South African professional golfer Gary Player FILE - The legendary SA golf icon Gary Player (pictured) said that a dominant force that world number one Scottie Scheffler, like Tiger Woods was in the 2000s, could only benefit the game. Photo: Michael Sherman
With the incredible form of world number one Scottie Scheffler being the hot topic ahead of the PGA Championship, starting on Thursday, Gary Player says a dominant player in golf is always a good thing.
The legendary SA golf icon Player said that a dominant force, like Tiger Woods was in the 2000s, could only benefit the game.
Scheffler won The Masters last month, and has won three of the last four events he’s played including his triumph at Augusta.
Though Rory McIlroy is fancied to contend after his win at the Wells Fargo last week, it’s difficult to look past Scheffler as the outright favourite.
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Player gave The New York Times his thoughts on Scheffler: “Fantastic. He’s a very nice man. He’s got a perfect golf swing. He gets all his weight going to the left side and that is the most important thing. He does that better than others.
“What happens when you have people dominating is you get tremendous coverage. If you look at the coverage that Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and I got for the tour, it’s unbelievable. Not only here but worldwide. You will always have somebody come along and dominate, and I think that’s very important.”
Though the PGA is often regarded as the fourth most important major, Player disagrees.
“First of all, it’s the toughest field of any field in golf. That’s pretty significant, if you beat the best field in golf. Also, I’m a professional golfer. The PGA of America fulfilled my dream. Not only mine, but everybody that plays.
“I rate the British Open No. 1, the United States Open No. 2, the PGA. No. 3 and the Masters No. 4.”
The 88-year-old is still the only South African to have won the PGA Championship, and just for good measure he won it twice (1962, 1972).
In fact, Player came close to winning the PGA in the twilight of his career, at the age of 48 in 1984. That year he came second to Lee Trevino. Player still wishes he had been able to pull off that one last victory.
“Yeah, that would have been [great]. At that stage, Julius Boros [also 48] was the oldest man to win a major and still was until Phil Mickelson [at age 50 in the 2021 P.G.A.].”