Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus hit ceremonial first tee shots

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Even in the middle of a pandemic and absent the patrons, the show must go on.

A light rain fell in the semi-darkness as Gary Player, 85, and then Jack Nicklaus, 80, hit the ceremonial opening tee shots to open the Masters Tournament on Thursday morning.

“We’ll never know,” Nicklaus said of the fate of their golf balls, and the mask-wearing members, press and tournament officials ringing the tee chortled.

The old legends sauntered off and soon the skies opened, the rain halting play with just nine players having recorded a hole score, and nine others having just begun their rounds.

“It’s been fun,” Nicklaus said once the two were inside the press building and bedecked in green blazers for their annual press conference. “We miss Arnold, but it’s a nice tradition.”

Lee Elder, the first African American to play in the Masters in 1975, will join them as the third ceremonial starter next April. Asked about the addition, which Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley announced earlier this week, Player recalled how he’d invited Elder to join him in an exhibition amid South African apartheid in 1969. It required approval from the president, and Player praised the courage it must’ve taken for Elder to show up.

“It was very influential because at that stage no Black visitors or people of any color were visiting South Africa,” he said. “I think he encouraged a lot of – at that stage we still had a lot of young Black potential golfers, but they didn't have a hero, so to speak, and to have Lee Elder come down there was remarkable, and it went off extremely well.”

Nicklaus (six Green Jackets) and Player (three) touched on a wide range of topics that included:

Health – Nicklaus said his back has been so bad, he can no longer go on walks but has been walking in the pool with Barbara. And Player, to no one’s surprise, said, “I started exercising and weight-training in 1944,” a time, he added, when the only exercise most other golfers did was “taking an olive from one martini to the other.”

Equipment and the modern golfer – Both players have been alarmed at the distances the ball is flying and are worried for Augusta National when players are reaching par-5s with short irons. Player counts himself as a big fan of Bryson DeChambeau, whom he considers very smart. “People say, ‘Here comes the scientist, here comes the kook,’” Player said. “Well, he is a scientist, and he’s taken it to another level.”

The pandemic – Nicklaus said he and Barbara recently had dinner with Rickie Fowler and his wife, and Fowler discussed COVID-19. Nicklaus also commented on the robust health of the game when so many people have been looking for something to do in a safe and socially distant manner. “It’s brought the game of golf back to people who hadn’t been playing,” he said.

Family – Player said he’d traveled to Philadelphia at the outset of the pandemic and had planned to visit his daughter for three days. He stayed eight months. “The price was right,” he said.

Nicklaus’ caddie for the ceremonial shot was his wife Barbara. “I normally have one of the grandkids, but we couldn’t bring anybody with us except for the spouses this time,” he said, adding that Barbara took some convincing before she agreed to the job.

Tiger Woods – Both players commented on Woods’ eloquence at the Champions’ Dinner.

“It was very heartwarming listening to him speak,” Player said. “He said he was on the way to the golf course and he had to stop because he had tears in his eyes and paused for a little while on the road because a lot of memories were going through his mind very quickly, as I interpreted what he was saying, and to have won the tournament again with his children there.

“He paused for a while and he spoke very, very well,” Player added.

Said Nicklaus, “Gary was right. Tiger was very emotional. I’ve never seen Tiger that way.”

Charlie Woods – Nicklaus remarked on how proud Woods is of his son, who has begun to make a name for himself on the South Florida junior golf scene at 11.

“He says, ‘I'm having more fun out with Charlie and Sam, his kids, and watching them do different things and be vulnerable,’” Nicklaus said. “He says, ‘Charlie is starting to play golf and he's getting a really good swing.’ He says, ‘I've got blades in his hands so he learns how to play golf instead of learning with all those forgiving golf clubs.’ I think he's very wise. That's what his father did to him, he took the old equipment we played with to teach Tiger. I think that's why Tiger was such a good player.”

The career Grand Slam – Asked what advice they would give Rory McIlroy as he tries for the career Slam this week, Nicklaus said it would be the same advice as always: Be patient.

Player preached self-belief. “I did a lot of yoga and mindset and sort of almost brainwashing,” he said. “I did some very extraordinary things, which I won't go into, in my room to do it and a lot of mindset, and I teed off believing and this is what I believe Rory has got to do.

“… A lot of players tell you they believe,” he continued, “and when that bell rings and they get on that tee, there's something that they don't believe, and I think he's got to get up there and say – he's got to start meditating. He's got to start believing that he can do it, because time goes by.”