That's rich! Player says he didn't back apartheid

TO call Gary Player a liar might be construed as libellous, so let's simply say Mr Player has flirted with the truth, what used to be called "extending the truth."

What's that all about? I hear you ask.

To find the answer you need to look at the latest issue of South Africa Golf Digest.

Regrettably I challenge the November 2002 issue and an interview with Gary Player.

The writer of the article is Guy Yocom, whom I have to assume is an American golf journalist as I do not know any golf correspondent in South Africa of that name. In the article Yocom quotes Player as saying, inter alia, "I didn't believe in apartheid and I surely wasn't responsible for it, but I was a ripe target."

Didn't believe in apartheid!

Gary, you have got to be kidding!

You made an unequivocal observation in your book, Grand Slam Golf, and I quote: "And I must say now, AND CLEARLY (the capitals are mine), that I am of the South Africa of Verwoerd and apartheid" -- Verwoerd, architect of apartheid, a policy which led South Africa into the wilderness and international pariah standing.

How much more can you distance yourself from your latest stance?

Player would have us believe that from being a fawning acolyte at the altar of apartheid he has become a crusading liberal, the same Player who willingly backed the establishment of The Citizen newspaper, a newspaper subsequently exposed as an insidious siphon of pro-apartheid publicity in the famous Information scandal which rocked South Africa in the 1970s; the same Player who failed to speak up on behalf of South Africa's best known Indian sportsman, Sewsunker 'Papwa' Sewgolum, when Sewgolum was presented with his trophy outside in rain after winning a major golf tournament in Natal in the 1950s because he wasn't allowed in the racially exclusive hallowed portals of the Durban Country Club clubhouse.

But the same Player did subsequently say he welcomed 'Papwa' playing in South African tournaments "because he brings colour" (sic) to the tournament scene.

Player subsequently defended himself over the 'trophy presentation in the rain' episode by proclaiming, "I wasn't even there."

However, it seems my own disillusionment with Player apropos 'Papwa' was shared by at least one other writer.

I don't know if it was a book review, but writing in that pre-eminent journal, The New Yorker, in January, 1968, E J Kahn, Jr, penned these words:

"Player is probably the most celebrated South African athlete who still lives in South Africa. A physical fitness and health food faddist, he runs the Gary Player Health Centre in Johannesburg.

"In Grand Slam Golf, an autobiography he wrote in 1966, he credits God and the proper diet -- and also his Government -- for his success.

"He won the 1961 Masters, he says, because God wanted him to; he won an important match-play tournament in 1965 because he got to thinking about his country, 'maligned, misunderstood, pilloried by people who can tell us how to order our affairs from a range of 6 000 miles without ever coming down to South Africa and seeing for themselves and trying to understand.'

"One of the oddest things about the book is that it contains no mention of a man who, if it were not for South Africa's rules about sports, would quite possibly be a golfer as formidable as the author.

"This is an Indian pro, Sewsunker Sewgolum, whose nickname is Papwa."

I have quoted from Grand Slam Golf down the years, more specifically Player's unequivocal backing of Verwoerdian apartheid.

Certainly his political colours were still firmly nailed to the National Party flag pole more than a decade later when it emerged he had been a member of the secret clique assembled by Eschel Rhoodie and his Infogate pals to back the launching of the English Nationalist voice piece, The Citizen, during the BJ Vorster regime.

Only a fool would deny Player is South Africa's greatest ever golfer -- as long as he's got a club in his hand. Unfortunately, nearly every time he opens his mouth, as with this latest gaffe in SA Golf Digest, he becomes a prime candidate for chairmanship of the Foot in Mouth Club.

Talking of South Africa Golf Digest . . .

Stuart McLean is the outstanding editor of an excellent publication, but the September 2000 issue had me wondering what he was smoking!

The issue includes photographs of the famous (infamous?) golf slacks featuring one black leg, one white leg Player wore during the Centenary Open of the British Open in 1960 and again at the Millennium Open in 2000.

The caption, referring to the 1960 exhibitionism, notes, inter alia: "Wearing one black trouser leg and the other white was Player's protest at the time against apartheid in South Africa."

Well, blow me down! You sure could have fooled me!

Six years down the road Player was writing in his first book published in 1966: "And I must say now, and clearly, that I am of the South Africa of Verwoerd and apartheid . . . ."

Seems to me the one black leg, one white leg rather was an endorsement of the separateness apartheid espoused.

As a young golf correspondent I idolised Gary Player, wrote sychophantically of him and, in the words of the cliche, would have laid down my life for him.

Over the years however, idolatry turned to total disillusionment. Many Player fans read his political road to Damascus experience as a change of heart. Me? Sorry, I see it as political opportunism.

