Gary Player watched a race from his hotel room in San Antonio and saw his horse, Double Grand Slam, surge late to win the TAB Empress Club Stakes in South Africa before he headed to Augusta for the Masters. About 30 minutes later, the 90-year-old was at San Antonio International, climbing aboard an eight-seat Bombardier Challenger 350 for the Saturday-morning trip.
Player, who said he has traveled more than any human, was already thinking about the flight when the race was still in doubt. “This isn’t looking good,” he said as the field ran, then moments later: “My horse won the race today, the big race!” Before takeoff he added, “I’m taking off,” and promised, “I’ll call you when I land.”
The trip fit a routine that has made Player as recognizable away from golf as on it. Vista Jet had buzzed him around the globe for the past year, he said, and the journey from San Antonio to Augusta was just another stop on a lifetime of movement that he called the sport’s first global superstar. On the flight, he wore a black outfit with a Black Knight logo and Masters-logo socks.
What makes that remarkable is not just the pace, but the age. Player still plays golf four times a week, said he has beaten his age well over 3,000 times in a row and still shoots par, and even sometimes does push-ups or sit-ups on the plane. He also tied that drive to the life he shared with Vivienne, his late wife, saying they used to cross oceans with six children.
For a 90-year-old heading to the Masters, the day offered a small picture of how Player still operates: a horse race in one time zone, a private jet in another, and the same restless forward motion that has defined his public life. Good style, he has said, is always in style.
