Biography

Gary Player World Golf Hall of Fame: Year Inducted: 1974     

Gary Player represented his native South Africa in 16 World Cups.  When speaking of Gary Player, it's common for observers to say something along the lines of: "He's done more with less than any golfer I've ever seen."        

The less is Player's improbable 5-7, 160 pounds, his unorthodox method and his hailing from a small country in a remote corner of the world. The more includes nine major championships, the modern Grand Slam, 163 tournament victories around the world-including 24 official PGA TOUR victories-and nine Champions Tour majors. Yet Player, in his forthright way, differs with a reductionist view of his career. "I had a great deal of talent," he will say, before adding, "but talent alone will only take you so far."        

No, with Player there has always been a palpable sense of something extra. Perhaps no golfer has ever craved victory so much for such a long time. "What I have learned about myself," he wrote in his 1991 autobiography, "is that I am an animal when it comes to achievement and wanting success. There is never enough success for me."         

His peers, who included Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus in their primes, knew it. "I don't think Gary was a great driver of the golf ball," said Nicklaus. "I don't think he was a great iron player. He was a good putter, not a great putter. But when he really needed to be, he was a great driver, and a great iron player, and he made the putt when he needed to make it. Gary, as much as anyone I ever saw, has that thing inside him that champions have."             

Gary Player was born Nov. 1, 1935, in Johannesburg, South Africa, the third of three children to Harry and Muriel Player. His father was a captain in a gold mine who spent most of his working life 12,000 feet underground. His mother was a well-educated woman who died of cancer when Gary was eight. Player wrote that her loss "has been a means for me, as it were, to settle some unfathomable debt."          

He chose to try to pay it back as a golfer, although he didn't take up the game until he was 14. He turned professional in 1953 at age 18 and quickly won several times in Africa, Europe and Australia. In 1957, he came to America, and upon seeing how far the game's best professionals hit the ball, intensified his exercise regimen, weakened his hooker's grip and set about learning how to carry the ball farther. The next year he won the Kentucky Derby Open and was heartened by a second-place finish at the U.S. Open, where his idol, Ben Hogan, locked him with a stare and said, "Son, you are going to be a great player."           

 From there, Player was off. In his trademark all-black outfits (inspired by his lifelong love of westerns) with body trim and biceps bulging from a weight-lifting program and high-fiber diet that were both 30 years ahead of their time-and with a bunker game that is considered the greatest ever developed-he willed himself to victory. He won the 1959 British Open at Muirfield for his first major, made the 1961 Masters his second and the 1962 PGA at Aronimink his third. At the 1965 U.S. Open at Bellerive, Player defeated Kel Nagle in an 18-hole playoff to complete the modern Grand Slam by age 29.             

His other majors included the 1972 PGA Championship, the 1968 and 1974 British Opens, and the 1974 and 1978 Masters. The last is perhaps Player's proudest victory. He began the final round seven strokes out of the lead. But at age 42, he birdied seven of the final 10 to shoot 64 and win by a stroke.          

Player is indisputably the greatest international golfer of all time. He estimates he has spent more than three years of his life in airplanes and traveled some 14 million miles. In every year from 1955 to 1982, Player won at least one sanctioned international tournament, a 27-year streak. He won the World Match Play title five times, the Australian Open seven times and the South African Open 13 times. In winning the 1974 Brazilian Open, he shot the only 59 ever in a national open.      

Professional Majors:

Masters Tournament: 1961, 1974, 1978
U.S. Open: 1965
Open Championship: 1959, 1968, 1974
PGA Championship: 1962, 1972           

Other Significant Victories: PGA TOUR: 15

1958: Kentucky Derby Open
1961: Lucky Strike International Open, Sunshine Open Invitational
1963: San Diego Open Invitational
1964: Pensacola Open, 500 Festival Open
1969: Tournament of Champions
1970: Greater Greensboro Open
1971: Greater Jacksonville Open, National Airlines Open Invitational
1972: Greater New Orleans Open
1973: Southern Open
1974: Danny Thomas Memphis Classic
1978: MONY Tournament of Champions, Houston Open        

Champions Tour:

