Gary Player’s outrage at Winston Churchill being labelled a racist
Gary Player, the three-time Masters champion, says he finds it sad that people call his “all-time hero”, Sir Winston Churchill, a racist. He also fears that his own legacy may be viewed differently by generations to come.
Player, 88, was speaking after hitting the ceremonial tee shot before the 88th Masters at Augusta National on Thursday morning, alongside fellow Green Jacket-winners Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.
Asked a question about legacies and ensuring traditions were passed down from one generation to the next, Player surprised the room with his answer.
“Personally I don’t believe in legacies,” said the South African, who won nine majors in total. “If you take my all-time hero Sir Winston Churchill, he was probably the greatest leader for the last 200 years without going into the Ottomans and all the great leaders and William the Great [sic].
“If it wasn’t for Churchill we wouldn’t be sitting here today. And they’re defacing his statue in England. And calling him a racist et cetera.
“So if you think people are going to remember you, you’re dreaming.
“‘Everything shall pass’ is a true saying. We do our best. We contribute to society and we leave the best possible legacy that we can for young people and it goes on.”
Player previously supported founder of apartheid
Player’s reference to Churchill and the way some have revised their view of the former prime minister was perhaps no coincidence.
He has courted controversy in the past by painting himself as a great champion of black players. Two years ago, after the late Lee Elder, the first black player ever to play at the Masters, was selected to hit the ceremonial tee shot alongside him at Augusta, Player told a story of how he petitioned then South African president, John Vorster, to let Elder play in the South African PGA Championship in 1971.
It is true that Player invited Elder to play, but some felt he was not open enough about the fact that he had previously been a great supporter of the architect of apartheid, Hendrik Verwoerd.
In his 1966 book Grand Slam Golf, written when he was 30, Player wrote: “I must say now, and clearly, that I am of the South Africa of Verwoerd and apartheid”.
Player later declared that “a good deal of nonsense is talked of and indeed thought about ‘segregation’, segregation of one kind or another is practised everywhere in the world”.
However, Player changed his tune in 1987 by labelling the apartheid system as a “cancerous disease” which he was happy his country was getting rid of after the South African government had “brainwashed” people into supporting the policy.
‘Nothing about golf is the same as when I played’
In his press conference on Thursday, Player noted that the way in which we view our sporting heroes can change over time, citing how “young guys today talk about” the great Ben Hogan.
“I never saw a man hit a ball like Ben Hogan,” Player said. “He was the only man I ever saw in my life that knew the swing from A-Z. He knew more about the swing than anybody because he hit more balls and practised harder.
“These young guys, they talk about him like he didn’t have a modern-day swing. And he knew 10 times more than any coach in the world today. So legacies are something in my mind that are just here today and it passes.”
Player also spoke about his “concern” for the modern game, with players hitting the ball ever further.
The South African is an advocate for rolling the ball back, arguing that making golf courses longer and longer is not the answer.
“In 30 years, plus or minus, they will all hit the ball 400 yards because there’s such great incentivisation,” Player said. “They are going around the college gyms now doing weight training.
“Rory McIlroy showed me yesterday, he does a dead lift, 400lb [181kg].
“So this is where we are going, and this is where we need the R&A and the USGA and the PGA to get together wisely in making a decision about a golf ball because...nothing about the game today, not one single thing, is the same as when we played. Not one single thing.
“And so we’ve got to cut the ball back 60 yards, 50 yards. Otherwise, the whole concept of the game, the history of the game, the par-5, par-4, par-3, that’s gone. There are no more par 5s. These young guys are hitting 8-irons to par 5s. So we are changing the whole history of the game.
“They have to cut that ball back. They talk about making golf courses longer. The world is running out of water, seriously, and the costs of the machine, the mower, fertiliser, labour, why do that?
“It’s so simple, cut the ball back. Very, very simple. And so I’m quite concerned about where the game of golf is going.”
