Player In Paradise

"Once I began to achieve a certain amount of success on the tournament circuit, I felt in my heart that I had the shots to be a champion golfer. But what I didn't have 100% was the right temperament. That's why my relationship with Billy Graham has helped me so much. I have come to believe that it's ordained what's going to happen. You must convince yourself that you are going to try just a little harder than your best, but then if you don't win, you must accept the fact that that's the way it was intended to be."

Ever since he won the PGA championship at Philadelphia last July, Gary Player has seemed like a different man. Until then, 15 months had gone by since his victory at the Masters, and Player's name had not once appeared on the winners' list. There was a strong feeling among those who follow professional golf's fortunes and misfortunes that Gary's career had gone into eclipse. On more than one occasion his game came apart on the final day of a tournament when he seemed to be on the verge of winning.

Looking back on this period, however, Player strongly rejects the theory that he was in a slump. "Think about it," said Gary. "I had the best Vardon average [lowest number of strokes per competitive round] in 1961, although most people don't realize it because, as a foreigner, I couldn't receive the trophy, so the PGA doesn't list me in the weekly standings. Last year I was amongst the leaders in the Vardon averages, too. I won more than $45,000 playing in only 19 tournaments, and I won the PGA . So I really don't see how people can think I was in a slump.

"It's true that on several occasions I did blow the lead on the final day of a tournament. But if you look through the record books you will find that 90% of the time the man who is leading a tournament on the last round doesn't win it. Even so, when I won the Masters I was leading, when I won the PGA I was leading and when I won the Australian Open I was leading.

"It is an extremely difficult thing to hold the lead on the last day of a tournament. There are so many people behind you who might easily catch you. I think the only time I would really feel safe is if I had a 15-stroke lead. You've no idea how quickly you can make up strokes on even the best golfer. Why, last year, on the final day at the Masters, Palmer was six strokes up on me at the third hole and after the 10th hole he was behind me. I had made up eight strokes on him in seven holes. You must always make sure you attack a course when you're ahead of the field. You just can't play safe against the kind of competition we face every week."

These observations inevitably led Player's thoughts to the topic of temperament.

"You know," he said, "one of my problems is being conscientious. For instance, I don't think I've ever been late for an appointment in my life. If I have something to do—and I'm not talking about my golf now—it weighs on my mind until I have done it.

"I think that of all the golfers I have known, the one who had the greatest temperament for golf was Bobby Locke . He never let anything bother him, so he could devote himself completely to his game. I remember once before the British Open, Bobby got into an unpleasant dispute with a fellow, but he seemed to shrug it right off. When I said something to him about it the next day, he said, 'Oh that. Well, the Open is only 10 days away, and I can't worry about that sort of thing.' You see, for more than a week before the tournament he didn't allow himself to think about anything else. Now take Tommy Bolt , for example. I think Tommy could be one of the greatest golfers who ever lived if he had Bobby Locke 's temperament. Or take Jack Nicklaus . He's more like Locke . Before a big tournament he never allows himself to be bothered by anything that isn't connected with his golf. Arnold, on the other hand, is more like me. You wouldn't know it unless you know him very well, but Arnold is a worrier. He's very conscientious about all the obligations he has on the outside."

During the past year or so there has been much discussion about Player's use of a four-wood off the tee when most of his fellow pros were using drivers. Because he weighs only 150 pounds, people feel that Player ought to drive with the club that will give him the most distance, particularly in competition with men of far heftier dimensions.

"I'll tell you why I use the four-wood so much," Gary said. "About a year and a half ago I was playing somewhere, I can't remember exactly where, and I was hitting my second shot to the green on a par 5. I was using a four-wood, and I hit it to the right and hooked it. I never believed I could get so much distance out of that club. So I began to think about it and experiment with it. I used it off the tee some at Akron in 1961, the year I tied Jay Hebert , and later I used it off the tee when I won the Australian Open. I used it again that year at the Transvaal Open, which was played on a real U.S. Open kind of course—long with narrow fairways—and I won that tournament by eight strokes.