Gary Player

Gary Player
Player in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Gary James Player
Nickname	The Black Knight, Mr. Fitness
Born	(1935-11-01) 1 November 1935 (age 89) Johannesburg, Union of South Africa
Height	5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Weight	150 lb (68 kg; 11 st)
Sporting nationality	South Africa
Residence	Jupiter Island, Florida, U.S. Plettenberg Bay, South Africa
Spouse	Vivienne Verwey ​ ​ (m. 1957; died 2021)​
Children	6
Career
Turned professional	1953
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour Southern Africa Tour Champions Tour
Professional wins	159
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	24
European Tour	4
Sunshine Tour	20
PGA Tour of Australasia	2
PGA Tour Champions	22 (Tied-7th all-time)
European Senior Tour	3
Other	63 (regular) 6 (senior)
Best results in major championships (wins: 9)
Masters Tournament	Won: 1961, 1974, 1978
PGA Championship	Won: 1962, 1972
U.S. Open	Won: 1965
The Open Championship	Won: 1959, 1968, 1974
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame 1974 (member page) PGA Tour money list winner 1961 Southern Africa Tour Order of Merit winner 1976–77, 1979–80 PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award 2012 GCSAA Old Tom Morris Award 2020
(For a full list of awards, see here)

Gary James Player DMS OIG (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time.^[1] During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tour and nine major championships on the Champions Tour.^[2][3][4] At the age of 29, Player won the 1965 U.S. Open and became the only non-American to win all four majors in a career, known as the career Grand Slam. At the time, he was the youngest player to do this, though Jack Nicklaus (26) and Tiger Woods (24) subsequently broke this record. Player became only the third golfer in history to win the Career Grand Slam, following Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen, and only Nicklaus and Woods have performed the feat since. He won over 160 professional tournaments on six continents over seven decades and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.^[5]

Nicknamed the Black Knight, Mr. Fitness, and the International Ambassador of Golf,^[6] he is also a renowned golf course architect with more than 400 design projects on five continents throughout the world. Player has also authored or co-written 36 books on golf instruction, design, philosophy, motivation and fitness. On 7 January 2021, Player was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by United States President Donald Trump.

The Player Group was established by Marc Player and operates The Player Foundation, which has a primary objective of promoting underprivileged education around the world. In 1983, The Player Foundation established the Blair Atholl Schools in Johannesburg, South Africa, which has educational facilities for more than 500 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. In 2013 it celebrated its 30th anniversary with charity golf events in London, Palm Beach, Shanghai and Cape Town, bringing its total of funds raised to over US$60 million.^[7][8]