 "<b>Lunch with BS:</b> Gary Player")
Some way through the conversation, Gary Player asks me a provocative question. "Tiger Woods is arguably one of the most known faces in the world of sport. I wonder how many cricketers are that well known across the world?" That's an oblique reference, of course, to Sachin Tendulkar and the frenzy that is building up in India ahead of his last Test.
He has a point, since Tendulkar's undoubted fame is restricted to the tiny world of cricket that has a huge fan following in India. The chatty, gregarious Player is in a good position to say this. He was, in his heyday, one of the world's best golfers, one of the five to have won the golf Grand Slam (that is, he won all the majors in one calendar year). Today, at age 78, he ranks among the world's best-known golf course designers, the reason he is in India now, writes Aabhas Sharma.
We are meeting at the DLF Golf Club in Gurgaon, Player's first self-designed golf course in India, and our lunch starts on an awkward note because he walks in with a plate full of freshly cut fruit, chocolate dessert and a glass of watermelon juice. He has had a busy day, he says by way of explanation, and is hungry. A waiter serves us an assortment of vegetarian starters - paneer tikka, vegetarian seekh kebab among others. Although there's a buffet laid out, Player isn't interested. I am quite hungry after more than an hour's drive from north Delhi, but since my guest isn't eating from the buffet, I grudgingly decide to skip it.
Player's golfing career began when he turned professional in 1953. He joined the PGA Tour in 1957; he won his first Major at The British Open in 1959. During the first three decades he won nine Majors, with three British Open titles, three Masters Tournaments, two PGA Championships and the US Open.
On the DLF golf course - he has finished nine holes so far - he seems quite pleased with the work. "I am happy with the way the course has turned out, more importantly because of the water we've used at the course," he says. Since I am looking puzzled, he tells me water is one of the first things he asks about before taking up any course. "We use sewage water on golf courses and I have always maintained that fresh water should never be used," he explains. As I will learn later in our conversation, Player is an environmentalist and often delivers lectures on green initiatives and the need to conserve our environment - surely a tough position in a sport that many environmentalists themselves deride.
Golf is going be an Olympic sport at the 2016 Olympics and Player is quite excited about the idea. "Golf is a global sport and being at the Olympics will give it a bigger platform," he says. Isn't it too elitist? "Rubbish," he says roundly, and certainly not in the US, South Africa or even Europe. But it is in India, I counter. "That's because you don't have many public courses. You've to build courses for people so that they can enjoy the sport and shed this elitist sport tag," he says.
He even says if someone in India came to him to design a public course, he is willing to do it for a quarter the fee he charges from private companies. "1.2 billion people! Are you telling me that they aren't interested in a sport like golf," he asks incredulously. It's not all about the numbers, I try to argue, after all it's an expensive sport. "Yes, but so are the rewards, so is the exposure and the recognition," he retorts. Public courses can have equipment that youngsters can use to learn and play golf, he suggests.
When you meet any international sports personality, the conversation is certain to veer in the direction of cricket. Unexpectedly, Player is more than an authority to talk on the game. He played cricket with Sir Gary Sobers and knew Sir Don Bradman very well. In fact, Bradman had once asked Player for his golf gloves, but he didn't part with them. "I should have asked for his bat in return," he laughs.
Player loves cricket and is not shy of giving an opinion on the sport. He once told former Australian captain Ricky Ponting that the way he hit the ball, he was wasting his time playing cricket. On Sachin Tendulkar he says, "Marvellous little player. But if he was a golfer he could have continued to delight his fans for at least 20 years more." Player knows a thing or two about longevity. He has been playing golf for over 56 years and still plays regularly.
We're frequently interrupted by autograph hunters and people who want to take photographs with Player. He good-naturedly obliges everyone and even takes out time to chat with a teenager who talks about how he really enjoyed playing on the course.
The starters remained untouched on the table and Player, when he rejoins our conversation, doesn't even ask whether I am interested in eating them or not. Still, some sanctity has to be maintained for this column, so I order a Diet Coke.
