Abu Dhabi: Welcome to the extraordinary and inspirational world of Gary Player, golfing great.
An interview with the irrepressible 80-year-old begins after he has devoured a bowl of fresh fruit in his hotel room, the lavish presidential suite of an Abu Dhabi hotel, and ends with him doing sit-ups at my request.
A video clip is, after all, treasured testimony to Player’s remarkable fitness obsession, which means he could easily pass for someone 20 years younger.
For, to quote the 19th century American poet Henry David Thoreau, Player is desperate to “live deep and suck out all the marrow of life” despite supposedly being in his dotage.
“Do I have any thoughts of slowing down? No, no, no, no. I work as hard at 80 as I did at 25,” the genial South African told me ahead of his Gary Player Invitational charity golf event at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club earlier this month. “I think of myself as very young. People say: ‘You’re 80 years of age’. I say: ‘Yes’ and they say: ‘Well, what are your plans?’. I say that I have a 20-year-programme to continue to design beautiful, playable golf courses and to raise $100 million (Dh367.30m) for underprivileged people in the world – we’re at $60 million (Dh220.38) now.
“I represent a lot of companies, I love horse breeding,” he continued, barely pausing for breath. “I love that as much as I love golf. I’ve bred some wonderful horses and have a magnificent horse farm in South Africa. I’d like to be the best orator of all athletes, so I’m improving my word power.
“I seek wisdom and fill my life with gratitude. Having travelled more miles than anyone else who’s ever lived, and the things that these eyes have seen, makes me realise how grateful I am. That’s been a great education to travel like I’ve had.
“It’s something you can’t put a value on. I have an awful lot to do still.”
Phew! And we hadn’t even touched on golf yet, the sport which created Player’s astonishing legacy, although mention of that provokes a similarly impassioned response from the sprightly octogenarian.
In an illustrious career which started in 1953, Player won all four majors and nine in total, but even he defers to the game’s modern-day superstar Tiger Woods.
For Player, the 14-time major champion is “the most talented golfer that ever played the game”, despite a spectacular decline due to debilitating injuries and wretched form that have left Woods languishing in 444th place in the world rankings.
Given Player’s own fitness fanaticism, what does he think of the popular perception that over-training in the gym has resulted in Woods’s body regularly breaking down?
“That is absolutely pure ignorance,” Player replied, a rare frown descending on his warm and welcoming face. “You must remember that one out of 20,000 people diets, so therefore the majority of people when they see someone work out hard, they’re on him because sub-consciously they don’t do it. The reason that Tiger Woods started going off had nothing to do with his body and his exercise.
“The reason he’s gone off is because he had lessons from all different people with different ideas and he’s very confused.”
“Some people can say his divorce, you can say things that he did, which I don’t want to repeat,” he added, of Woods’s self-confessed infidelity. “But how come it [injury] never happened to me? I was doing weight training as heavy as Tiger before he was born.
“How come I am 80 and going stronger than ever? I average on a normal course 70 - at 80! If you see me work out, bam! [slaps his midriff]. Remember that, 80!
It’s nothing to do with that at all, nothing!
“It’s mainly the confusion.”
A rare stumble from Player occurs when he attempts to remember the saying of the ancient Chinese philosopher, Confucius, about confusion.
One of his entourage swiftly helps out, thanks to a quick Google search, to say: “If you can’t convince them, confuse them.”
“He was implying that confusion messes you up,” Player chipped in. “And he [Woods] said that to me at [the US Masters at] Augusta last year. We were having a sandwich and he said: ‘I have sleep deprivation. I only sleep three hours a night.’
“Man, it’s tough to play doing that. Winston Churchill had it, other leaders have had it, and Tiger admitted to me: ‘I’m pretty confused’. He didn’t elaborate.
“But there’s no question he was being taught the wrong things. He won the [2000] US Open by 15 shots.
“If he’d never had a lesson after that, he’d have won a minimum of 22 majors. Why, when you win by 15 shots and you’re on the way to being the greatest that ever lived, why would you go and have lessons from people who really are not that good golfers?”
Has Woods sought advice from him?
“No, no, he’s wary of taking advice from either [Jack] Nicklaus, [Lee] Trevino or myself.”
Does he find that disrespectful or disappointing?
“No, no, no. I just put out a thing saying I know if I could spend two hours with Tiger, that I could change his life. I don’t need any fame. I just want to see him do well.
“I think it’s important that he comes back and I know he’s being taught the wrong things. It’s as clear as a bell.
“I’ve been in the arena and I want to impart it to him. But everybody’s phoning him and he’s eventually saying: ‘Look, I’ve chosen people [to help me]’. I can understand that.”
Player refused to discuss specifics relating to Woods’ current failings – “it would be arrogant or rude for me to say in public” – but stressed the former world number one “has all kinds of problems”.
“I see where I can help him in different departments, mentally, physically and theoretically. I know I can. But maybe I am being a bit conceited saying that.”
Player added that Woods faces “a monumental task” to make a renaissance, tantamount to “the biggest challenge any top golfer has had”.
“He had the yips, he was duffing chips, blading it over the green and driving the ball badly. But if there’s anyone that can come back, it’s Tiger.”
A fallen idol in dire need of salvation could certainly do a lot worse than seek the considerable wisdom and experience of Gary Player: Golfer, guru, legend.
