At nearly 90 years old, Gary Player, who still wears his signature “black armour” and Rolex timepiece, continues to demonstrate remarkable power and precision in his swing. His presence at the 2024 LINKS Hong Kong Open at Fanling Golf Course bridges golf’s rich heritage with its future. Since his first visit to Hong Kong in 1956, Player has witnessed the tournament grow into what he now calls “Asia’s major” — a testament to its 60-year legacy at the historic Hong Kong Golf Club crowned this year by Patrick Reed‘s historic victory with a record-breaking round of 59.
Player’s own journey in golf parallels his partnership with Rolex, which began in 1967. “Everything in business is negotiable except quality,” he notes, echoing a philosophy that has defined both his career and Rolex’s commitment to excellence. As the world’s leading sponsor of golf for over six decades, Rolex has fundamentally shaped the sport’s landscape – from supporting prestigious tournaments to nurturing youth development and women’s golf.
The nine-time major champion’s relationship between Gary Player and Rolex extends far beyond ambassadorship. It represents a shared dedication to precision, excellence, and giving back to the sport and to the community. Player recalls a telling moment when a Rolex clock’s precision led to a two-second penalty at a tournament in Tampa, highlighting how the watchmaker’s pursuit of perfection has become woven into golf’s fabrics of games.
In an era where golf faces unprecedented changes – from technological advances to competing tours – Player speaks with the wisdom of someone who has witnessed the sport’s many transformations while maintaining its power to transform lives. “Sport can change the world,” he reflects, echoing the words of his friend Nelson Mandela, whom he worked with for three years raising funds for young Black children in South Africa. Player also points out golf alone has raised three billion dollars for charity, more than any other two sports combined. “I’ve seen how sport helped change apartheid in South Africa. I’ve seen what sport can do for people that come from nothing, become champions, and change their lives.” Through Rolex’s continued stewardship and the preservation of sports like golf and professional games, golf’s transformative power is going to reaching far beyond the fairways to touch lives across the globe.
Hello Mr. Player, welcome to Hong Kong. What are your first impressions of the city and the golf course here at the Hong Kong Golf Club?
The first time I came to Hong Kong was in 1956. That’s a long time ago. And it’s always been one of the fascinating places that I’ve ever visited in my life. First of all, You have good education and the people are very humble. You meet people here. And coming here, there’s a great ambience, feeling of humility and good manners. And that’s what I like to try and run my life with. And so, I come here with great joy every time I come here. It’s an absolute treasure, pleasure to come to this city and to see how this tournament is growing. And to have the same tournament or a tournament for 60 years at this golf course is unique. It’s absolutely unique. Extremely unusual.
Now I went out with Ian, the manager of the club here, and Mr. Kwok and I went around the golf course here. The thing that impressed me was the trees. You’ve got trees and species here that are so remarkable. And as the old Indian man said, I plant tree. I never see tree. I plant tree for shade. I plant tree for beauty. I plant tree for furniture. I plant tree for people to enjoy. The leaves make fertilizer. The birds will use it. The insects will use it.
And for people just to go along and cut every single tree down. And they know what they’re doing it for. They’re cutting it down because they say the grass grows better. Let them come here and have a look. There’s nothing but trees on every hole, millions of them. And the grass is perfect. They’ve got a green keeper in Texas. I’ll think of it in a minute. And I went down there and I met him and he was explaining to me, I said, are you going to cut your trees down? He said, no. He says, we prune the tree up and then we take the smaller branches out so the light and the oxygen can be applied and the grass grows the same. And now they just say, cut them down. And it’s what in India, I designed two golf courses. If you cut a tree down in India without permission, you go to jail. And in this country right here, you may not just go and cut trees down. I’ve checked on this. It’s a law. If the tree is dead, you may remove it.
And for me, it’s such a treat to come here and drive around there and see these beautiful trees. And this golf course, let me elaborate. This golf course has been an ambassadorial role to this city. Can you imagine if any country had a Tiger Woods, the publicity they would get, it would increase your tourism by a minimum of 10%. And every country requires tourism. Doesn’t matter who you are. The wealthiest and the poorest country, they rely on tourism. It makes a massive difference. And so, if you can produce a good golfer, not only does it help tourism, but golf courses with the trees and the beauty means so much to that particular area, because all countries are just building up, shopping centers, buildings, everything, and you can’t destroy nature. And that’s what happens when you put in housing developments. I know you’re going to have housing, but you got to pick the right spots.
