SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 3, 2003

Gary Player

GARY PLAYER: As I said, 6 children, 13 grandchildren, 300 race horses, so I have got a win to break even. Jay, thank you very much for the nice introduction. I really appreciate that. As we all know, Jay was one of the greatest amateurs that the United States has ever had and his bank managers never ever have been as happy with him as he is right now. He makes a lot more money as an amateur or as an insurance broker or whatever title he deserves, and so Jay has done extremely well on the Tour and we are very friendly with both he and Betty and may I reciprocate and say he, too, and his wife are our friends. There are always two sides to a story (laughter). First of all, I think you are a candidate for Alzheimers (laughter). Let me tell you my version. I came out of this beautiful, cool locker room, he was standing on the hill there and yes, these people were jumping around and wanting autographs. He was telling them, tell them I am in a hurry. So I thought well, I will fix this. And I said to all those kids, you see that man there on the hill - he looks very much like Sam Snead - I said that's Sam Snead. They all left me to get his autograph. (Laughter). And I must say as far as my wife is concerned who has travelled with me -- I have travelled 14 million miles, probably more than any human being that has ever lived and I am just warming up. To have travelled with me extensively as we did when I first came to this great country, and I put the emphasis on great - we travelled -- (APPLAUSE) In fact, if you live in this country you should kiss the ground every day of your life and never forget to say thank you. We travelled with six children that took -- there were no jets. It took 40 hours to get here. We had 33 pieces of baggage, which was my job. We had three taxis and three rooms and we were playing for a first prize of 2,800. In fact, (Inaudible) two other children and my mother-in-law, can you imagine my mother-in-law. We all left for Aronimink. And I arrived here and I just fell in love with this golf course. I mean, Ray Charles would just love this course. The ambience of this place was simply outstanding and the members were so friendly and I sat on that beautiful veranda looking over these magnificent trees - I am a farmer as well as a golfer, and I really appreciate nature to the highest level. And so I felt very comfortable and can you believe it, you know, I was on this golf course today, I said, I shot 278 around here, this is a tough golf course and I drove with a 4-wood and I thought if I had to do that today I wouldn't reach the green on those short par 4s with two 4-woods. So it just shows you how those young muscles and how things change. But change is the price of survival. I get here and I say to myself today, well, this superintendent Rick, you know, when you got a garden of an acre, and you have it looking absolutely in impeccable condition, you are very proud of yourself. But this man has got 200 acres of absolute perfection. (APPLAUSE). The only way that I could describe it - they said to me, what do you think of the golf course. I said, well, it's an 11 out of 10. We always find something wrong either the bunker sand is too soft or it's too soft or there's this, or that, but I tried hard to find a fault today and I couldn't find it and I said, thank God, I am a member of this place. (Laughter). Now, what is the first thing that comes to one's mind when you appreciate something, in fact, I am not ashamed to say, but I say my prayer five times a day because I have travelled extensively to the most unbelievable places in this world and what my eyes have seen all of you in this room put together, quite honestly, will never seen what I have seen and so I have everyday with a grateful heart and so when I come here and I made an honorary member of this magnificent golf club, I say, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate it very, very much indeed and don't take things for granted like that and let me tell you, you have had a lot of people in the past applying for membership for this great golf course, but I have waited 41 years. ( Laughter). What do you think the first prize was -- you see I have still got all that money what I won in '62, $13,000. Now you play on the Champions Tour the new name for the SENIORS Tour, and then they have a Super Seniors Tour that's for 60 and over. All you have got to do is not fall out of the cart and make 10 grand. And here I come along and I looked today, I say I won 13 grand and Jack Nicklaus shot 218 and he won $3,400. But with my wife standing here and I have mentioned this story on a few occasions, I am sure you have read of it, but some of you haven't and this is an absolute true story we're playing in Lexington, Kentucky, which is my favorite part of the United States because I am in the thoroughbred horse business, and I win the tournament, my first tournament in America, I go back and I win it two more times in Kentucky and I am so excited, we just had this new Callaway driver I helped to develop and they said, what do you think -- why are you hitting the ball a little further. I said, well, I have done this, this and that and like a fool I said, if I had to choose between this driver and my wife, I'd miss her. She's in Salt Lake City; I am in Lexington. She picks up the newspaper and reads this. So I go to the next tournament in Oregon and I am calling her name in the room and she's hiding in the cupboard. I walk into the room and there's my driver on the bed with a negligee wrapped around it. Like Ali, you see, she had to rub it in and she had a little note, you have chosen your new mate, may you hit it long and straight. But baby, I won't be waiting at the gate. But I would like to say, you know, when I came back here in 1962, as I say, with my tail between my legs and, you know I just -- I won the British Open in 1959 then I won the Masters in '61 and I had this great desire to win the Grand Slam. And came here and you win this tournament now you got three legs in, it's a very special thing. And a gentleman in South Africa gave me -- and you can see look at this thing, it's absolutely falling to pieces, and this was such a great help to me coming back here having missed the cut and feeling like I was, and then I put myself together and I remembered this prayer and not a prayer, it's a little poem by a man called Charles Wendell. It's called attitude. The longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than fact. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, and what other people say or think or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skilled --listen to this. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that particular day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have and that's our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you we are in charge of our attitudes. And then, you know, it's an interesting thing, we who have played golf can appreciate what a difficult humbling disease, experience, that this game is. It reminds me of a puzzle without an answer because today you have got it and tomorrow you have lost it. And that's the intriguing thing about it. So you know I relate this little prayer to golfers. This is so appropriate because it reminds me so much of golfers. A prayer answered. Ask for strength -- you think about this when you are a professional golfer and you got to feed those kids and those horses and those grandchildren and pay for your airfares, when I won $13,000 folks my bull was 23,000. So you could imagine the prayers that goes through a professional golfer. I asked for strength and got gave me difficulties to make me strong. I prayed for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve. I asked for prosperity and God gave me brains and strength to work. I prayed for courage and God gave me dangers to overcome. I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help. I prayed for favors and God gave me nice opportunities. I asked for humility and a God gave me experiences not to be proud of. I asked God to grant me patience and God said, no, he said that patience is a product of tribulation and is not granted, it is earned, the old-fashioned way. I asked God to spare me pain and God said no, he said suffering draws you apart from worried cares and brings you closer to me. I received nothing I wanted. I received everything I needed. My prayer has been answered. (APPLAUSE). In conclusion, I would like to just say time goes by very quickly. You got to smell the roses and enjoy every day. And I think what I think back of the wonderful memories I have had, you know people always are talking about my nine majors on the regular Tour, but my nine majors on the SENIOR TOUR have given me maybe even more pleasure because you have got over 50 and you have had a battle against these guys who can play like hell - if I may use that term - and you come out here and you watch them and this is a very, very tough golf course. This is the toughest golf course we have ever played a senior championship on and you will see this week, I don't think anybody will break par. I might be wrong. I am the worst at guessing scores but this course is in immaculate condition. You drive in the rough, you chip it out, as a major championship should be, and to the PGA of America , and all its staff, and all the people that we have so aptly seen tonight that go to making a success of the tournament, I say thank you, and I am going to end up saying memories are the cushions of life. Thank you.