AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Gary Player is set this week to make his last trip down Magnolia Lane as a competitor in the Masters.
The nine-time major champion who was the first international player to win at Augusta National in 1961 said Monday that this year's Masters, his 52nd, will be his last.
"It's difficult at [age] 73 to build strength, and this golf course is so long,'' Player said. "I'm hitting a wood to almost every single hole. ... I've managed to break 80 the last two years, but I've gotten to the stage where I don't know whether I can do that out here, it's so long and I'm getting weaker.
"I'm hitting it so short now, I can hear it land,'' Player joked.
Player, who also won the tournament in 1974 and 1978, played a practice round Monday with fellow South Africans Trevor Immleman and Louis Oosthuizen and Germany's Martin Kaymer.
Part of the "Big Three'' in the 1960s along with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, Player won 24 times on the PGA Tour, 19 times on the Champions Tour and counts 110 international victories on his resume.
His last victory on the PGA Tour came in 1978 at the Houston Open, which capped a three-week run of tournaments in which he shot a final-round 30 to win the Masters at age 42, followed by a win at the tournament of Champions.
He called that Masters victory his highlight.
"It was just a reward for me, because nobody [then] had won at 42,'' Player said. "I came back on the final day and won the tournament.''
Player's lowlight, he said, came in 1962 when he had a chance to become the first player to win back-to-back majors.
"I was playing with Arnold,'' Player recalled. "We got to 16 and I hit the ball 12 foot from the hole. And he hit the worst looking shot to the right of the green, not even on the green. He was on the fringe. And the flag was that bottom left-hand corner and I said to my caddie, "We've won."
But Palmer holed the putt, then birdied the 17th and they were tied after 72 holes with Dow Finsterwald. Palmer won the next day in an 18-hole playoff.
Player's first Masters was in 1957, when he tied for 24th. At the time, he was chided for his weight training, as it was believed to hurt golfers. Today, Player remains an advocate for health and fitness.
Over a 25-year period, Player had 15 top-10 finishes in the tournament. He also won three British Opens, two PGA Championships and one U.S. Open. When Player won the U.S. Open in 1965, he became just the third player -- along with Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan -- to capture a career Grand Slam, victories in all four majors championships. Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the only players to join the exclusive group.
Player said he would not lobby to be an honorary starter at the Masters along with Palmer, who now does those duties solo. But when pressed, Player said he would do so if asked. "Would I? Of course I would,'' he said.
And then he added.
"I'll even exercise harder to make sure I outdrive Arnold.''
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