The Masters
Masters 2025: Gary Player got asked about eating fast food and proceeded to drop the hardest quote of all time
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Nobody goes on a tangent quite like Gary Player. And the best part about those tangents is that they often have absolutely nothing to do with the original question that was asked.
The most famous, and hilarious, instance of this came at the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, when Player joined Golf Channel live in the middle of the tournament and Damon Hack simply said "Good morning, how are you?" Player proceeded to go on an epic rant in which he skewered the golf course and the tournament:
One for the AGES.
If you can believe it, Player may have topped that rant with an all-time off-topic tangent on Thursday morning at Augusta National. Minutes earlier, Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson had teed off in the annual honorary starters ceremony. They then made their way to the media center to field a variety of questions from reporters inside the interview room.
Topics ranged from pace of play to how the current crop of players handles media relations to ... fast food? That's right, No Laying Up's Kevin Van Valkenburg brought up the perfect topic to get Player riled up: Arby's. Player's response? One day, you or your wife will die.
We're not kidding. Here's the full exchange:
Q. Gary, in 1997 when Tiger Woods won the Masters, he revealed that he famously ate at Arby's every single night. I was wondering when the last time you had any fast food was.
GARY PLAYER: Well, you don't reach 90 as I do if you eat a bunch of crap. I can tell you that. But that's your choice. Everybody has a choice. I want to live to 100 because I love people. I love golf. I just love life.
I've got a young girlfriend -- I've changed my life. How about that, at 90, finding a girlfriend? Tom is not as old as me, but he's also found a new one. I'll tell you what, guys, you all -- you or your wife is going to die. One of the spouses are going to die, and it's not the end of life.
So many people that does happen and they get so disheartened that they don't think they should continue life. The greatest gift bestowed upon a man or woman is life. So my ambition is to reach 100.
So I went to India and I met a gerontologist, and he gave me 11 things to work on, which I adhere to. So I might drop dead tomorrow, but I'm giving it a hell of a try.
Honestly, it started off sort of on point before it became about discussing the afterlife. The takeaway here? Gary Player equates eating fast food with an early death. He's probably not wrong.
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