Description
He slept on the beach the night before his first British Open. He made $30 a month. He played a major while protesters threw ice in his eyes. And he still won.
Gary Player — 9-time major champion and the most traveled athlete in history — holds nothing back. Diet and fitness obsession. Breaking apartheid in sport. Nelson Mandela up close. Unfiltered takes on Tiger, Nicklaus, and Rory. The foundation that's raised $50M+ for kids in need. And why he says life has never felt more full.
#golf #podcast #health
0:00 Intro — Raising fit kids & instilling healthy habits
0:49 Gary's diet: 70% vegetarian, no ice cream, no bacon
5:39 America's obesity epidemic, education & entitlement
8:34 How to fix it — educating the youth
8:35 ESPN Body Issue nude shoot — sending a message to America
12:30 Workout routine: 1,300 crunches & squats at nearly 80
13:56 "The chair and the couch are the destroyers of mankind"
13:57 "The harder you work, the luckier you get"
18:13 Influences: Billy Graham, Churchill & Mandela
19:38 Practicing patience — driving slow & mental toughness rituals
20:58 One year of mandatory army service
26:02 The mental game — how much of golf is in your head
29:05 Jack Nicklaus's famous quote about Gary's game
30:23 Traveling the world vs. staying in America — how many more majors?
33:15 Childhood: losing his mother at 8 & the adversity that shaped him
36:10 His father in the gold mines — 10,000 feet underground
38:20 Growing up alone — cooking his own meals, a 3-hour daily commute
39:30 Dinner with President Eisenhower & South Africa's loyalty to America
39:30 The daily school commute — trams, buses & self-discipline at age 8
43:36 His father's lesson about punctuality — borrowing clubs to go overseas
46:18 Meeting Vivienne at 14: "I'm going to marry that girl"
46:18 Early poverty: $30/month, borrowed pants, cardboard in his shoes
48:42 First British Open: sleeping on the beach, bugs in the bed
49:53 Technology is destroying golf — the ball must be rolled back
55:08 Prize money & camaraderie — how tour life has changed
56:50 Rory McIlroy: the next Grand Slam winner & possibly the greatest ever
58:17 Tiger Woods: the most talented ever — and what went wrong
1:00:28 Memorable moments from his career — Masters & Augusta
1:04:00 The President's Cup tie with Nicklaus, Mandela & Bush Sr.
1:04:40 The 1970 PGA Championship — ice thrown in his eyes during a major
1:05:10 Breaking apartheid in sport — lobbying his Prime Minister for Lee Elder
1:09:15 Gary's own early views on apartheid — and how they changed
1:11:25 The criticism he faced — and why nothing was ever enough
1:16:17 How travel & education changed everything
1:17:32 Speaking out against the system — the turning point
1:17:32 Nelson Mandela — the green apple story & the power of forgiveness
1:20:05 Mandela's tribute: "His legacy will last forever"
1:24:03 The South African ranch — running out of gas & a father's lesson
1:25:34 Life on the farm — horses, nature & why cities would kill him
1:30:00 Horses vs. golf — which passion wins now?
1:31:11 The thoroughbred stud farm — losing tens of millions & loving it
1:32:27 The most traveled athlete in history — a 40-hour flight story
1:32:51 Winning the Australian Open 3 hours after landing, never seeing the course
1:34:18 Jet lag secrets — no food on planes & green juice
1:35:50 The Player Foundation — $50M+ raised for underprivileged children
1:38:23 What still drives Gary Player today
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Episode debuted nationwide in 2014.