Player’s words of wisdom on Sir Winston

GARY PLAYER was on typically forthright form when he and his fellow old boys faced the Press. One of the topics of conversation with Player, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus centred on legacies. ‘Personally, I don’t believe in legacies,’ said the legendary 88-year-old South African and three-time champ.

‘If you take my all-time heroes, Winston Churchill, he was probably the greatest leader for the last 200 years, without going into the Ottomans and all the great leaders.

‘If it wasn’t for Churchill we wouldn’t be sitting here today — and they are defacing his statue in England and calling him a racist.’

■ THE driving range at Augusta faces the giant press box. Players tee off from about 400 yards away but an increasing number of balls are landing within touching distance of the plush £50million facility, which opened in 2017. Some have wondered if, thanks to advances in technology and the era of big hitters, officials will push back the tee boxes — or stick the scribes in the car park.

■ SPARE a thought for those who work at the tiny Augusta airport. With two runways and a compact terminal, the site serves two airlines with flights to four cities on the 51 weeks a year when the Masters are not on. However, when the circus hits town passenger levels rocket from 5,000 a week to 30,000. Most of those landing do so on private jets, with about 500,000 gallons of fuel brought in, along with 100 temporary staff.

■ WORK starts this summer on a number of projects aimed at looking after the players. An underground car park is expected to be completed in time for next year while the second phase of the project will feature a three-storey, state-ofthe-art facility for the use of players, their families and support teams.

■ TOMMY FLEETWOOD appears to have taken an early lead in the sartorial stakes after heading out to a practice round in a smart cardigan (above).

‘It probably needed an iron,’ the dapper Lancastrian admitted. ‘I do like a cardigan. It’s nice, isn’t it? I’m no Arnold Palmer, but anybody can wear a cardigan. It’s not just for one.’