1965 US Open: Winner Completes Career Grand Slam By Brent Kelley Updated November 24, 2015. Gary Player became the third player in golf history to achieve the " career Grand Slam " when he won the 1965 U.S. Open. Player joined Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan as the only golfers to that point to win all four of what we now consider the professional majors: The Masters , U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship . Of Player's nine career wins in majors, this was his only U.S. Open title. South Africa native Player also became the first foreign-born winner of the U.S. Open since 1927. Player earned the title by beating Australian Kel Nagle in an 18-hole playoff, 71 to 74. The playoff was necessitated when Player blew a 3-stroke lead with three holes to play in the final round, double-bogeying the 71st hole while Nagle birdied it. In the playoff, Nagle bogied the first hole while Player birdied the second and third holes.

Player's edge was five at the end of the front nine, and he wound up shooting 71 to Nagle's 74. Player earned $26,000 for the win, but he kept only $1,000 of it for himself. continue reading below our video How to Throw a Perfect Curve Ball in Baseball The rest he donated to the USGA, with the bulk of the donation going toward junior golf programs. The USGA's history of this tournament notes that Player's donation "... was the start of the USGA eventually forming a foundation to assist grassroots junior golf programs as well as programs for those with disabilities." The U.S. Open had a change in format this year, switching to 18 holes of play for each of four days. Previously, the tournament began with 18 holes per day for two days, then 36 holes on the third day. Arnold Palmer missed the cut, the only time from 1962 to 1967 that Palmer failed to finish inside the Top 5 in the U.S. Open. Tom Weiskopf made his major championship debut in the 1965 U.S. Open, finishing tied for 40th.

1965 U.S. Open Golf Tournament Scores Results from the 1965 U.S. Open golf tournament played on the par-70 Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri (x-won playoff; a-amateur): x-Gary Player 1965 US OPEN WINNER PLAYER TO BE HONORED IN ST. LOUIS: Gary Player 1965 US OPEN WINNER PLAYER TO BE HONORED IN ST. LOUIS Apr 27, 2015 | Filed Under: General News Next up on golf’s Major championship menu is the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. And like the recently completed Masters Tournament, the national championship entertains the possibility of a career Grand Slam being consummated. At The Masters, Rory McIlroy had the chance. McIlroy has won the U.S. and British Opens, as well as the PGA Championship. If he can add a Masters he will join the Fab Five to capture all four majors in their careers — Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. McIlroy’s pursuit was a big story coming into Masters Week, but Jordan Spieth was the story coming out.

At the U.S. Open on Puget Sound in Washington, Phil Mickelson once again has the slam in play. When Mickelson won the 2013 British Open, it gave him three of the majors and left the U.S. Open as the missing link. Problem is, it’s the U.S. Open, where Mickelson has finished second six times, where he always stays at Heartbreak Hotel. In his first attempt at the “improbable quadrilateral” last June, he finished 28th at Pinehurst. If he can get over the hump at Chambers Bay, he will become the sixth member of Grand Slamma Jamma. The circumstances in this year are especially appropriate for St. Louis. The 2015 U.S. Open marks the 50th anniversary of the 1965 U.S. Open at Bellerive Country Club. That championship was unique in a number of ways, and the last U.S. Open to be conducted in our town. Most prominently, it was where Player made the final installment on his Grand Slam and secured his place among the greats of the game. To that end, Greg Maracek’s St.

Louis Sports Hall of Fame will recognize Player and that historic week when it presents “The Legends of Golf” program Monday at Chaminade Prep. Along with Player and Bellerive, the awards show also will honor Nick Price, who made the 1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive the first of his three Major titles. Longtime St. Louis golf professional Dick Shapier also will be recognized. All will be on hand to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. In addition, the Jay Randolph Achievement Awards will be presented to local players who have won area golf association events over the past year. Player and Price will be in town after competing at the Champions Tour Legends of Golf event in Branson, Mo. over the weekend. At 79, Player remains devoted to fitness and conditioning and looks remarkable. Perhaps he will wear the same shirt he wore at Bellerive in 1965 — the one he washed in his hotel room each night — the one he wore each day of the competition. The Bellerive course was just more than five years old when the national championship came calling in ’65. Once located on the grounds occupied by the University of Missouri-St.

Louis, the club moved to its present location at Ladue and Mason roads in 1960. Highly regarded architect Robert Trent Jones designed the new layout, with long, turning fairways and humongous greens. It would take years for the grounds to mature. In ’65, some fairways still looked like rippled washboards, as the lines of new turf were still filling in. The course was set up at 7,191 yards, the longest in championship history to that point. But it didn’t play especially long. As is often the case here in June, the conditions were hot and parched that week. Covering the event for the Los Angeles Times, legendary correspondent Jim Murray called the environment “18 holes of capital punishment.” Player had won the 1961 Masters, 1959 British Open and 1962 PGA when he came to Bellerive. Two months earlier, he had tied for second at the ’65 Masters. He credits his longtime rival and friend for getting him focused on Bellerive.