I say golf is the most unique sport. I’ve been a professional for 73 years. It’s enabled me to travel more miles than any human being. And what I’ve learned through golf it is the greatest lesson in life. You know you talk about Rolex the greatest watch ever made. If you get on the first tee in golf, and I’ve been a golf pro for 73 years, I was late once, two seconds late. And I was playing in Tampa and the guard on the first said Gary, I’m sorry, there’s a two-shot penalty, you were two seconds late. I said what are you talking about? You prove that to me. He took me back to the first tee. It was the Rolex clock that showed two seconds. They stopped it when I did. So, golf is a game that develops characters. It develops tourism. It develops great investment. So many people when they see great golf courses these big businessmen they want to go because golf is a disease. They want to go play; they want to go to their country. They want to see it and when they come there it helps them to make big investments. That’s a proven fact.
How has your partnership with Rolex influenced your approach to the game of golf?
Well, I don’t think Rolex really influenced my approach to golf, but you know they have a great saying, that everything in business is negotiable except quality. And that’s what Rolex is. Rolex is quality. I’ve been with them since 1967, which is unbelievable. So, I know Rolex, I’ve travelled the world for Rolex. They’re the best and biggest sponsors of sport in the world. And you know my great president, Nelson Mandela, one of the ten greatest men I ever met in my life, I worked with him for three years, we raised big money for young black children in South Africa. And he was such a clever man. And when you go to jail for 27 years or 25 years, you learn to think, you’ve got time to think. He said sport, sport can change the world.
And he’s right, sport can change the world. I see how sport helped, helped to change apartheid in South Africa. I’ve seen what sport can do for people that don’t have much in life, people that come along and have nothing and are poor and play sport and are talented, become champions, changes their lives. Sport, if you take golf, has raised three billion dollars for charity. Golf raises twice as much money as any other two sports together. It’s changed the lives of millions and millions of people. Golf has played a role that is very important for, I think, world leaders to understand. It’s not just a sport. And it’s the only sport that is play and stay. Every other sport is play and away.
If you take any sport you like, you play for a while, 30, 32, you’re gone. Here I’m nearly 90, I could still shoot ball. And still active, as active as I ever was as a young man. So golf is a very different sport. And all sportsmen and sportswomen, usually when they play other sports, where do they go when they retire? Golf. So, I could go on and on and talk about the advantages of golf for a country, not only just as a sport.
In your opinion, what key role has Rolex played in enhancing the global image of the sport of golf?
Good question. What Rolex has done, which no other company has done, to that degree. Rolex, I think I can say this without knowing 100%, but I would say Rolex has been the biggest sponsor of sport since they started, which must be at least 60 years of sponsorship. Not only golf, but charitable work, junior tournaments, women’s tournaments, across the board. And I use that saying which is very important. Everything in business is negotiable except quality. And this is Rolex. This watch here, folks, is nothing like it. Everybody wants to wear a Rolex. And there’s a reason, because they have quality. They’re an incredible company. What they do for people, the sponsorships that they come up with, people not even aware of, is amazing. They have changed the game of golf to a large degree. And it’s fantastic. I must say, I’ve been so proud to represent them. And they’re everywhere in the world.
They are a worldwide company of great repute. And let me tell you, you know when we played golf and we finished the tournament, we used to write a letter. The ladies are much better than the men. The ladies look after their pro-am partners better. I heard that in America on the tour, they wanted to have one pro play nine holes with the amateurs and they fall out and they get another pro for the next nine. Can you imagine that these amateurs, you’ve got to understand one thing and this is imperative what I’m saying now. The professional golfer is not the important person in golf. Pros like to think they are, but they’re not.
The important person are you people, the amateurs, the businessmen, the public. If you don’t have the press, if you don’t have sponsors and you don’t have galleries, there’s no tournament. And so, you’ve got to look after them like gold. You can’t say I’ll play nine holes with you and another pro will play nine holes with you. You could go to any tournament you like. They don’t go to the dinners anymore. They’re putting up millions of dollars at the tournament and you are making millions and they don’t go to the dinner. The other night here at this dinner we had three pros. Three pros at the dinner. That’s very interesting. Very, very interesting. For me, as an old timer to see where the game is going. Yeah, very, very interesting.