(Now, for the faceless, spineless coward who makes a point of sending me provocative notes every time I mention Player's "And I must say now, and clearly, that I am of the South Africa of Verwoerd and apartheid," I would like to point out I have deliberately quoted him again if only to antagonise you further. And every time Player puts foot in mouth I will continue to quote his famous (infamous?) words.

(The last time you sent me a note you made the point I had referred to that quote three times in five years. Make that four times in seven years!)

DEVELOPMENT

Leonard Ndadlana, who looks after the development arm of Border golf, was quite chuffed when I saw him yesterday, puffing his chest out over a Development team whitewashing Stutterheim 8-0 in an inter-schools fixture. The first team won 4-0 and the third team 4-0. What's more, the wins, except one, were fairly substantial.

The results were:

Firsts: Siya Duma bt Patrick Connellan 5/4; Ndaba Manyosi bt Warren Hartley 4/3; Luntu Hashe bt Reece Daniel 3/2; Ntsikelelo Naliphi bt Jason Maclachlan 3/1.

Thirds: Vusi Makeba bt Brandon Hartley 2 up; Thabani Panyaza bt Schalk Brand 3/1; Mziyanda Sixaka bt Gary Blom 4/3; Abongile Magadla bt Andre Truter 4/3.

Ndadlana was particularly pleased, too, 13 leading Development players are now sporting new shoes, courtesy Martin Pinto, a former president of the SA Golf Federation and now operations director of the SA Golf Development Board.

There are 250 Development players, aged 8 to 18, on the Border with the leading player Siya Duma, son of well-known Alex member Enoch Duma. The younger Duma plays off four.

Another Development golfer, Luntu Hashe, has been selected for the Border Foundation U16 team.

Leading nine-hole scores (par 36) at Alex on Monday afternoon (Alex and Gonubie extend the courtesy of their courses to Development players at no charge on Monday afternoons) included 41 by Siya Duma, 42 by his sister, Siviwe, and 42 by Hashe.

'TITCH' MOORE

'Titch' Moore, the PE pro, claimed his second victory in four weeks on the Sunshine Tour when he cruised to a five-stroke triumph in the Platinum Classic at the Mooinooi Golf Club on Sunday. Moore's rounds of 65 66 67 earned him victory in the 54-hole event with an 18-under par 198.

Doug McGuigan was second on 13-under par 203 with Des Terblanche third on 204.

Moore earned himself a healthy R79 000 for the win, as well as sponsor bonuses of R1000 for sharing the lowest round in the first (65) and second rounds (66) and R2500 for sharing the lowest round of the tournament (65).

But more importantly, Moore will take the confidence of this victory with him to Europe in two weeks time where he will try and gain his European tour card at the tour's qualifying school.

Moore narrowly missed out on gaining his European card through the European Challenge Tour, where he needed to finish the season in the top 15 on the rankings, but ended 17th.

The 12th at Mooinooi presented Moore with his first real challenge in the final round. He pulled his drive and his ball came to rest on an ant run. "That's basically like playing a long bunker shot with all that sand and I came up short of the green with my second."

It led to the first bogey of the round and his first bogey in his last 66 holes of golf on the Sunshine Tour. He then succumbed to his second bogey in three holes when he dropped again at the par-four 14th and closed off his round with an unfortunate bogey at the last.

The Platinum Classic wrapped up the winter schedule of the Sunshine Tour. The new season tees off with the Telkom PGA Championship at Woodhill Country Club next week.

CHAMBER DAY

The Border-Kei Chamber of Business-BOE golf day offers an excellent opportunity to combine networking and a novel competition more corporate days would do well to follow.

Played as a fourball American scramble the event takes place next Thursday (November 14) and is always a fun event on the East London business calendar.

The rules run along these lines: Four in a team drive, choose the best drive and then that format is repeated until the ball is holed. Maximum handicaps are 24 for men and 30 for women. The event also features a mystery combined handicapping system.

Any company conducting business in East London is welcome to play. Phone Cary Carroll on (043) 743 8438.

STOLEN BAGS

King golfer Garth McKenzie, spurred by last week's report of a putter apparently stolen from a bag at the East London GC, phoned to tell me of incidents in Bloemfontein at the national Quacks tournament a fortnight ago.

He reports a brand new bag, including brand new shoes, was stolen from the Bloemfontein GC, "where the manager was not very helpful."

What exacerbated this theft was the player's car keys were in his bag and his wife had to drive from King William's Town to Bloemfontein to take the spare keys up to her husband.

During the tournament a further two tog bags were stolen from Bloemfontein's other leading course, Schoeman Park, reports McKenzie.

As last week's letter writer, Wendy de Bruyn, noted: What's happening in golf, a game always promoted as a gentleman's game?