“I have to give Jack Nicklaus a lot of credit for my win because he told me, ‘If you want to win, you better come with me a week early and get in a practice round and familiarize yourself with the golf course,’ ” Player recalled when he was in town a few years ago. “I didn’t normally do that and I wasn’t planning on getting there that early. But I took his advice and it really wound up working to my advantage.” Along with the historic nature of Player’s performance, a number of things made that ’65 U.S. Open special. To that time, the USGA jewel was conducted over three days, featuring a 36-hole finish on Saturday. The marathon finale often produced roller-coaster drama and come-from-behind stories. Ken Venturi’s epic 1964 win in the heat at Congressional was a prime example. But for a number of reasons, not the least of which was television, the USGA adopted a new four-day format at Bellerive, featuring the 18-hole finale Sunday. Moreover, the ’65 U.S. Open was the first golf tournament to be televised in color. Coincidentally, St. Louis Country Club had conducted the first televised U.S.

Open in 1947. At that time, KSD (Channel 5) had one camera involved, located on a truck behind the 18th green, sending images to the station via telephone wires. At Bellerive, the production included 75 people and more than a dozen cameras. In those days, the USGA required competitors to use local caddies for the championship. Player’s looper was Frank Pagel, a 16-year-old sophomore at now-defunct Mercy High. Player required Pagel to carry a jar of honey in the bag, which Player used to deal with the oppressive heat. “Every two or three holes or so, he would take a swig of the honey,” Pagel recalled years later. The 29-year-old Player had a three-shot lead over Australian Kel Nagle with three holes to play. Nagle, who passed away last January at the age of 94, was the 1960 British Open winner. When Player double-bogeyed the par-3 16th, Nagle birdied No. 17 to create a three-shot swing in one fell swoop.

Both finished at 2-over-par 282 to force a Monday playoff. If you listen closely, you can still hear the moans coming from the press tent. The 18-hole extra proved anticlimactic. An erratic Nagle hooked a drive on No. 5 that bloodied the forehead of an unsuspecting woman. Rattled by the scene, Nagle hit a spectator in the leg with his next shot and made a double-bogey on the hole. Wearing that shirt for a fifth consecutive day, Player birdied three of the first eight and led by five at the turn. The ballgame was over and the South African became the first foreign-born player to win the U.S. Open in 38 years. Even more noteworthy, he became only the third player at the time – with Sarazen and Hogan – to complete the Slam. One of sports’ greatest gentlemen, Player donated $5,000 of his $25,000 first-place check to cancer research (his mother died of cancer) and the rest to the USGA to advance junior golf.

Player also tipped Pagel $2,000, which had an income value of close to $30,000 by today’s standards. Pagel used the money to purchase a motorcycle so he wouldn’t have to thumb it to Bellerive anymore. No doubt Pagel’s motorcycle is long gone. But 50 years later, Player is still going strong. It will be great to see him again. Maybe he’ll be wearing the same shirt. Article courtesy of STLtoday.com National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC School You Gotta Know These Golfers Tiger Woods (1975-present) Born to an African-American father and a Thai mother, he appeared on "The Mike Douglas Show" with a golf club at age two. Woods won three straight U.S. Junior Amateurs, and then became the only golfer to win three straight U.S. Amateurs (1994-1996). In 1997 Woods became the youngest ever to win the Masters--by a whopping 12 strokes. At the 2000 U.S.

Open, when he won by 15 strokes, Woods began a remarkable run of four straight major championships: British Open (by eight strokes, making him the youngest ever to complete the career Grand Slam), PGA Championship, and the 2001 Masters. Woods added a third Masters in 2002, giving him seven major pro titles. Jack Nicklaus (1940-present) Nicknamed "The Golden Bear," he won the U.S. Amateur twice (1959 and 1961), and was the 1961 NCAA champion at Ohio State. He took his first major the following year at the U.S. Open, beating Arnold Palmer on Palmer's home course. Nicklaus became the youngest Masters champion at the time in 1963, and 23 years later became the oldest champion with a final round 65 in 1986. He has a record 18 major pro championships overall, including six Masters, five PGA Championships, four U.S. Opens, and three British Opens. Nicklaus is still somewhat active on the Senior PGA Tour, and as a golf course architect.

