Taking a break from cricket’s ‘disaster zone’

With the administration of South African cricket in absolute freefall – this week I woke up in a cold sweat after a nightmare that the Proteas had been knocked out of the World Cup by Afghanistan, who scored 20 runs in the last over – it has been great to take a break from that disaster zone and focus on golf for the last three weeks.

There was a week of rubbing shoulders with the European Tour elite at the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City, then time with leading South African golfers, celebrities and sporting legends at the Gary Player Invitational at the same venue, and now Leopard Creek is hosting the rising stars of the tour at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

With nine major titles, including the career Grand Slam, Player is surely South Africa’s greatest sporting legend and meeting him properly – i.e. the old-fashioned way of shaking hands and having a face-to-face chat – has been a bucket-list item during my 27 years as a sports journalist.

The 84-year-old almost seems too good to be true with his incredible energy, enthusiasm, fitness and healthy eating regimes, amazing philanthropic work and just how massively inspirational he has been for so many people. About the only flaw in this image I heard about at Sun City was a rumour that he keeps a couple of chocolates by his bedside table to nibble on before going to bed.

The Gary Player Invitational was played at The Lost City Course and, despite temperatures that made one want to refrigerate oneself, Player would always return to the clubhouse from the course beaming and bounding around; there is no doubting his continued passion for the game nor the freakish energy he still possesses at an age when most people’s batteries have run flat. @KenBorland

Even in the thickly populated confines of Sun City, Player is prone to breaking into spontaneous little dances of sheer fun with his fans, and he has a smile and a handshake, a fatherly word, for just about everyone. Including me, ticking that bucket-list item at last.

I had asked him in the press conference about how best to protect courses from the big-hitters these days, a development in golf that concerns him greatly, along with environmental issues such as water usage.

Player was quick to say the balls that the professionals use need to be prevented from travelling so far. It sounds like an elegant, logical solution to me.

That evening Player saw me walking by and shook my hand warmly and briefly enquired about how I was finding the tournament. It was a most pleasant, if short, chat.

Player is certainly a powerful orator, his words being imbued with his own passion; it is easy to see how people can be whipped into a frenzy of healthy eating and daily push-ups after listening to him.

The cream of the sporting world obviously love Player because he embodies all that is good about sport – rising above adversity (he said his own rough childhood had been vital to his success), huge amounts of hard work and sacrifice, tremendous competitiveness and tenacity while playing, but a kind and generous person who has used his own success to change many other peoples’ lives for the better.

But for me, the real measure of the man is how he treats his own staff, the men and women who work for Black Knight International.

They are all absolutely glowing in their assessment of how Player takes an interest in them, how inspirational it is to work for him and how kind he is to them, while also being a firm believer in hard work and getting things right.

It is a great pity that I had to wait until 2019 to meet Mr Player. Seeing him in action at close quarters, hearing his forthright views, it was certainly a memorable experience, perhaps even life-changing.

Player’s sheer positivity is perhaps his strongest trait and there is no denying his great love for his country.

In a time of much negativity for South Africa, what Gary Player has to say should always be required, compulsory listening for all citizens.