Player extols the beautiful game and winning ugly

'It is terrible, in the Ryder Cup, to see people running on to greens, hugging, kissing before the other guy has even putted'

This has been another average week in the decidedly non-average life of Gary Player.

Last weekend, he co-hosted, with Prince Albert of Monaco, the Monte Carlo Invitational golf tournament, where he got a buzz out of playing with Boris Becker (aged 34, retired) and reminding him that he, Gary Player, aged 66, is still firing on all cylinders.

On Tuesday, he played in a corporate day at Wentworth. On Wednesday he flew to Spain to check out a couple of golf courses he has designed there.

Yesterday he played at Loch Lomond, another corporate jolly. Today, he is flying to Taiwan, then to America, then to Singapore and on to China where there are currently five Player-designed courses. And, somewhere in a schedule that would exhaust men half his age, he finds time to sit down with me, in the clubby bar of the Lanesborough Hotel, London, where, with characteristic restraint, he orders a cup of tea.

As always, he is the picture of dapperness; magazines on the art of hair-combing could do worse than feature a Gary Player centrefold. We have, I remind him, met several times before. Indeed, it has been my privilege to spend some time alone with each of Nicklaus, Palmer and Player, golf's first global superstars. And in terms of charm and charisma, whatever Arnie's Army say, the diminutive South African towers over the other two.

Which is not to say that an hour in his company is without pain. He is, for example, greatly enamoured of bulldog-breed Conservatives. Last time I interviewed him he extolled the virtues of Margaret Thatcher; this time, at least, he directs his praise at Sir Winston Churchill.

There is no doubt, either, that, for all his God-fearing humility, he is keenly aware of his place on golf's Mount Olympus. But then he has every right to be; he is, after all, pretty close to the summit. And there is something endearing in the fierce pride he takes in his achievements, including the claim, which seems pretty reasonable to me, that no human being, alive or dead, has accumulated more air miles. Neil Armstrong, forget it. Buzz Aldrin, pah.

"I reckon I've flown just over 12 million miles," he says. "Now, if a businessman, representing a company, travels extensively for 20 years, it's a lot. For 30 years, it's freakish. I've been doing this for 50 years." I shake my head in wonderment. Does he have his own plane? "I did for two years but it was too expensive. I'm in the thoroughbred racehorse business now, and I would rather have my money in horses. But when I do hang up my clubs I will still travel, I will still design golf courses ..."

His desire, and some would say his entitlement, is to hang up his clubs at a time of his own choosing. But the green jackets who run the Augusta National have partly put paid to that, informing him that next year's US Masters (a tournament he won in 1961, 1974 and 1978) will be his last. He feels rather bitter about this, which is perhaps why he weighs in on the side of those currently trying to force Augusta to accept women members.

"I can't say I have any desire to be a member of a men-only club," he says. "And after all, it's a tournament famous for its galleries; they have helped to make it what it is, and a large percentage of those galleries are women. Clubs should have women members in this day and age."

I ask Player what he felt about about the notorious letters informing Doug Ford (the 1957 champion), Gay Brewer (1967) and Billy Casper (1970), that it was time to give up their supposed life-long exemption from qualifying for Augusta.

"I was sorry to see that. I know [the Augusta chairman] Hootie Johnson is sorry now that they did that. I remember having dinner with Bobby Jones, Clifford Roberts [who founded the tournament with Jones] and [the club president] President Eisenhower. They said to me: 'You've won the Masters, you can play here for ever, but use some discretion.'

"Then all of a sudden you're told you can't play. It's a little confusing. Arnold Palmer plays until he's 72, I'm told I have to stop next year at 67. In the British Open it's cut and dried. You get your last exemption [as a former Open champion] when you're 65, and that's that. The R&A don't change the rules as they go along."

Admirably, Player intended to pre-qualify for this year's Open at Muirfield, only to pull out injured. If he is playing well next summer, he says, he will try to make the field for Royal St George's. But, whatever happens, he will stride the lush green fairways of Augusta just one more time. At least he didn't receive the news by letter.

