Youthful Player has no regrets
Gary Player is the opposite of a Masters Tournament rookie.
That didn't prevent his stomach from churning Thursday when he teed off for his 50th Masters, tying Arnold Palmer for the most starts in Masters history.
The 71-year-old shot 11-over-par 83 but said he didn't feel that old.
"At 71, you are no spring chicken," Player said. "But, man, I walked that golf course today feeling like I was 20 years old. I don't feel any numbness or tightness in my legs, and this is a tough golf course to walk. I walked it like I was 20 years old."
Player sounded pleased with his 83, even though it was one of the higher rounds of the day.
"Drove the ball beautifully," he said. "Putted beautifully. Had just two sevens and a double bogey. It's OK to shoot 83 with two sevens and a double bogey. So I played very well. Much better than I have played in the last five years here."
The one distinction between the two men who now share the record for career appearances is that Palmer appeared in 50 consecutive Masters. Player didn't compete in the 1973 Masters because of a medical procedure that caused him to miss about five months of golf.
Player will return next year to break the record. That was a point Palmer had brought up when speaking with the media Tuesday.
"He just wants to do one better," Palmer said. "And that's fine. I'm for him. But he can't touch my record. He hasn't even come close to it. And you don't know why, though, do you? He missed a year. So that's the end of that."
Player has made two cuts over his past 15 Masters. Palmer last made the cut in 1983, when he was 53 years old. Player lasted the entire weekend in 1993 at age 58 and in 1998 at age 63.
That was before the course turned into the anti-birdie beast he described Thursday.
"This has turned out to be one of the three toughest golf courses in the world now," he said. "Which is what they wanted to do."
He mentioned Carnoustie in Scotland and The Links in South Africa as Augusta National Golf Club's only peers.
That's why he felt good.
He hit all but one fairway. He sent his tee shot into the pine straw on the left side on No. 18, but he recovered to make par.
"This golf course is a lot more narrow now," he said. "That's why Augusta has become more difficult. We used to have lousy fairways and very mediocre greens. Today we have miraculous fairways and miraculous greens. All the bunkers now are made uniform with little machines. So it equals out. But now it is tougher because the holes are much more narrow."
Those haven't been the only changes at Augusta National since the days when Palmer and Player ruled the fairways.
"We came along with very little prize money," Player said. "But money wasn't a criteria. We just loved to play golf and to try and beat each other and travel around the world and promote the game. Just wonderful times. I have no regrets.
"Yes, I would love to have this equipment and jets and all this prize money and no spike marks on the green anymore. But I really have no regrets."
Reach Jeff Sentell at (706) 823-3425 or jeff.sentell@augustachronicle.com.
ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF
