A Caste Football salute to Gary Player, who played the final round today of his 52nd and last Masters on Friday. 52 of them! It's one of the really cool things about golf that great players can continue playing almost as long as they want without embarrassing themselves. In what other sport -- or anything else for that matter -- can you find someone who was among the best in the 1950s still at it and still competitive? Player was the last of the "Big Three" -- Palmer, Nicklaus, Player -- to play The Masters. Player remains in great condition at 73, and has always been a class act, a tremendous ambassador for the sport in spite of the "disadvantage" of being from hated South Africa while it was still white run (and of coursebefore it was subsequently ruined by non-white rule).
I love tradition, healthy traditions that is, and there are few really admirable ones anymore in this soulless, materialistic society. Golf is a tradition laden sport, much like baseball; golf has sold out to an extent to corporate control as has everything else, butBobby Jones' courseand The Masters remain special. The interaction between athlete and spectator is unique in golf, and nowhere better illustrated than in this event. The more sentiment and traditionthe better as far as I'm concerned; I can't get enough of it!