"Hootie Johnson came to me. I was so surprised. It wasn't as though we were taking spots from other people, because that is not how the tournament is designed. I know Bobby Jones would not condone it.

"And they say, whatever your age, that you now have to play 10 sanctioned tournaments [a year] to be eligible for the Masters. That means [Jack] Nicklaus is not going to be playing, either. And let me tell you that when I played [in 2001] with Nicklaus and Palmer, we had the biggest single crowd in the history of the Masters. Still, that's their decision, so be it. I won it three times, came second three times. It's been a happy hunting ground and that's great."

When he plays with Palmer and Nicklaus, he says, the old competitive spirit burns as strongly as ever.

"It's very, very intense. We look into each other's eyes and say 'You beat me this time, but next time it could be my turn'. But we have a good friendship, which sends out an important message. It is terrible, in the Ryder Cup, to see people running on to greens, hugging, kissing, before the other guy has even putted! And both teams are guilty of deliberate slow play.

"But I think this year will come back to sanity, back to what Samuel Ryder wanted, because of September 11."

Unlike some golfers from parts of the world other than America and Europe (Greg Norman springs to mind), Player has never questioned the significance of the Ryder Cup. He is keenly aware of the history of the game, which brings us to the endlessly fascinating, if ultimately pointless, comparison between past and present.

The subject comes about when I ask whether he ever tires of playing golf. Surely on one of those corporate days? "Never," he says, shortly. "I am very appreciative of the talent loaned to me. And I know it's on loan.

"There are no guarantees in this game. Look at [Seve] Ballesteros, at one time the best player in the world, and his game suddenly went."

Does he have a theory explaining the decline of Ballesteros? "I have theories, yes, but you could never print them. I will say only this. You have to have peace of mind if you want to be at the top for any length of time. I have great support from family and friends. The horses have given me diversion. I have 400 black children on my farm in South Africa, and the incentive to help them and educate them. What went wrong with guys like Ballesteros, [Tom] Watson? I can only think they lacked peace of mind.

"Now, with Seve, people say he's a natural player. But there's no such thing. When people talk about natural players, it's utter ignorance. What some people have is more natural ability than others, but whoever you are you need to understand the theories of the game.

"I have studied those theories. If I hit a bad shot I never, ever accepted it. It was like a mathematical problem to me. I wanted to know why.

"The coaches the players have these days, the psychologists, I don't condemn it, I don't want to be one of those old farts who says things were right in my time and wrong now, but it wouldn't work for me.

"[Ben] Hogan had the answer. Someone said to him: 'What's the secret?' And he said: 'The secret is in the dirt.' Meaning it's how many balls you hit. I remember one guy approaching him – and Hogan was a man of very few words, very curt – and saying: 'Mr Hogan, sir, good morning, I'm having trouble with my game, could you tell me...' Hogan stopped him right there. He said: 'Son, go hit a million balls and you'll find out."

For all the achievements of Hogan, was it not his exact contemporary, Sam Snead, who had the better swing? Player looks at me as I had just ruffled his immaculately combed hair.

"Snead was supple, strong, but he didn't have the golfing brain Hogan had. And with Snead I could see a flaw. As he started down he came outside the line. With Hogan I couldn't see a flaw. It was the most perfect golf swing I've ever seen by a mile.

"But too many people are inclined to judge golfers by beautiful swings. If you want to judge the greatest of all time, look on paper, see what they've won. Yes, they might have been the best in America, but America is not the world. When you go to America, they label all their players as the best in the world. Well, some of them have never played anywhere else in the damn world. Byron Nelson won one tournament outside America, the French Open, so how can you say he was one of the best players in the world? Palmer won plenty outside America, Nicklaus did, Watson did, [Lee] Trevino did. To me, Trevino was way better than Byron Nelson, way better."

I seem to have hit, inadvertently, on a source of much indignation to Player. "It's the acid test," he continues. "Can you go to Australia and win there, to America, South Africa, Japan, where you can't even read an editorial? Or does a true champion just win in America and hail himself the best?

