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Gary Player
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EXEMPT STATUS: Top 31
on All-Time Money List
FULL NAME: Gary Jim Player
HEIGHT: 5-7
WEIGHT: 150
BIRTHDATE: November 1, 1935
BIRTHPLACE: Johannesburg, South Africa
RESIDENCE: Johannesburg, South Africa, Palm Beach,
FL
FAMILY: Wife, Vivienne Verwey; Jennifer, Marc, Wayne,
Michele, Theresa, Amanda; 11 grandchildren
SPECIAL INTERESTS: Breeding thoroughbred race horses,
education, golf course design, family, health & fitness
TURNED PROFESSIONAL: 1953
JOINED TOUR: 1985
CLUB AFFILIATION: Marshall Ranch, Austin, TX
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| PGA TOUR Victories |
| (21) 1958 Kentucky Derby Open. 1961 Lucky International
Open, Sunshine Open Invitational, Masters Tournament.
1962 PGA Championship. 1963 San Diego Open Invitational.
1964 Pensacola Open Invitational, 500 Festival Open Invitation.
1965 U.S. Open Championship. 1969 Tournament of Champions.
1970 Greater Greensboro Open. 1971 Greater Jacksonville
Open, National Airlines Open Invitational. 1972 Greater
New Orleans Open, PGA Championship. 1973 Southern Open.
1974 Masters Tournament, Danny Thomas Memphis Classic.
1978 Masters Tournament, MONY Tournament of Champions,
Houston Open. |
| SENIOR TOUR Victories |
| (19) 1985 Quadel Senior Classic. 1986 General Foods
PGA Seniors' Championship, United Hospitals Senior Golf
Championshp, Denver Post Champions of Golf. 1987 Mazda
SENIOR TOURNAMENT PLAYERS CHAMPION, U.S. Senior Open,
PaineWebber World Seniors Invitational. 1988 General Foods
PGA Seniors' Championship, Aetna Challenge, Southwestern
Bell Classic, U.S. Senior Open, GTE North Classic. 1989
GTE North Classic, The RJR Championship. 1990 PGA Seniors'
Championship. 1991 Royal Caribbean Classic. 1993 Bank
One Classic. 1995 Bank One Classic. 1998 Northville Long
Island Classic. |
| International Victories |
| 1986, 1988, 1991 Nissan Senior Skins. 1987 Northville
Invitational, German PGA Team Championship. 1988, 1990,
1997 Senior British Open. 1993 Irish Senior Masters. 1997
Daiichi Seimei Cup, Shell Wentworth Senior Masters, 2000
Senior Skins Game. |
| Other Victories |
| 1959, 1968 and 1974 British Open; winner of South African
Open 13 times between 1956-1983; 1958, 1962, 1963, 1965,
1969, 1970 and 1974 Australian Open Championship; 1965,
1966, 1968, 1971 and 1973 Piccadilly World Match Play
Championship; individual title in the 1965 and 1977 World
Cup of Golf; winner of the World Series of Golf (then
unofficial) in 1965, 1968 and 1972; 1957 Australian PGA
Championship; 1960 Sprite Tournament; 1972 and 1974 Brazilian
Open champion; 1974 Ibergolf Tournament; 1975 Lancome
Trophy; 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1976 South African Masters;
1980 Chile Open; 1984 Johnnie Walker (Spain); 1994 Skills
Challenge. |
| Current Year SENIOR PGA TOUR Money
and Positions |
| $35,172 (79) |
| Current Year SENIOR TOUR Best Finishes |
| T28--MasterCard Championship |
| Current Year SENIOR TOUR Best Round |
| 69 at Round 2, MasterCard Championship |
| 2001 Season PGA TOUR |
| Tournaments Entered--2; in money--0; Top-10 finishes--0 |
| Best 2001 SENIOR TOUR Finishes |
| T8--ACE Group Classic, Siebel Classic in Silicon Valley,
Senior PGA Championship |
| 2001 Season SENIOR TOUR |
| Tournaments Entered--21; in money--21; Top-10 finishes--3 |
| 2001 Season Highlights |
| Made his 44th appearance at the Masters and his 46th
trip to the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes,
site of his 1974 victory. He missed the cut in both events...Named
as the World Golf Hall of Fame's Global Ambassador late
in the year. |
| 2001 Season Highlights |
| After failing to record a top-10 finish in 2000, had
three to his credit highlighted by a T8 at the Senior
PGA Championship at Ridgewood CC in New Jersey in May...Also
T8 at the ACE Group Classic in February and T8 at the
Siebel Classic in Silicon Valley in March...Three top
10s last year are the most in one season since he had
five in 1998...Made his 44th appearance at the Masters
and his 46th trip to the British Open at Royal Lytham
& St. Annes, site of his 1974 victory...Competed in the
Georgia-Pacific Super Seniors competitions once again
and finished 21st on the money list with $61,875. Best
effort in the over-60 competition was a T2 at the Verizon
Classic, finishing one stroke behind Mike Hill...Named
as the World Golf Hall of Fame's Global Ambassador late
in the year. |
| Career Highlights |
| 2000: Became the youngest player ever to shoot his age
on the SENIOR TOUR when he fashioned an 8-under-par 64
in the opening round of the BellSouth Senior Classic at
Opryland. His 36-hole total of 11-under-par 133 was good
enough to earn him his 10th Georgia-Pacific Super Seniors
title and a check for $34,000. Victory in the over-60
competition in Nashville marked the fifth year in succession
he had won one of those Super Senior events...Suffered
a tick bite in early May that forced him to withdraw from
the TD Waterhouse Championship and effected his play for
a period in the spring...Had a dramatic victory at the
Senior Skins competition in January. Birdied the first
extra hole to claim four skins and $220,000, good enough
to defeat Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer
at Mauna Lani. 1999: Best showing of the season came at
the Foremost Insurance Classic, where he fired a final-round
69 at the Egypt Valley Country Club en route to a T6...Won
an additional $153,437 in Georgia-Pacific Super Seniors
events and earned his ninth career victory in that category
at the Pacific Bell Senior Classic...In July received
a third doctorate, from the University of Dundee, Scotland.
