Not a soul on this planet thinks Gary Player is a better golfer than he does.
The nine-time major winner is undoubtedly one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and boy, does he know it. He once named his top three golfers of all time: Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and himself.
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The South African is incredibly outspoken about nearly everything to do with the sport, and, as one of the greatest ever international players, has been a major advocate for growing the game worldwide.
And he holds this opinion as the man with the best golfing record in the world, or so he said.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Gary Player explained how he has the greatest golfing record in the world
Player wasn’t just a star on the PGA Tour, where he won 24 times. As a proud South African, he took his talents worldwide.
He won 20 times on the Sunshine Tour, played in Southern and East Africa, twice on the PGA Tour of Australasia and four times on the European Tour. He also had 63 other wins from all over the world, from Egypt to Chile.
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With that international record, Player said after winning the 1978 Masters, “Last week at Greensboro, I was called a fading star. People kept asking me why I haven’t won anything in three years. Why, I’ve been winning all over the world. I won my last three tournaments last year.
“This is a sore point to me. They do play golf in other places besides America.”
He continued, “I make five round-trips a year between South Africa and here. That’s 8,000 miles a trip. I’d like to see Jack Nicklaus travel like that to South Africa and see how he did.
“I have the greatest golfing record in the world. The world, not the United States.”
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Why Gary Player was right about his international record
It might seem like a crazy claim, but Player might have an argument.
Nicklaus’s record is built on his performance in the four biggest events in golf. His 18 professional majors are the benchmark that every player is measured against.
Beyond his 18 wins, he had 19 runner-up finishes and 73 top-10s in majors. This level of sustained dominance at the highest level is unmatched. He won 73 times on the PGA Tour, which was, and still is, the deepest and most competitive tour in the world.
He won his titles while competing directly against other legends in their prime, including Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, and Player himself.
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But while Nicklaus dominated the U.S. circuit, Player treated the entire world as his home tour. Player has significantly more total professional wins than Nicklaus. He won the South African Open 13 times and the Australian Open seven times.
He won tournaments on six different continents, travelling more than 15 million miles throughout his career to grow the game internationally. Player is also the only player to win The Open Championship in three different decades.
If you are judging by prestige and peak performance, Nicklaus has the better record. But if you are looking at total global impact and trophies, Player has a record that may never be broken simply because modern players rarely travel as extensively as he did.
Player regards Nicklaus as the greatest player of all time, but when he stepped outside of the States, he was king.
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