpson’s release from prison.
“Well, good for him,” Player said. “When a man has served his term, he must be forgiven. He must go ahead now and live his life.”
But would Player play golf with O.J.?
“I would play golf…the thing is this," Player said. "People have criticized some of the pros for playing golf with Donald Trump. Donald Trump is the president of the United States, the most important country in the world. You don’t play golf with a man because of his political views. You play golf with the man because he’s the president and you respect the president.
“I’m not in favor of communism, but if president Xi of China asked me to play with him, I respect his position. I’d play golf with him. I don’t believe in communism. I’m not playing with him because of his political views. If you had to judge everybody and say, ‘I’m not playing with him because I don’t like this or I don’t like that,’ you’d never play with anybody.”
“What about Kim Jong Un, would you play against him?” the TMZ reporter asked.
“No, I would not play with him,” Player replied. “I would not play with a man who actually wants to annihilate you.”
The video can be seen here.