At a glance
- Age
- 90
- Born
- November 1, 1935
- From
- Johannesburg
- Nationality
- South Africa
Biography
The number that tends to stop people is 160 — professional tournaments won, spread across six continents. That geographic spread is the part worth sitting with. Golf careers are usually built in one or two comfortable circuits; his was built by getting on aeroplanes, repeatedly, and winning wherever he landed.
Born in Johannesburg on 1 November 1935, he came out of South Africa at a time when doing so meant long journeys to reach the events that mattered. Nine of his wins were major championships, the currency by which golfers are ultimately measured, and the body of work as a whole has placed him in most conversations about the greatest players the game has produced.
Now retired from competition, he remains a public figure, with his own platform at GaryPlayer.com. Audiences who encounter him today are usually hearing from someone whose credibility rests on a straightforward fact: he did the work in more places, and for longer, than almost anyone.
Born in Johannesburg on 1 November 1935, he came out of South Africa at a time when doing so meant long journeys to reach the events that mattered. Nine of his wins were major championships, the currency by which golfers are ultimately measured, and the body of work as a whole has placed him in most conversations about the greatest players the game has produced.
Now retired from competition, he remains a public figure, with his own platform at GaryPlayer.com. Audiences who encounter him today are usually hearing from someone whose credibility rests on a straightforward fact: he did the work in more places, and for longer, than almost anyone.