Arnold Palmer (1929-present) A native of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Palmer made golf popular with the masses, as his fans were known as "Arnie's Army." He won seven majors, including four Masters, and was the first golfer to earn one million dollars on the PGA Tour. Later Palmer became one of the stars of the Senior Tour, winning the Senior PGA Open in 1980 and 1981. In 2002 he played in his last competitive Masters. Ben Hogan (1912-1997) The PGA Tour's leading money winner from 1940-42 and in 1946 and 1948, two events interrupted his playing career: service in World War II and a near-fatal 1949 head-on car accident. After each, though, Hogan rose to the top of his game; he won nine majors overall (six after the accident), including four U.S. Opens. In 1953 he accomplished a feat matched only by Tiger Woods: winning three modern major championships in one season: the Masters, U.S. Open, and British Open.

(Robert Tyre) "Bobby" Jones (1902-1971) An Atlanta native, and the greatest amateur golfer of all time, Jones never turned pro, but won thirteen major championships in eight years, including four U.S. Amateurs. In 1930 he won what was then considered the Grand Slam, taking both the British and U.S. Amateur and Open Championships. After that season, Jones retired from golf to practice law, but helped design a golf course in Augusta, Georgia that became the permanent site of the Masters in 1934. Sam Snead (1912-2002) No golfer has won more PGA Tournaments than Snead's 81, and he amassed 135 victories worldwide. Nicknamed "Slammin' Sammy," he won seven major professional championships between 1942 and 1954, but he is known more for the one he never won: the U.S. Open. In 1939 Snead led the Open for 71 holes but lost on the last hole when he took an eight.

In the 1960s and '70s he won a record six Senior PGA Championships. Byron Nelson (1912-present) He won five major championships overall, but Nelson is best known for having the single most dominant year in golf history. In 1945 he won a record 18 tournaments in 30 starts, including 11 consecutive tournaments, a feat no one has come close to matching. Nelson was so even-tempered and mechanically sound that the USGA named its mechanical club and ball-testing device, the "Iron Byron," after him. Tom Watson (1949-present) He became the major rival to Jack Nicklaus in the second half of the Golden Bear's career. Watson's greatest achievements were at the British Open, a tournament he won five times between 1975 and 1983. He took eight major championships overall, and still competes occasionally on the regular PGA Tour, though mostly on the Senior Tour, where he won the 2001 Senior PGA Championship.

Lee Trevino (1939-present) Nicknamed "Supermex" for his Mexican-American heritage, Trevino came from a poor Dallas family and served in the Marines, but came from nowhere to win the 1968 U.S. Open. He won six majors: the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship twice each, his second PGA in 1984 at age 44. That last win was most impressive because it came after the 1975 Western Open, where Trevino was struck by lightning on the golf course. Gary Player (1935-present) The most successful non-American golfer in history, this South African has won nine majors. When Player took his only U.S. Open crown in 1965, he not only became the first non-American to win that tournament in 45 years, but he also became one of three (now five) golfers (along with Nicklaus, Woods, Hogan, and Gene Sarazen) to win all four modern Grand Slam events. Nicknames include "The Black Knight" for his dress and "Mr. Fitness" for his devotion to exercise.

Gene Sarazen (1902-1999) Born Eugene Saraceni, he came to prominence in the early 1920s, winning the PGA Championship in 1922 and 1923, as well as the U.S. Open in 1922. Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen then dominated golf until the early 1930s, when Sarazen returned to form, winning four more majors. At the 1935 Masters, he carded an albatross (three under par) from the fairway of the Par-5 15th hole to force a playoff; when he won, Sarazen became the first golfer to complete the modern career Grand Slam. Walter Hagen (1892-1969) Nicknamed "The Haig," he was the first great pro golfer, appearing in over 2,500 exhibitions. A five-time PGA Champion, including four straight from 1924 to 1927, Hagen won eleven majors overall, and he was known most for his showmanship and his ability to recover from poor shots with spectacular ones.

Hagen captained the U.S. Ryder Cup team six of the first seven times the event was held. This article was contributed by Adam Fine. Dave Marr and the 1965 PGA Championship: A son's memories, a father's legacy - PGA.com Dave Marr, 1965 PGA Champion Dave Marr: A son's memories, a father's legacy Published: Thursday, August 13, 2015 | 7:58 p.m. By Dave Marr III, Special to PGA.com Kohler, Wis. -- Before he was guiding viewers through the intricacies of the world’s most important golf championships, before he captained the greatest team in the history of international play, before he held off two Hall of Fame members at the crossroads of his personal and professional lives, my dad was a scared and fatherless 14 year old whose mother worked two jobs to make ends meet and whose siblings were sent to live with relatives in order for the family to survive. In the roaring 20s Jack Burke, Sr. and Dave Marr, Sr. were cousins living under the same roof in Philadelphia.