It’s a pleasure to see you swing in person, still very powerful. Can you share with us your secret for continuing to swing at age nearly 90 and any fitness tips for both mental and physical health? And what does your exercise routine look like these days?
A: It’s a wonderful question, it’s my most important question of my life, but it’s a waste of time. It is easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than to get people to worry about health. In America, if you’ve got 5% of people, of a nation, 350 million people, that really worry about health, that exercise and do the necessary things to live a long time and to continue with health, it’s a miracle. The children, diabetes, with young people today, millions, probably billions of people in the world today, that have diabetes, people don’t worry what they eat, people don’t worry what they exercise, people don’t worry whether they sleep, people drink, they smoke, they get fat. Once you get fat, you’re starting to die, it’s as simple as that. When I say starting to die, when you get fat, you are now asking your heart to work a hell a lot harder. People don’t care. I saw a young boy at breakfast this morning. I’m watching him, if I looked on his plate, he’s already 14, he’s getting heavy. I looked at him and said to his father, please, how can you let him eat this? How can you as a father let him? I shouldn’t do that. But I love people so much that I interfere and I shouldn’t.
So, your love gets you into trouble sometimes and for me the most important word in my life. In my whole life the most important thing is love. People don’t care what they eat, they don’t exercise, they don’t sleep. They drink, they smoke, they get fat, they don’t exercise, they don’t laugh. I’ve got a list of ten things I do every day. I want to reach a hundred. If I do, it’ll be lucky. But the doctor took my blood pressure this morning right here, and said that’s the best blood pressure I’ve ever taken for a man of your age. That made me feel good, because I do ten things every day. Because I do ten things every day. Every day I do weight training. I take an F-8 as long as the facility is there. I take an ice bath. It reduces inflammation and improves your cells and they’re still finding out what it’s doing. I read to improve my English to improve my knowledge. Because people of my age they don’t know their name, so many people are getting Alzheimer’s. I laugh a lot. I laugh. I’ve got a girlfriend in my life now. Can you imagine at 89 finding a girlfriend? Wonderful woman. She loves to laugh. We laugh all the time. She loves to go to the gym. We love to play golf. You’ve got to love people. You’ve got to have love in your heart.
You’ve got to sleep well. If you sleep well you build your immune system. Sleep, they’re finding out now that sleep is an amazing ingredient to live a long time. I sleep easy, easy 10 hours. I mean I could sleep 10 hours last night and I’ll drive back to my hotel now and I’ll go to sleep in my car. It’s a blessing, but I’ve taught myself to sleep. To schools, how many schools do you go to other than academics? Do they teach you to love people? Do they teach you there must be no wars? Do they teach you to dress properly? Do they teach you to speak properly? Do they teach you to behave properly? Schools is everywhere you go, universities, schools is purely academics. I’m not teaching you the things that you need in life. That’s just as important as academically.
So we come back to the thing that I said about education is vital. We fought for 60 years or more, excuse me, 600 years or more to give women their rights. We’ve got to improve our educational system in schools in the world. I think that’s very important. These are all just my opinion. You know, it’s like these golfers, they go to a psychiatrist, and the psychiatrist says, relax, enjoy yourself. It’s only a game. But they’ve never been in the arena, they’ve never played in a major championship in their life, and they’re advising somebody on how to do it. How can they do that? I can’t tell a businessman how to run his business. I can tell him what I think, but it’s nonsense. So, you need education, whatever the subject may be. And for me, when I play, normally I’m very quiet in my life. I have lots of love, I laugh, but when I get on the first team, completely different person. Completely different person. Why? Even today, driving off on the first tee, I know there’s a lot of media, that’s going around the world. I want to hit a good shot. Suddenly, something changes. And that’s what I’ve noticed. That’s what I’ve noticed with the superstars. Something different here.
