Gary Player has no qualms about turning 70… He says he is still two under par!
He’s one of only five men to win the career Grand Slam, he’s won nine Major championships, nine senior Majors, more than 160 tournaments worldwide; he has been a professional golfer for more than 50 years, designed more than 200 golf courses worldwide, traveled more than any other athlete, and is renowned for his legendary health-conscious lifestyle and passion for fitness.
And now, on November 1, he has turned 70! A milestone age for any person, Gary Player is a shining example of how to treat age simply as a number, as he packs more into a day than men half his age – and he loves every minute of it.
Still an active member of the Champions Tour, Player has equaled or bettered his age several times during professional tournaments in 2005. In fact, he celebrates his 20th year on that Tour this month, having joined the lucrative senior circuit just 21 days after turning 50 in 1985 – and promptly won on début, becoming just the fifth person to achieve that feat.
Player’s life of globe-trotting has been about spreading the goodwill of golf, earning him the title of Golf’s International Ambassador. When Arnold Palmer was making the game popular in the United States, it was Player, one of the legendary Big Three with Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, who was popularizing the game in far-flung places around the world.
He has an infectious enthusiasm and zest for life and golf that never waivers, and it is his determination to perform to the best of his abilities that has always made him such a tough competitor. It has been his never-say-die attitude in competitive play that made him so popular with golf fans around the world.
Speak to Player about retirement and he will insist that there is just no time. He does, however, cherish the time spent with his family, his wife of nearly 50 years, Vivienne, his six children and his 14 grandchildren. And then there is his beloved farm in the desert area of central South Africa, where he breeds thoroughbred racehorses. But, he is still committed to tournament play, his design company, his sponsors’ corporate outings and his charitable work, which does substantial good for needy children around the world.
As he will tell you, idle hands are the devil’s workshop. There is no chance of this particular man’s ever becoming idle. There just isn’t enough time.
Happy birthday, Gary!
Contact:
Gida Campbell
Media Director
Black Knight International
+1 561 624 0300
gida@garyplayer.com
