Augusta, Georgia. – Gary Player walked to the Tee Box at Augusta National Golf Club Thursday morning, brilliant and early, without care in the world.
He switched his hat to the crowd of fans wrapped around the first ceremonial shot which officially opened the 89th edition of the Masters, took a brief training swing and fired. Happy to shoot, the player picked up his tee, then was launched in a karate kick which sent his right leg higher than anyone at 89 years old should probably have.
The player, even decades withdrawn from the dominant races of his career, was back in his element.
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“I stand here for the 67th time, and I think the word is gratitude, just being here,” said the player. “It is an honor to be there, as the Scottish people say, the Holy soil.”
Thursday morning, the player's attitude was nothing new or the ordinary. He absolutely prospered Wednesday during Annual competition by 3 to the masters. He was running in the short lesson, made jokes with fans and other players and even dance.
Remarkably, his game has not slipped either. The player, who sent his tee shot on Thursday morning on the left side of the fairway and would have had a wide angle to an approach if he had played the hole for real, threw darts on the left and right throughout the competition by 3. He is even very close to an ace at a given time.
The player has accomplished a lot in the golf world throughout his career. He won 24 times on the PGA Tour. He also won 22 times on the PGA Tour champions. He also won nine majors, including three to Augusta National. The South African was inducted at the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974, and he was widely considered one of the best golfers of all time, with 118 additional international victories in his name.
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But that is what he did after the strongest of his player career that advances him. Apart from being one of the best ambassadors in sport, especially internationally, it may be one of the most suitable 89 years on the planet. He actually went to India to meet a gerontologist and returned with 11 things to work on “to which I adhere”.
The player also fell into the idea that he would eat fast food from all kinds.
“Well, you don't reach 90 as I do if you eat a lot of bullshit,” said the player.
He even credited his long longevity to a new girlfriend, and the new perspective of life that the relationship brought to him. He was married to his wife, Vivian, for decades. The couple had six children together, but she died after a battle against cancer in 2021.
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“I changed my life,” said the player. “And that, at 90, finding a girlfriend? … I'm going to tell you what guys, all of you – you or your wife go to die. One of the spouses will die, and this is not the end of life.
“So many people happen, and they are so discouraged that they don't think they should continue life. The biggest gift given to a man or a woman is life. So my ambition is to reach 100. ”
The player from time to time comes in Augusta every April to participate in the Masters festivities is the assumption of anyone. It was his 13th year that participated as an honorary starter.
But as long as he is physically capable, the player will be there.
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“I could fall dead tomorrow, but I am sacred attempt,” he said.
No one lives better than Gary Player.