Everybody talks about today, I come back to what I said. Oh, you should see this guy play. Hits the ball so far, it could be as well a gorilla. And the putting, I come back, putting is in the mind and putting is the most important. Tiger Woods won all his tournaments, because he was a great putter and a super mind and exercises. And this is what young guys are going to watch. Not to say five, only five guys. What exercise you do again? None they say. None. An athlete telling me none. It’s very sad. So, the ones that dedicate themselves correctly become champions.
And you know as I said, I loved what President Nelson Mandela said. I always think of that because he was a wise man. Sport can change the world.
Golf courses, you know, when you think of a golf course here, it brings the birds, it’s got nature, it’s got water. You know, golf is a very important thing across the spectrum. And this is what there is, not many people quite understand that. And so, let me come back to what I originally said, the difference between being humble and cocky or arrogant is that big. I know when I was playing my best, I’d go to a tournament, we’d have a press conference, they would say, well, who do you think is gonna win this week? I said, I think I’m gonna win. And they wrote the next day, Gary Player is very arrogant. Well, what must I say? It’s like going to a tournament thinking somebody else is gonna win. I think I’m gonna win. And if you don’t believe in yourself, you can never be a champion. And that’s the big thing. How many players playing in this tournament or any tournament believe they are the best? Very few. They might tell you that when they get on the first year, they say, oh, no, I don’t believe that. Subconsciously. So, the world is short of great teachers now in golf. We need somebody who can teach them how to think, teach them how to exercise, teach them how to eat, teach them how to laugh, teach them how to sleep. It’s a puzzle. To become a champion is a puzzle with 20 pieces in it. And you’ve got to study, you’ve got to read, you’ve got to meditate. To do and accomplish and apply those 20 things which will help you to become a superstar.
You have achieved great success in designing golf courses. Can you tell us about the process and your design philosophy?
A: We’ve designed 140 golf courses around the world, and some of the best. Very, very difficult job now. You have a lot of people designing golf courses that are very ordinary golfers. I don’t know how you can design a golf course if you’re a very ordinary golfer, because to design a golf course, you need to understand shot-making, and build a golf course that suits everybody. Now, with what the ball is doing and the equipment is doing, and where golf is going, because of weight training and the whole change of golf, and as I said, in time to come many players will hit the ball 500 yards. So how do you design a golf course anymore? I don’t want to design a golf course for championship golf, quite honestly, because you can’t do it. Many people think they can, but they can’t, because nobody knows how far the ball is going to go. How do you design a golf course when people are hitting the ball 500 yards?
You going to drive the par 5s. Think about it. There’s this guy, Kyle Berkshire, he can drive some par 5s in the world. Par 4s, many of them. So how do you design a golf course for him? And we haven’t started, as I said, with big men and training and exercise. I don’t want to design a golf course for a championship. I want to design a golf course for members, because to me, the members are the important ones. And you’ve got to design wider fairways, because the average man does not play golf very well. You want him to enjoy it. I design golf courses for members to enjoy their game. They come out for a weekend, they have lunch with their children, their family, they come out here, it’s wonderful, the trees, they’re in the open. I don’t want to design a golf course that is so tough for them that they can’t play. I want them to go out and have wider fairways, bigger greens, not as many bunkers, not as many hazards, and I want them to enjoy themselves. And that’s important.
And to have the course in beautiful condition and arrange things at their club that they can have great functions with their children and bring their children out and have good coaching for their children. That’s my idea of what I wanted to do. I don’t want to design championship golf courses. A lot of architects would like to build championship golf courses, not me. Design is for enjoyment and good condition. And here is the big thing. Water. The world is running out of water big time. By the year 2025, and my brother was one of the world’s leading conservationists, and he told me 40 years, 50 years ago, by the year 2025, I’ll be telling you this 50 years ago, the world will be short of 25% of water. A lot of places got no water, folks. A lot of places in this world got no water now. This is the big problem.
When you build a golf course, you mustn’t be allowed to use fresh water. They’ve got to stop that. It’s got to be effluent water, sewage water. Where are you taking your sewage water in the world today? In the sea. Everybody dumps everything in the sea. The plastic, the water, the sewage water, the sewage. The sea is supposed to be clean. What we’re going to do is use that water, and that’s where golf courses are so good. Use that effluent water, refine it a bit, refine it, and put it on golf courses. Nobody should be allowed to use drinking water for golf courses. Should not be allowed. Now a lot of people will criticize me for that, but I’m used to being criticized. Always I say to people, this is my opinion only. You don’t have to agree with me.