1998: Just two months shy of his 63rd birthday, became
the second oldest winner in the history of the SENIOR
TOUR with his one-stroke victory over J.C. Snead and Walter
Hall at the Northville Long Island Classic...Captured
his fourth consecutive MasterCard Champions title the
day before and thus became the fourth player (fifth time)
to "double dip," claiming both events in the same week.
1997: Received an honorary Doctor of Science award from
the University of Ulster in Ireland...Inducted into the
Captains Club at the 1997 Memorial Tournament. 1996: Won
three MasterCard Champions titles in his first year in
the over-60 competition...Fell to Walter Morgan on the
first hole of a playoff at the FHP Health Care Classic
at Ojai, CA. 1995: Captured his second Bank One Classic
in three years when he returned to Lexington and shot
a final-round 64. Came from four strokes back on Sunday,
thanks to eight birdies...Received an honorary Doctor
of Laws degree from St. Andrews University in Scotland
and was the recipient of the Hilton Hotel Lifetime Achievement
Award. 1994: Competed in his 40th consecutive British
Open at Turnberry in Scotland...Named an Honorary Member
of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. 1993:
Celebrated his 40th year as a professional with his 38th
TOUR victory, a three-stroke win over Dale Douglass at
the Bank One Classic in Lexington, KY. 1991: Started the
year off with a victory at the Royal Caribbean Classic,
his seventh straight season capturing at least one SENIOR
TOUR title. 1990: Outdueled Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino
for his third PGA Seniors' Championship, the last of his
six senior majors...Received the South African Sportsman
of the Century Award. 1989: Had his biggest earnings year
in golf, thanks to a $202,500 paycheck for winning the
Vantage Championship, the largest first prize of his illustrious
career...Also successfully defended his crown at the rain-shortened
GTE North Classic in Indianapolis, beating Al Geiberger,
Joe Jimenez and Billy Casper by a stroke. 1988: Won a
career-high five times in 20 starts, including his second
PGA Seniors' Championship and second U.S. Senior Open...Was
three strokes better than Chi Chi Rodriguez at PGA National
and defeated good friend Bob Charles in an 18-hole playoff
at Medinah for the U.S. Senior Open crown. 1987: Sank
an eight-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole for the Mazda
Senior Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass, FL...Cruised
to a six-shot victory at the U.S. Senior Open at Brooklawn
CC in Fairfield, CT and became the third man to hold both
the U.S. Open and U.S. Senior Open titles. 1986: Defeated
Lee Elder by two strokes for his first SENIOR TOUR major,
the General Foods PGA Seniors' Championship, and went
on to claim two other events in consecutive weeks -- the
United Hospitals Seniors and the Denver Post Champions.
1985: Fifth of 10 men to win his first SENIOR TOUR start
when he claimed the Quadel Seniors Classic at Boca Grove
Plantation by three strokes over Ken Still and Jim Ferree. |
| Personal |
| Dubbed the Black Knight, Mr. Fitness and the International
Ambassador of Golf...A renowned golf course architect
with over 100 design projects located throughout the world...Designer
of the course at the Tournament Players Club at Jasna
Polana near Princeton, NJ...Operates the Gary Player Group
which includes Gary Player Golf Equipment, Gary Player
Golf Academy and Gary Player Enterprises, aspects of which
include licensing, publishing, videos, apparel and memorabilia...Gary
Player Stud Farm has received worldwide acclaim for breeding
top horses...Operates the Gary Player Foundation with
its primary objective to promote education...The Foundation
built the Blair Atholl Schools in Johannesburg, South
Africa, which has educational facilities for over 400
students from kindergarten through the seventh grade and
is currently working on additional educational projects...Says
his biggest thrill in golf is being the third player in
history after Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan to win all four
Grand Slam events...Has traveled more miles than any athlete
in history, over 12 million by his calculations...At one
point in his career, traveled with his six children and
more than 30 pieces of luggage that sometimes took as
many as three taxis to transport...Announced the formation
of Gary Player Golf.Com in 1999...Among his heroes are
Winston Churchill, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela and
Gandhi...Among his favorite golf courses are The Links
at Fancourt in his native South Africa, Cypress Point,
Augusta National and the TPC at Jasna Polana...One of
his superstitions or lucky charms is wearing black...Favorite
athletes are Michael Jordan and Pele. |
| PGA TOUR Playoff Record |
| 3-10 |
| SENIOR TOUR Playoff Record |
| 4-2 |
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