JJ, question: Why would Gary's caddie drop a ball on the 71st hole of a tournament when he had a six shot lead at the time? The incident (at the very first Skins Game, I might add) between he and Tom Watson is documented, but no video exists to back up neither Tom's or Gary's claim of what happened. Many players have been warned by officials that, when in the act of a practice swing, that they may disturb the lie, or perhaps tree limbs in the way of their swing. And why, if you saw him kicking his ball in the rough, did you not bring it to someone's attention, as TV viewers are notorious for doing, when they notice a rules violation? And why would Gary Player, who has won an estimated 160 times worldwide, feel compelled to cheat at anything? As he is one of the greatest Ambassadors of the Game, in the history of The Game, I am inclined to give Mr. Player the benefit of the doubt, barring any concrete evidence that those allegations are true.
mjk - from the (golfing) cheats I've known, motive is seldom evident. It's more like a malignant golfing tourettes, or the golfing equivalent of a compulsive liar. I agree, that it seems like a massive risk to take in such a situation as the one Player found himself, but it's also worth bearing in mind what leading a major has done to the clarity of other players' minds. I'd like to believe (disgusting as it would be) that the accusations stemmed from racial intolerance of Player's caddy, but the side of that argument of that doesn't stand up for me is that the tournament was not being played in Johannesburg, it was being played in Britain, where the public may have harboured all manner of racial prejudice in 1974, but they were still that odd British mix of vehemence and supplication that would have inspired a letter to the Daily Mail before an outburst in the heat of the moment. Many players have been warned by officials that, when in the act of a practice swing, that they may disturb the lie, or perhaps tree limbs in the way of their swing. Fine - but he was warned for doing it repeatedly after the fact. Besides, just because everyone else is at it, doesn't make it acceptable to me - the situation in Player's own country (and the land of my birth) at the time was a prime example of that. "We're racialists, but it's OK bcause we're ALL racialists." why, if you saw him kicking his ball in the rough, did you not bring it to someone's attention There's no "if" about it - I saw him kick his ball from about ten feet away - perhaps I should have said something, but there were mitigating factors. The tournament was being played at my father's home club (of which he was captain at the time). I wasnt about to piss on that particular parade. Secondly, he's Gary Player - who the hell am I? I wasn't so young that I didn't know it was wrong, but I was young enough to be clueless as to what to do about it. Thirdly and lastly, it was Northern Ireland - we were reared with Seamus Heaney's lines echoing in our ears: "Whatever you say, say nothing." Weak excuses I'll grant you, and if I saw it tomorrow I'd be straight over to him to give him the option of fessing up or having me shout about it. And why would Gary Player, who has won an estimated 160 times worldwide, feel compelled to cheat at anything? I'm sort of back to my first point with this one - most of the golfing cheats I've encountered have been international standard amateurs, too enamoured with being so to admit they're no longer good enough to be thought of as such. I wouldn't assume to know Gary Player's mind, but if I had to guess, I'd guess there was a similar refusal to admit weakness at play. One thing Player has done repeatedly is exaggerate what he has achieved - when he lists his wins, he lists them all - and as Jack once said when asked about Player's winning record, "It's impressive, but he'd count the Singapore fourball if you let him." I accept your inclination to give him the benefit of the doubt for sure - and if we were anywhere more public than just shooting the shit at the tail end of a thread about four of us are reading anymore, I'd maybe tone down my speculation a bit more. Nothing I've mentioned would even get into a court, let alone stand up when it got there. You see a great ambassador for the game. I see a fake confidence that masks small-man-syndrome of the worst kind. To my mind, he lacks many of the things that make a man someone to be admired - modesty, honesty, integrity - an accusation I can't conceive of levelling at Jack, Arnie, Tiger... the list goes on. This would be so much more fun a discussion after 18 holes and half a dozen pints.
[I'd love to carry on talking about it - I'd especially love someone to tell me something about Player that would make me like the guy, even a little more than I currently don't - but I'm stuck in the office trying to finish up so I can go home and pack for a trip to Holland tomorrow to play in a tournament myself. It's nothing prestigeous, but you can be damn sure that if Player turned up and won it, he'd add it to his list of "titles"]
I'd especially love someone to tell me something about Player that would make me like the guy, even a little more than I currently don't He donated both his kidneys to the homeless.
Good luck in your tourney, amigo.
TBH - that shouldn't have made me laugh as much as it did. mjk - luck has nothing to do with it; at my fallen-from-grace level these days, it's all about the booze. But thanks.