Golf is the ambiance of a golf club. What is good for everybody, to make it a family affair, to make it enjoyable, have movies, have dinners together, people to get together. There’s not enough of camaraderie in the world today. People live on their telephone. I go to dinner every night, I see husbands and wives, they don’t talk to each other. Look at your phones all the time. Everybody, even the poor people of the world, have got a telephone like this. Children don’t read books anymore.
The way you design a golf course is very important. Make it enjoyable. No crazy undulating greens. These architects are building greens like this or wherever you go. The greens are like this, and the members are three putting and three putting and they’re not enjoying it.
You have collaborated with Rolex for many years, how do you view Rolex’s longstanding support for the sport of golf?
A: Rolex is helping golf. I think I’ve explained that the biggest sponsor of golf, not only of golf, but of charity. They’ve changed what they’ve done. Rolex has changed the lives. For me, you see, I suffered as a young man, very much, very much suffering, which is a blessing. That’s why I became a world champion because I suffered. The greatest gift you can have in your life is to suffer. It’s the greatest gift.
And so, through suffering, I’ve raised tens of millions of dollars to change people’s lives around the world. Twenty million, thirties, forties, fifties of millions of dollars. And that for me is important, because I suffered. I know what it is to suffer and I don’t want to see people suffer and I don’t want to see wars, you understand? Because when you suffer, this comes to your mind. And Rolex have also helped change the lives of people. For me, that’s more important than a great watch. I mean, I’ve been all over the world for Rolex and I see what they do. I travel all over the world for Rolex. I see what they do. Fantastic sponsor. Fantastic.
What do you think about the golf gear trend among the Gen Z golfers right now? How do you feel about the current fashion trends in golf?
A: You know, Winston Churchill, my great hero, said, change is the price of survival. I don’t want to be known as an old poop, but there’s a great saying, good style is always in style. To dress neatly and to dress properly, and for me, manners maketh a man or a woman. When you meet somebody today, you should take your hat off. That’s for me, that doesn’t apply anymore. It’s dying. I don’t like that. I like to see good manners, and that’s what I want to see continue. Now, you don’t have to wear a jacket and a tie to dress tightly. You could have a turtleneck, you could be dressed, you don’t have to go to a dinner with a pair of sneakers or a big fancy dinner. There’s a place for sneakers and a place for proper shoes. You follow? I just think that the best way to answer that is good style is always in style and have good manners. I must say, all the young guys I met here, all respectful, very good. Nice to see them. Because you know, I’ve seen a lot of guys not respectful in my life, and those guys, they all go down. They’re cocky, they’re arrogant, and boy in this game will kill you if you like that. You don’t have respect for this game, it will kill you.
And so you gotta learn and that’s why I’m saying for teaching today, for teaching you gotta have the right teacher to teach young people that. Because a young guy very easily comes along, he’s a top junior and he starts playing well, he thinks he’s good or a top pro thinks he’s good. But they better tell him, watch out my man. Teach them what happens with the game. There’s so much to learn in this game. You know, having been a professional for 73 years, I’m still learning things. Isn’t that amazing that I’m still learning things. And I go to bed at night, I say, well you know often, 73 years of study and I’m a great reader, I study. I study the mind, I study politics, I study world affairs, I read Winston Churchill’s episodes. I study, I’m still learning and you learn until the day you die. And they need people to teach these young guys. But who can? Very few people in the world.
If I was a big company, a country, I wouldn’t be paying all these guys these large sums of money to go and play golf. I’d be paying top people to come and teach the young people how to play golf. Come here, bring people out, bring 500 kids out, teach them how to play, teach them the right things to do. That’s just as important, they’re both important, to bring top players, but then nobody ever thinks of bringing a top player. I’ve never heard of a country say, well we’re gonna hire a top guy to come and teach our youth. And there’s a great saying in English. The youth of a nation are the trustees of posterity. The youth are our future, whether it’s business, whether it’s life, whether it’s sports. And we’ve got to teach them while they’re young. Nobody worries about that. Bring top, top, top teachers, whatever it may be.
Writer: Junwen Zhang
Images: Rolex
Roundtable interview transcript provided by Rolex
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
