I'd rather have Lyle's two majors than all Monty's titles, says Player

Published on Monday 6 July 2009 22:55

GARY Player has paid tribute to Colin Montgomerie as the most consistent Scottish golfer of the past 50 years but insisted he would not swap Monty's eight Order of Merit titles for Sandy Lyle's two major championship successes at the 1985 Open and the 1988 Masters.

The winner of nine majors and one of only five men ever to secure the career Grand Slam – Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the others – Player felt it was a 'tragedy' Montgomerie's career has not been rewarded with a single major victory.

Asked which Scot had made the most impact on him during his career, Player replied: "I'm a great believer in looking at the record book. It doesn't lie. And Colin Montgomerie was the leading money winner on the European Tour eight times. That was phenomenal and for me it was a tragedy he never won either the Open or the US Open.

"If ever someone threw the US Open away, though, it was him at Winged Foot. He needed a par on the last hole to win, a bogey to tie and made double. It's a great shame he didn't win one. You have to be careful what you say, but (at 46] I think it's too late for him now.

"Who goes down in history as the better player – Sandy Lyle or Colin Montgomerie? It's a very debatable issue. But if you said to me personally, whose record would you rather have, Montgomerie's or Lyle's, then I'd take Lyle's."

Player was speaking in East Lothian where the Gary Player Invitational, a charitable tournament which has helped to raise $30 million for children around the world, takes place today at Archerfield, adjacent to Muirfield, the links where he won his first major, the Open, in 1959.

Player is friendly with Kevin Doyle, the Edinburgh businessman who owns Archerfield, and first visited the property more than 30 years ago when he considered buying the land himself. "Then I heard Kevin had bought it and we brought our charity day here because it's such a great facility."

The golfer knows Scotland has yet to produce Montgomerie's successor, and the gulf between the amateur scene where the Scots are European and world team champions and the professional ranks, where no Scot currently figures in the top 100 of the world rankings, remains wide. "Everyone needs guidance and you need someone who can speak to young people," he reflected. "I think I've helped two people to win the Masters, or at least played a role in their victories. But if you take an amateur businessman and a professional businessman, the difference is self-explanatory. It's a giant step, a move into a different league. The bar has to be raised and that's a shock to some people. How many are prepared to make the sacrifices?"

The Open champion in 1968 and 1974 as well as 1959, Player says the oldest major has been his favourite. "The weather is always a factor," he said. "I loved that challenge. On a links you can hit a wedge 150 yards or you can need a 3-iron for the same distance. I was the youngest ever winner at 23 in 1959. That was when the Americans didn't want to play in the Open. They said it was 'camping out', can you believe that?

"It was a common saying and used to irritate the living daylights out of me. You have to be very careful about placing yourself in history. But one thing I feel about Arnold (Palmer], Jack (Nicklaus] and myself is we really had a passion for the game. It wasn't a business for us.

"I'm not envious of the money players make from the game today. I don't want them to think I'm jealous. But it's food for thought when ordinary players leave the game with a pension worth millions and the three of us left with nothing. And maybe, to a degree, that breeds complacency."

Player hopes accuracy will count for something at Turnberry and fears the modern game places too much emphasis on power rather than strategy. He recalled Nicklaus once telling him at Augusta how the leading lights today were not ranked in the top 100 for driving accuracy. Player didn't believe him.

"I went and checked it and he was right," said the winner of three Opens, three Masters, two US PGA titles and one US Open. "So I spoke to Vijay (Singh] about it. He told me they didn't worry about that, they just hit the ball as far as they can because they have the grooves to control the ball out of the rough."

That will change when the PGA Tour introduces new regulations for clubs with more than 25 degrees of loft next year. It means the ball will spin less on shots hit from rough. Player believes the adjustment is overdue and would also like to see the ruling bodies restrict the distance of the ball. "Otherwise there are beautiful courses which are going to be obsolete."

Having made his debut as a teenager at the Open in St Andrews in 1955, before going on to win four years later at Muirfield, the South African continues to enjoy a strong affinity with the home of golf. "It's always been a big thing for me to compete in Scotland," he recalled. "When my wife (Vivienne] and I arrived here yesterday, she said to me that if we hadn't lived in South Africa, we would have lived in Scotland."

The golfer's connection with Scotland stretches even further back, of course, to his grandather, Horace Ferguson, who emigrated from Glasgow to South Africa and was instrumental in teaching Player discipline when it came to diet. "When I went to his cottage, he had a jar of sweeties and would tell me: 'Laddie, you can have one, if you take more, I'll smack your bum'."

Nearly 70 years on and Player is back in the land of his ancestors, eating a bowl of fresh fruit for breakfast.