I understand the reason for Player's fastidiousness when he tells me he is "70 per cent vegetarian" and wants to be vegan, but frequent travels and hotel stays make it difficult to avoid meat. He tells me that once flying across continents a pilot came and told him about the air miles he had flown. Player asked the pilot, how many years had he been flying. "40 years, the pilot told me," he recalls. "I told him that's nothing; I have been flying for 60 years now." It's true that Player is probably one of the most travelled athletes of all time and has clocked more 15 million air miles.
Doesn't the travel get tiring, I ask him. "I enjoy going to different countries and after 60 years of flying, I am quite used to it," he says taking a bite of a pineapple. Player has designed over 325 golf courses across the world and he says that he has visited every one of them multiple times. No wonder the air miles have been clocked!
But all said and done, it's golf that remains his big passion and he can talk for hours about it. "Look at the charity funds that golf raises, it's more than any other two sports combined," he says. Golfers are far richer than they were in his time but he doesn't grudge them that. It does boost tourism in the country as well, he says. "I have always believed that every tourist a country gets, it generates five jobs."
This is his third visit to India and being South African he knows a lot about India and Indians. "There are over 3 million Indians in my country and [Mohandas] Gandhi is a hero of mine," he says. China and India, according to Player, is where the action will be in the next few years, he says. "As far as golf is concerned, the potential is immense and has barely been tapped in India. This country can produce top-level golfers," he says.
He lives on a farm ranch in South Africa and says he is a farmer at heart. He grows organic vegetables and breeds horses as well. "I like to take a piece of ground and turn it into a gift of nature, because you see, I am all green at heart," he concludes. We've been chatting for a long time now and the CEO of his design company tells us it's time to wind up. As I drive back to work after attending a "Lunch with BS" that didn't involve any lunch, I stop at a McDonald's to pick up a burger and think Player, the environmentalist, golfer and frequent flier, wouldn't have been too happy with my choice of food.
He has a point, since Tendulkar's undoubted fame is restricted to the tiny world of cricket that has a huge fan following in India. The chatty, gregarious Player is in a good position to say this. He was, in his heyday, one of the world's best golfers, one of the five to have won the golf Grand Slam (that is, he won all the majors in one calendar year). Today, at age 78, he ranks among the world's best-known golf course designers, the reason he is in India now, writes Aabhas Sharma.
We are meeting at the DLF Golf Club in Gurgaon, Player's first self-designed golf course in India, and our lunch starts on an awkward note because he walks in with a plate full of freshly cut fruit, chocolate dessert and a glass of watermelon juice. He has had a busy day, he says by way of explanation, and is hungry. A waiter serves us an assortment of vegetarian starters - paneer tikka, vegetarian seekh kebab among others. Although there's a buffet laid out, Player isn't interested. I am quite hungry after more than an hour's drive from north Delhi, but since my guest isn't eating from the buffet, I grudgingly decide to skip it.
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He is dressed smartly and I tell him he doesn't look 78 and is extremely fit. His secret: "1,200 sit-ups a day and a lot of weight training." "When I started using weights 60 years ago people thought I was crazy. Who's the crazy one now," he asks with a chuckle.
Player's golfing career began when he turned professional in 1953. He joined the PGA Tour in 1957; he won his first Major at The British Open in 1959. During the first three decades he won nine Majors, with three British Open titles, three Masters Tournaments, two PGA Championships and the US Open.
On the DLF golf course - he has finished nine holes so far - he seems quite pleased with the work. "I am happy with the way the course has turned out, more importantly because of the water we've used at the course," he says. Since I am looking puzzled, he tells me water is one of the first things he asks about before taking up any course. "We use sewage water on golf courses and I have always maintained that fresh water should never be used," he explains. As I will learn later in our conversation, Player is an environmentalist and often delivers lectures on green initiatives and the need to conserve our environment - surely a tough position in a sport that many environmentalists themselves deride.