"Henry Cotton was a marvellous golfer in Britain but did nothing anywhere else, so he doesn't rank as a great player. Jumbo Ozaki has won 100 tournaments in Japan. He's a superstar there. But elsewhere, nothing. Not a lot of these young guys now travel around, which disappoints me, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els do, which puts them well ahead of rest. Because, let me tell you, it takes a big adjustment to go and win in that man's back yard, where there's different food, different galleries, different grass ..."

He takes a well-earned pause, for a sip of tea.

"So it's not how beautiful the swing is, or how far they hit it, it's what they've won, and where. And money, that's the worst criterion of all to judge players. If you finished 70th on the US tour for 15 years you could probably retire with $20m in the bank. Ernie Els won more money by winning this year's British Open than I won in 47 years, having won it three times!"

Player's record of 163 wins worldwide (including nine majors), needless to add, stands comparison with anybody. And no one can match his longevity. In America, where the competition has always been toughest, he has won big tournaments in five different decades, and is working hard to add a sixth.

"If I had played on the European [Seniors'] Tour I know I would already have done it. And it's a record that would never be broken."

He thinks it is within his capabilities, thanks to advances in equipment design. "At 66 I hit so many more fairways than in my prime. It's so much easier with the spring effect of the metal, the lightweight shaft, the condition of the courses. That's why anyone who even thinks of comparing Nicklaus with Woods is an idiot. An idiot! It's like comparing watermelons with bananas."

Mentally, I strike the next question from my list.

Gary Player: The life and times

Name: Gary Player

Born: 1 November 1935, Johannesburg, South Africa

Lives: Johannesburg and Palm Beach, Florida

Family: Wife, Vivienne, six children, 12 grandchildren

Career: Turned professional in 1953 and has won 163 tournaments over five decades. Still plays on the PGA Senior Tour, while operating "The Gary Player Group" which includes: golf equipment, a golf academy, Gary Player Enterprises (licensing, publishing, videos, apparel and memorabilia), a stud farm with 250 horses and a foundation to promote education in South Africa. He has also designed over 200 golf courses.

Highlights: Winner of nine majors over three decades. Was the third of five golfers to win all four majors, and has three Masters victories, three Opens, two USPGA Championships and one US Open. Has won a tour event in five different decades, with 21 PGA Tour, 13 South African Open and 20 Senior Tour victories among them. Became the youngest ever player to shoot his age on the Seniors Tour with an eight-under par 64 in 2000. Made the cut in the 1998 Masters, aged 62. Has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Dundee and Ulster, as well as being only the second-ever golfer to receive an honorary doctorate in Law from St Andrews. One of only 10 golfers to be an honorary member of the Royal and Ancient. South African Sportsman of the Century.

Lowlights: Had to miss the 2002 British Open due to a rib injury in what would have been his 48th consecutive appearance. He was going for 50.

Known as: 'The Black Knight' and 'Mr Fitness'.

He says: 'The more I practice, the luckier I get'. 'The first time I saw Palmer I said 'there's a star'. 'The first time I saw Nicklaus I said "Superstar". I feel the same about Tiger Woods.'

They say: 'He aspires to be the most and best of everything. It's what challenges him about life.' Son, Marc. 'Gary has a little extra ambition, a little extra desire.' Arnold Palmer.

Website wisdom: At www.garyplayer.com you can find Gary's 10 Commandments of Life, including: "persistence and common sense are more important than intelligence" and "the fox fears not the man who boasts by night but the man who rises early in the morning."

Famous for: Being a fitness fanatic who still does 3,000 sit-ups a week, despite being 66. Being the best bunker player the game has ever seen. Playing left-handed with the back of his putter on the last hole in the 1974 Open. Player's ball came to rest against the clubhouse wall at Royal Lytham and he was refused a drop, so he improvised, hit his ball to 10 feet and won the title.

Research: Kevin Costello