‘A young girlfriend?’ Arby’s bashing? At the Masters, Gary Player had TAKES

AUGUSTA, Ga. — There was a thought on Arby’s. 

And an explanation on dead lifts. 

And an image of Michael Jordan. 

Because Gary Player. 

The nine-time major winner can opine more than a newspaper’s editorial page, and yes, Thursday morning, after hitting his ceremonial tee shot alongside Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson to start this year’s Masters, Player also had thoughts on the media. So, enough of our words. Here are some of his, unfiltered: 

On Arby’s, where Tiger Woods ate while winning in 1997, and the last time Player had fast food 

Buckle up. There are some turns here. 

“Well, you don’t reach 90 as I do if you eat a bunch of crap,” Player said. “I can tell you that. But that’s your choice. Everybody has a choice. I want to live to 100 because I love people. I love golf. I just love life.

“I’ve got a young girlfriend — I’ve changed my life. How about that, at 90, finding a girlfriend? Tom is not as old as me, but he’s also found a new one. I’ll tell you what, guys, you all — you or your wife is going to die. One of the spouses are going to die, and it’s not the end of life. So many people that does happen and they get so disheartened that they don’t think they should continue life. The greatest gift bestowed upon a man or woman is life. So my ambition is to reach 100.

“So I went to India and I met a gerontologist, and he gave me 11 things to work on, which I adhere to. So I might drop dead tomorrow, but I’m giving it a hell of a try.”

On how Asia can develop stars

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Please remain with your seat belts fastened. 

“For every golfer that decides to be a professional golfer,” Player said, “which we’re inundated with, you can basically determine they’re not going to make it. To make it on the Tour, and you talk about winning majors, as we have done, first of all, the concept of golf doesn’t exist anymore. There was a par-5, a par-4 and a par-3. No more par-5s. No such thing as a par-5 in golf anymore.

“So straight away, every time they play golf, par is 68. Now they’re starting to drive the par-4s. We haven’t started yet. We’ve never had a big man play golf. Wait until you get a LeBron James or Michael Jordan, with bodies like that, they’re going to drive many of the par-4s. I watched a man the other day hit four drives 475 yards. We haven’t had the big men come out yet.

“Secondly, the teaching today is far worse than when we played golf as young people. … And then they’re teaching to suck the club across the line. You cannot throw a ball in the basket doing that. You’ve got to keep it on line. So to get a good teacher today is an extremely difficult thing.

“Tom had a coach, and Tom today, his swing is almost — other than his injury, is almost as good as it was when he was a young man getting the club in the right position at the top, turning and unwinding. The junk that I hear being taught today.

“And the other thing is the swing is not the thing. The thing that wins major championships is the mind. Everybody I’ve seen that wins six or more majors or many majors have a different mind. So you can’t just think the swing is going to do it. And you’ve got to be dedicated. You’ve got to eat properly. You’ve got to sleep properly, and you’ve got to work hard. So the choice is yours.”

On dead-lifts

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This came from a question on who he wants to win the Masters, and who he thinks will win.  

“I think Rory McIlroy will win the Masters this year,” Player said, “and I hope he does because it would give golf a great boost to have another winner of the Grand Slam. He has the best swing in golf without a question. He’s the fittest golfer. He does a dead lift of 400 pounds. I don’t know if you’re aware of what a dead lift is. Four-hundred pounds. If you do 100 pounds, it’s exceptional.”

On the PGA Tour-Saudi Public Investment Fund deal and whether the Tour and LIV Golf can survive separately

“Well, first of all, I think anytime in life, and getting closer to 90 now, you realize that confrontation is a terrible thing,” Player said. “Confrontation and forgiveness is very important. All I can say is that they’ve chosen to do that, and that’s their choice. And we’re lucky we still have freedom of choice. And that’s their tour, and we have our tour.

“I’m very proud to be a member of the PGA. I was president of our PGA in South Africa, have played in PGAs all over the world. It would be wonderful if they could get together. Whether they will or not, time will tell. But it would be ideal if everybody could get together again.”  

On Tiger Woods, and whether he’s closer to being an honorary starter than a Masters contender 

“Well, I think Tiger has been very unlucky to have these injuries,” Player said. “I mean, he was starting to play again, and you get Achilles tendon and he has back problems, and golf is conducive to giving you a back problem. I think almost everybody who plays golf long enough has a new hip or a spine operation of some kind, and some, their bodies are different than others. Everybody is different, as your fingerprints are all different. So he’s been unlucky.”

On a player’s relationship with the media 

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“That’s a very important question,” Player said. “My dad told me — and my dad was a very poor man. He worked in a mine 8,000 feet every day for 30 years. He loved golf. He said, without the press, you will not have the tournaments that you’d like to have. Yes, we could have a Tour, and I think there should be a PGA rule that if you’re requested to go after a round, it’s our obligation to do this. If you ask for somebody to go to the pressroom, whether you shoot 90 or you shoot 60, you should have to go there.

“Nobody likes to have a bad round, but that’s part of life, ups and downs, and you should have to come to the press and answer questions.”

On slow play 

“Slow play is a curse for golf,” Player said. “… You get on with the game, you play, you get it done. People are watching pro golf. Pro golf is not the important thing in golf. The amateur is the heart of the game, not us. But they’re all watching us on television, and when they see us taking our time, they do it. And there’s nothing worse than when you have five-, five-and-a-half-hour rounds of golf.”