Gary Player

Golfing giant, business Goliath and humanitarian

Gary Player. Photo courtesy Keith Allison

The youngest child of Harry and Muriel Player, international golfing great Gary Player was born in Johannesburg on November 1, 1935.

Player’s love of golf took hold early in life. His widowed father – Player’s mother died when he was just eight – took out a loan to buy the youngster his first set of golf clubs. At the age of 14, Player teed off at the Virginia Park Golf Course in Johannesburg, where it was immediately apparent that he had natural talent.

At 16, Player envisioned himself as the world’s number one and in 1953, at the age of 17, he turned professional. He joined the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour in 1957. His first major championship victory was at the 1959 British Open, and he was the first non-American to win the Masters in 1961.

Player is widely regarded as one of the best golfers in world history. In the 1960s and 1970s he, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer dominated the greens across the world. In a career that spanned six decades, Player won more than 160 golf tournaments worldwide, including nine Grand Slam tournaments and 19 Senior Tour victories. He was the only player in the 20th century to win the British Open in three different decades – 1959, 1968, 1974 – a testament to his discipline and focus. Player is one of a handful of golfers to have won three consecutive tournaments on the PGA Tour. He is the three-time winner of the Masters and British Opens, and one of only five players – in the cohort of greats Ben Hogan, Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen and Tiger Woods – to win all four Grand Slam titles.

The 13-time winner of the South African Open, Player also claimed the Australian Open title seven times and the World Match Play Championship five times. At the 1998 Masters, he became the oldest golfer to make to the cut, and he has enjoyed a triumphant career as a senior. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

Player has notched up more travel miles reaching tournaments than any athlete in history, earning him the title “International Ambassador of Golf”.

He used his nickname, “Black Knight” – bestowed upon him due to his fashionable, dark golfing ensembles – as the name of his hugely successful international company. Player’s extensive business empire includes golf course design and equipment manufacture, endorsements, merchandising and real estate development. He is an author on golf techniques, mindsets for success and learning life lessons through the game of golf. Player successfully breeds thoroughbred horses at his stud farm in Johannesburg.

This heavyweight sporting legend and businessman is known for his philanthropic efforts, too. Apartheid formed a backdrop for most of Player’s sporting career and he worked hard to improve the situation and bring about change. The Gary Player Foundation was founded in 1983 and, through charity golf events, has raised more $30-million for humanitarian endeavours. One of these initiatives is the Blair Atholl Primary and Nursery Schools, built on the former Player estate in Johannesburg, which together educate 500 underprivileged learners.

In recognition of Player’s achievements, he has been awarded honorary doctorates of law from St Andrews (1995) and the University of Dundee, Scotland (1999), a Hilton Hotel Lifetime Achievement Award (1995), and an honorary doctorate of science from the University of Ulster, Ireland (1997). In 2000, he was named South Africa’s Sportsman of the Century.

Player is a devoted family man. He married his wife Vivienne Verwey in 1957, and the couple has six children and 21 grandchildren. Player’s brother is world-renowned wildlife conservationist Dr Ian Player, who saved the white rhino from extinction. What exceptional Johannesburgers!