Golf is going be an Olympic sport at the 2016 Olympics and Player is quite excited about the idea. "Golf is a global sport and being at the Olympics will give it a bigger platform," he says. Isn't it too elitist? "Rubbish," he says roundly, and certainly not in the US, South Africa or even Europe. But it is in India, I counter. "That's because you don't have many public courses. You've to build courses for people so that they can enjoy the sport and shed this elitist sport tag," he says.
He even says if someone in India came to him to design a public course, he is willing to do it for a quarter the fee he charges from private companies. "1.2 billion people! Are you telling me that they aren't interested in a sport like golf," he asks incredulously. It's not all about the numbers, I try to argue, after all it's an expensive sport. "Yes, but so are the rewards, so is the exposure and the recognition," he retorts. Public courses can have equipment that youngsters can use to learn and play golf, he suggests.
When you meet any international sports personality, the conversation is certain to veer in the direction of cricket. Unexpectedly, Player is more than an authority to talk on the game. He played cricket with Sir Gary Sobers and knew Sir Don Bradman very well. In fact, Bradman had once asked Player for his golf gloves, but he didn't part with them. "I should have asked for his bat in return," he laughs.
Player loves cricket and is not shy of giving an opinion on the sport. He once told former Australian captain Ricky Ponting that the way he hit the ball, he was wasting his time playing cricket. On Sachin Tendulkar he says, "Marvellous little player. But if he was a golfer he could have continued to delight his fans for at least 20 years more." Player knows a thing or two about longevity. He has been playing golf for over 56 years and still plays regularly.
We're frequently interrupted by autograph hunters and people who want to take photographs with Player. He good-naturedly obliges everyone and even takes out time to chat with a teenager who talks about how he really enjoyed playing on the course.
The starters remained untouched on the table and Player, when he rejoins our conversation, doesn't even ask whether I am interested in eating them or not. Still, some sanctity has to be maintained for this column, so I order a Diet Coke.
I understand the reason for Player's fastidiousness when he tells me he is "70 per cent vegetarian" and wants to be vegan, but frequent travels and hotel stays make it difficult to avoid meat. He tells me that once flying across continents a pilot came and told him about the air miles he had flown. Player asked the pilot, how many years had he been flying. "40 years, the pilot told me," he recalls. "I told him that's nothing; I have been flying for 60 years now." It's true that Player is probably one of the most travelled athletes of all time and has clocked more 15 million air miles.
Doesn't the travel get tiring, I ask him. "I enjoy going to different countries and after 60 years of flying, I am quite used to it," he says taking a bite of a pineapple. Player has designed over 325 golf courses across the world and he says that he has visited every one of them multiple times. No wonder the air miles have been clocked!
But all said and done, it's golf that remains his big passion and he can talk for hours about it. "Look at the charity funds that golf raises, it's more than any other two sports combined," he says. Golfers are far richer than they were in his time but he doesn't grudge them that. It does boost tourism in the country as well, he says. "I have always believed that every tourist a country gets, it generates five jobs."
This is his third visit to India and being South African he knows a lot about India and Indians. "There are over 3 million Indians in my country and [Mohandas] Gandhi is a hero of mine," he says. China and India, according to Player, is where the action will be in the next few years, he says. "As far as golf is concerned, the potential is immense and has barely been tapped in India. This country can produce top-level golfers," he says.
He lives on a farm ranch in South Africa and says he is a farmer at heart. He grows organic vegetables and breeds horses as well. "I like to take a piece of ground and turn it into a gift of nature, because you see, I am all green at heart," he concludes. We've been chatting for a long time now and the CEO of his design company tells us it's time to wind up. As I drive back to work after attending a "Lunch with BS" that didn't involve any lunch, I stop at a McDonald's to pick up a burger and think Player, the environmentalist, golfer and frequent flier, wouldn't have been too happy with my choice of food.