Gary Player

About Gary Player

Gary Player DMS, OIG is a South African professional golfer, widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf. Over his career, Player accumulated nine major championships on the regular tour and six Champions Tour major championship victories, as well as three Senior British Open Championships on the European Senior Tour.

Legacy:

• In 2000 he was voted "Sportsman of the Century" in South Africa. In 1966, Gary Player was awarded the Bob Jones Award, the highest honour given by the United States Golf Association in recognition of distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. The "Gary Player – A Global Journey" exhibition was launched by the Hall of Fame as of March 2006.
  
• In 2000, Player was ranked as the eighth greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine.
  
• In 2002, Player was voted as the second greatest global golfer of all time by a panel of international media, golf magazines and fellow professionals conducted by the leading Golf Asia Magazine.
  
• On 10 April 2009, he played for the last time in the Masters, where he was playing for his record 52nd time – every year since 1957 except for 1973, when he was ill.After Nicklaus and Palmer, he was the last of the Big Three to retire from this tournament, a testament to his longevity.
  
• On 23 July 2009, at the age of 73, Player competed in the Senior British Open Championship at Sunningdale Golf Club, 53 years after capturing his maiden European Tour victory at the Berkshire venue.
  
• Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters announced on 5 July 2011 that Player had been invited to join Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer as an honorary starter. The Big Three were reunited in this capacity starting with the 2012 tournament.
  
• In July 2013, he became the oldest athlete ever to pose nude in ESPN The Magazine's annual Body Issue to inspire people to keep looking after themselves throughout their lives whatever your age.
  

Professional wins:

PGA Tour wins (24)

Champions Tour wins (19)

Sunshine Tour (73)

Player won 165 professional tournaments. This is a list of his other 141 wins in addition to his 24 on the PGA Tour

South Africa Tour (now the Sunshine Tour)

73 wins between 1955 and 1981 (64 regular and 9 majors):

• East Rand Open: 1955, 1956
  
• General Motors Open: 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976
  
• ICL International: 1977
  
• Liquid Air Tournament: 1963
  
• Natal Open: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968
  
• Nissan Skins Game: 1986, 1988, 1991
  
• Rand International Open: 1974
  
• Richelieu Grand Prix, Cape Town: 1963
  
• Richelieu Grand Prix, Johannesburg: 1963
  
• South African Masters: 11 times (1960, 1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979(x2))
  
• South African Open: 13 times (1956, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1981)
  
• South African PGA Championship: 1959, 1969, 1979, 1982
  
• Sponsored 5000: 1963
  
• Sun City Classic: 1979
  
• Trophee Boigny: 1980
  
• Transvaal Open: 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1966
  
• Western Province Open: 1957, 1959, 1960, 1968, 1971, 1972
  
• Egyptian Matchplay 1955
  

PGA Tour of Australasia (18)

18 wins between 1956 and 1981:

• Ampol Tournament: 1956, 1958, 1961
  
• Australian Open: A record 7 times (1958, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1974). Jack Nicklaus won 6 and Greg Norman 5 times.
  
• Australian Masters: 1968, 1969
  
• Australian PGA Championship: 1957
  
• Coffs Harbour Tournament (North Coast Open): 1957, 1958
  
• Dunlop International: 1970
  
• Gold Coast Classic: 1981
  
• Victorian Open: 1959
  

Other wins (28)

28 wins between 1955 and 1995, including:

• Alfred Dunhill Challenge: 1995
  
• Brazil Open: 1972, 1974
  
• Chile Open: 1980
  
• Chrysler Cup: 1987
  
• Dunlop Tournament (England): 1956
  
• Fred Meyer Challenge: 1986 (team with Greg Norman, tied with Peter Jacobsen and Curtis Strange)
  
• Ibergolf Tournament (Spain): 1974
  
• Japan Air Lines Open (Japan): 1972
  
• Johnnie Walker Trophy (Spain): 1984
  
• La Manga Tournament (Spain): 1974
  
• NTL Challenge Cup (Canada): 1965
  
• Piccadilly World Match Play Championship: 1965, 1966, 1968, 1971, 1973 (unofficial money event)
  
