Gary Player

Check out the best photos of honorary starters Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player beginning the 2022 Masters at Augusta National.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — For the second straight year the Masters' Honorary Starters ceremony created a discussion beyond simply the opening tee shots.

Player was named an ambassador of Saudi Golf in April 2021. In 2021, Lee Elder was recognized on the first tee for breaking the tournament’s color barrier in 1975. Companies attaching themselves to Honorary Starters is not new; fellow starters Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson were adorned with plenty of advertisers.

Tom Watson didn't think eight major championships, including two green jackets, would be enough to join the company of Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus on the ...

Watson, with 72 next to his name on the standard-bearer at the first tee, took a moment before teeing off and considered how things have come full circle. Not like [Player and Nicklaus], but I had a pretty good career. "I had a pretty good career. "That meant a great deal to me." "I don't kind of belong in the same realm as these two players here." Even if it meant entering another phase of his golfing life.

Legendary golfer Gary Player has thrown his support behind Phil Mickelson while bizarrely wearing a Golf Saudi logo on his clothing in his role as an ...

"My intent was never to hurt anyone and I'm so sorry to the people I have negatively impacted. "The past 10 years I have felt the pressure and stress slowly affecting me at a deeper level. Mickelson is a three-time winner at the Masters, having finally broken his duck in 2004 before going on to win it again in 2006 and 2010. In a lengthy statement announcing his break from the game, Mickelson wrote in February: "I used words I sincerely regret that do not reflect my true feelings or intentions. The reigning US PGA champion apologised for “reckless comments” where he referred to the Saudis as “scary mother*******” and “have a horrible record on human rights”. But Player, now 86, said: "I have a special thought on Phil Mickelson. I think we live in a time now when we are such a judgmental society, a litigious society, a critical society, where people get crucified. “And he makes a mistake, which every one of you in this room have made a damn mistake.

Gary Player believes Phil Mickelson is being unfairly treated for his controversial comments around the PGA Tour and the rival Saudi-backed golf tour.

Wouldn't surprise me if Tiger came back and won a major." He's a workaholic with his body, and he could come back. "And he makes a mistake, which every one of you in this room have made a damn mistake. "It's amazing. I said, 'Hold your head up high'. You've made a mistake. And he said he's sorry.

Golf legend Gary Player claimed Phil Mickelson deserves forgiveness for his recent antics – and branded the sport's treatment of him “pitiful”.

“It’s amazing. It’s not right.” “And he makes a mistake, which every one of you in this room have made a damn mistake.

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And he said he's sorry. “And he makes a mistake. “He has been the ideal man for a sponsor, for professional golf, for the public, the way he's handled the public, with dignity and with love.

Gary Player has backed embattled golfer Phil Mickelson in light of the American's links with a breakaway Saudi tour.

I’m beyond disappointed and will make every effort to self-reflect from this.’ ‘And he makes a mistake, which every one of you in this room have made a damn mistake. But even the Lord God will forgive you of your inequities if you ask for forgiveness. It’s not right. It’s amazing. ‘The greatest PR man on the golf tour in the last five or X amount of years has been Phil Mickelson. He has been the ideal man for a sponsor, for professional golf, for the public, the way he’s handled the public, with dignity and with love.