1985: Quadel Senior Classic
1986: United Hospitals Senior Golf Championship, Denver Post Champions of Golf
1987: Senior Tournament Players Championship, Paine Webber World Seniors Invitational
1988: Aetna Challenge,
1988 Southwestern Bell Classic, GTE North Classic
1989: GTE North Classic, RJR Championship
1991: Royal Caribbean Classic
1993: Bank One Senior Classic
1995: Bank One Senior Classic
1998: Northville Long Island Classic          

Other Wins:

1955: East Rand Open (South Africa), Egyptian Match Play
1956: East Rand Open (South Africa), South African Open, Dunlop Tournament, Ampol Tournament (Australia)
1957: Western Province Open (South Africa), Australian PGA Championship, Coffs Harbour Tournament (Australia)1958: Natal Open (South Africa), Australian Open, Ampol Tournament (Australia), Coffs Harbour Tournament (Australia)1959: Transvaal Open (South Africa), South African PGA Championship, Natal Open (South Africa), Western Province Open (South Africa), South African Masters, Victorian Open (Australia)
1960: Sprite Tournament (U.S.), South African Open, South African PGA Championship, South African Masters, Transvaal Open (South Africa), Natal Open (South Africa), Western Province Open (South Africa)
1961: Yomiuri Open (Japan), Ampol Tournament (Australia)
1962: Transvaal Open (South Africa), Natal Open (South Africa), Australian Open
1963 Sponsored 5000 (South Africa)
1963: Transvaal Open (South Africa), Liquid Air Tournament (South Africa), Richelieu Grand Prix (Cape Town), Richelieu Grand Prix (Johannesburg), South African Masters, Australian Open
1964: South African Masters
1965: South African Open, World Series of Golf (U.S.), World Match Play (UK), Australian Open, World Cup (Australia), NTL Challenge Cup (Canada)
1966: South African Open, Natal Open (South Africa), Transvaal Open (South Africa), World Match Play (UK),
1967: South African Masters, South African Open
1968: Western Province Open (South Africa), Natal Open (South Africa), South African Open, South African Masters, World Series of Golf (U.S.), World Match Play (UK), Australian Masters
1969: South African Open, South African PGA Championship, Australian Open, Australian Masters
1970: Australian Open, Dunlop International (Australia)
1971: South African Masters, General Motors Open (South Africa), Western Province Open (South Africa), World Match Play (UK)
1972: South African Masters I, South African Open, Western Province Open (South Africa), South African Masters II, World Series of Golf (U.S.), Japan Air Lines Open,
1972 Brazilian Open
1973: General Motors Open (South Africa), World Match Play (UK)
1974: South African Masters, Rand International Open (South Africa), General Motors International Classic (South Africa), Ibergolf Tournament (Spain), La Manga Tournament (Spain), Brazilian Open, Australian Open
1975: General Motors Classic (South Africa), South African Open, Lancome Trophy (France)
1976: General Motors Open (South Africa), South African Masters I, South African Masters II, South African Open
1977: South African Open, ICL International (South Africa), World Cup Trophy (Individual)
1979: South African PGA Championship, Kronenbrau Tournament (South Africa), South African Open,
1979 Sun City Classic (South Africa)
1980: Trophee Boigny (Ivory Coast), Chilean Open
1981: South African Open, Gold Coast Classic (Australia)
1982: South African PGA Championship
1983: Skins Game (U.S.)
1984: Johnny Walker Trophy (Spain)
1986: Nissan Skins Game (South Africa), Senior PGA Championship (U.S.)
1987: Northville Invitational (U.S.), U.S. Senior Open
1988: Nissan Skins Game (South Africa), Senior PGA Championship (U.S.), U.S. Senior Open, Senior British Open (Scotland)
1990: Senior PGA Championship (U.S.), Senior British Open (Scotland)
1991: Nissan Skins Game (South Africa)
1993: Irish Senior Masters
1994: Skills Challenge
1997: Senior British Open (UK), Shell Wentworth Senior Masters (UK),
1997 Daiichi Seimei Cup (Japan)
2000: Nelson Mandela Invitational (South Africa), Senior Skins Game (U.S.)
2001: Senior Skins Game (U.S.)
2004: Nelson Mandela Invitational (South Africa)            

Other Accomplishments:

PGA TOUR leading money winner: 1961
Captain, Presidents Cup: 2003, 2005        

References
http://www.wgv.com/hof/member.php?member=1093
http://www.garyplayer.com/index.asp?cid=0