• Skins Game: 1983
  
• Sprite Tournament: 1960
  
• Trophée Lancôme: 1975
  
• Western Australia Open: 1956
  
• World Cup: (x3) Team event 1965, individual title in 1965, 1977
  
• World Series of Golf: 1965, 1968, 1972 (unofficial money event)
  
• Yomiuri Open (Japan): 1961
  

European Senior Tour and other wins (12)

• 1987 Northville Invitational (United States), German PGA Team Championship
  
• 1988 Senior British Open (European Seniors Tour),
  
• 1990 Senior British Open (European Seniors Tour)
  
• 1993 Irish Senior Masters (European Seniors Tour)
  
• 1997 Dai-ichi Seimei Cup (Japan), Senior British Open (European Seniors Tour), Shell Wentworth Senior Masters (European Seniors Tour),
  
• 2000 Senior Skins Game (U.S. – unofficial event)
  
• 2005 Nelson Mandela Invitational (Sunshine Tour – unofficial event)
  
• 2009 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf – Demaret Division (with Bob Charles)
  
• 2010 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf – Demaret Division (with Bob Charles)
  

The Senior British Open is shown in bold as it is generally recognised as a major and it is now an official Champions Tour event and major. However, it was not an official Champions Tour event when Player achieved his wins, and in contrast to early wins in regular British Opens by PGA Tour members, which are now included in their official PGA Tour win tallies, wins in early Senior British Opens by Champions Tour members have not been retrospectively designated as Champions Tour wins by the PGA Tour at this time. The Senior British Open is however recognised as a major by all other international bodies, such as the European Tour, Sunshine Tour, Japanese Tour and Asian Tour.

Team appearances:

World Cup (representing South Africa): 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 (winners, individual winner), 1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977 (individual winner)

Dunhill Cup (representing South Africa): 1991

Gary Player Achievements

Distinctions and Honours:

• On 8 June 1961, Player was the guest on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. In a comedy skit, he gives Tennessee Ernie Ford a golf lesson.
  
• Received the 1966 Bob Jones Award from the United States Golf Association.
  
• Named Honorary Member of the R&A in 1994.
  
• Received Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from St. Andrews in 1995.
  
• Received Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland in 1997
  
• The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational trophy is named the Gary Player Cup.
  
• Named Honorary Member of Carnoustie in 1999
  
• Received Honorary Doctorate in Law, University of Dundee, Scotland in 1999
  
• South African Sportsman of the Century award in 2000
  
• Received the 2003 Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Monte Carlo.
  
• Awarded the Order of Ikhamanga (in gold for exceptional achievement) in 2003 by President Mbeki of South Africa for excellence in golf and contribution to non-racial sport in South Africa.
  
• He was the world's first golfer to be featured on any country's postal stamp in South Africa.
  
• Has designed over 325 golf courses on six continents around the world.
  
• He currently plays on the U.S. Champions Tour and European Seniors Tour occasionally.
  
• He received the 2006 Payne Stewart Award from the PGA Tour.
  
• Played in his 52nd Masters Tournament at Augusta National in April 2009, extending his record of for most Masters appearances
  
• Inducted into the African American Sports Hall of Fame in May 2007, with Lifetime Achievement Award
  
• Has played in a record 46 consecutive British Open Championships, winning 3 times over 3 decades.
  
• Stars with Camilo Villegas in a MasterCard "priceless foursome" television commercial launched during the U.S. Open in June 2009
  
• In November 2009 he was awarded the inaugural Breeders Cup "Sports and Racing Excellence Award" at Santa Anita Park in California which honours owners and breeders of thoroughbred race horses.
  
• Was inducted into the Asian Pacific Golf Hall of Fame with Jack Nicklaus in 2011 at a ceremony in Pattaya, Thailand.
  
• In December 2011, Gary Player Design was selected amongst the finalists to design the golf course for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro
  
• He received the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award at The Players Championship in May 2012. The first international person to receive this accolade.