Abu Dhabi: Disgusted and incredulous at the withdrawals of a host of leading golfers from the Olympics, Gary Player claims the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should replace “very, very spoilt” professionals with amateurs at future Games.
In an exclusive interview with Gulf News, the golfing great launched a withering attack on the 21 male players to date who have pulled out of the Rio extravaganza, insisting their widely cited Zika virus fears reason is a lame excuse.
He even suggested that golf should introduce a salary cap like the one operated by the National Football League (NFL) in the United States, given the “abnormal appearance” fees charged by some self-centred stars.
Golf is guaranteed to be at Tokyo 2020, but the IOC will review whether it will continue on the roster next year. However, Player, 80, fears the Olympic refuseniks could have seriously harmed the sport’s chances of being retained.
“The amateurs would hold this in high esteem and would all make a point of playing,” he said. “But if I was on the IOC and had admitted golf into the Games and these top players are not wanting to play, I’d have to do some serious thinking.”
The South African legend is staggered that luminaries such as the world’s top-four male players – Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy – have opted out of the showpiece.
McIlroy ignited further controversy last week when he said he was unlikely to watch golf at the Olympics and Player cannot understand such apathy given that “3.5 billion people” worldwide will be watching the month-long event on television.
“I happen to like Rory McIlroy, I think he’s a very nice man and I don’t want to be an enemy of his, but he’s going to regret saying those statements as he get older,” Player, who hosts the annual Gary Player Invitational pro-am event at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in Abu Dhabi every February, said.
He said he “would given anything” to have added an Olympic gold medal to his glittering list of accomplishments, which included nine major triumphs and 165 tournament wins globally.
Player, who will captain South Africa’s golf team at the Games, added: “I am just delighted to be able to walk under the South African flag as captain of the golf team and to be in that Olympic arena is going to be the joy of my life. I am bitterly disappointed and amazed to see so many golfers withdrawing when there were so many people that worked so hard to get golf back into the Olympics, which would do the game so much good.”
Player went on to dismiss Zika virus concerns with contempt, saying he had faced far greater threats in his playing days.
First seen in Brazil last year, the Zika virus has now been detected in more than 50 countries. Brazil remains the country most-affected by the mosquito-borne virus, which has been proven to cause a severe birth defect that results in babies born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains.
“I played golf around the world for 63 years with yellow fever and malaria and then people wanting to kill me for two years because of the apartheid system in South Africa,” Player continued. “I played in war zones and here you find people saying they’re not going because of Zika. In America as well every they year they have over 70,000 people killed by guns and by motor cars, which is way more serious than Zika.
“I haven’t heard of one greenkeeper who lives on a golf course every day of his life getting Zika in Rio. The chances of getting Zika are 1 in 500,000.”
In a thinly veiled swipe at McIlroy, he added: “If players are saying they don’t really care and are not going to watch it, then Zika’s not really the reason why they’re not going, is it? The women have been very good. There’s only one lady withdrawing and that’s a South African lady [Lee-Anne Paice], I’m sorry to say.”
Of the amounts of money available in professional golf, Player said: “Professional golf is now very, very spoilt. Some players are asking for $500,000 (Dh1.8 million) for a day and then some agree to play in events and then say they are tired and can’t come.
“They earn so much money that they don’t really have to realise the responsibility that goes with the game. I have begun to think there’s too much money in the game.
“They need to have a cap on it like they do with the NFL in America.
“Their managers have got to realise that they’re going to kill the golden goose that laid the golden egg if they go on with these ridiculous demands of what their clients are worth. Some of their clients may not even have won a major championship and they’d be asking a quarter of a million [dollars].”