Jack, a warm and gregarious young man, moved in with the Marrs after his father passed away. Living in such cramped quarters, with similar interests, the boys grew close though the pair couldn’t possibly know the impact they would have on the game they would grow to love. Burke made the first move, heading to Texas, whose residents were just learning about the sport blossoming in the east. He would go on to influence the teachings of Jack Grout and Harvey Penick and help sharpen the playing abilities of Jimmy Demaret, Ben Hogan and his son Jack, Jr. In my biased opinion, however, the most important piece of advice he imparted came in a phone call to his cousin, still stuck back in Philly. A decent living could be made in golf-crazy Texas, giving lessons and tending to the course in season while doing yard work for club members during the off season. My grandfather was convinced and another Yankee club professional was Lone Star struck. Securing a job in Beaumont at Baytown Country Club, dapper Dave Marr Sr and the lovely Grace Darnell started a family. My grandmother was quite the golfer herself, though she never made mention of it to me personally.

It was only after she passed that my uncle Jack regaled me with tales of her successes, including the time she played with Babe Didrikson. She may have kept her playing ability secret but there was no mistaking the wit and warmth that she passed to her eldest child. Dad became the reluctant teenage head of his household in 1948 when his father died of liver failure. Grace lived up to her given name, making beds at a motel during the day and waitressing at night while her two sons caddied at Memorial Park in Houston. My grandmother never talked about those hard times or what it was like having to send her two youngest, Tess and Jack, to live in Louisiana with her relatives. I can only imagine how difficult it was for her to say goodbye, or how happy the reunion must have been when she was able to welcome them back to a stable living situation. When he was 16 my father got a scholarship to the academic powerhouse Rice Institute, now known as Rice University. He would say that he left after a year because he was making golf scores on his tests, not 60s and 70s but 4s and 5s.

But the real reason was that no one could balance the time required to be academically successful with the time required to caddy and play golf, learn a trade that would lead to a head professional job and the care for a family financially. He transferred to the University of Houston for a year where his intellect allowed him to get through classes with enough ease that he could also work on his golf game practically full time. After a year at Houston the 18-year-old knew that his mother needed more help than he was giving and the situation couldn’t possibly hold up for another two years. The Houston golf community, and Robie Williams in particular, had helped guide young Dave to that point, but it was clear that the better assistant professional jobs were in the east. One of his surrogate fathers, Tommy Bolt, stepped up, offering a quick route to employment; drive his Cadillac to Palm Beach and Bolt would find dad a job there. Upon arriving Bolt invited my father to dinner. He would be spending the evening with legendary club professional Claude Harmon who hired assistants for his two prestigious clubs, Seminole during the winter and Winged Foot during the summer. Outside the restaurant something about the young man struck Alice Harmon, Claude’s kindhearted and elegant wife.

When dad held the door for Alice entering the restaurant she whispered to her husband, “sit the boy next to me.” By the end of the evening the Harmons had a problem. Alice insisted that Claude hire my father, but Claude resisted. Dad was 18 but looked 14, there was no way the Winged Foot membership would abide an underage assistant. Alice Harmon’s instincts were rarely wrong and she was overruled in the Harmon household even less frequently, so Dave Marr, Jr was hired on one condition. He had to lie and say he was 2 years older when he reached New York that spring and so the “21-year-old” joined Harmon Tech in 1953. It was in Mamaroneck NY, sleeping in a closet above the locker room at Winged Foot, that my father grew as a golfer and as a man. He also found a family. Claude Harmon was the urbane, stylish father figure he had lost. Alice Harmon was the strong, warm, caring mother that reminded him of Grace, now so far away. Butch, Craig, Dick and Billy were the little brothers that had vanished in a fractured family.

Four wonderful young men who welcomed him and respected him in a manner he had never experienced. The memberships at Winged Foot and Seminole included a cast of characters as outsized and ridiculous as those from Caddyshack’s Bushwood CC, but there were also generous captains of industry and other businessmen and their families all of whom welcomed the quick-witted young Texan, befriending him in ways that lasted into future generations. As he had done with so many others, Claude gave dad the tools he needed to have a career. He was skilled enough as a player to give lessons worth listening to, and savvy enough with member relations to navigate those tricky waters. So he set out on his own, playing tournaments when his head professional duties allowed, and working at the business of golf when they didn’t. Along the way he continued to blossom as a player. He also saw the success of Claude’s other protégés in professional tournaments and watched his cousin Jack Burke, Jr, or Jackie, become the first son of a PGA Professional to win the PGA Championship. 1960 was a big year. With his family reunited and stable back in Houston my father got married, won his first tournament and had a baby.

Elizabeth Marr was born three months premature at one pound, 13 ounces she was, at the time, the smallest baby ever to survive in the Pacific Northwest. Thirteen months later Dave and Susan Marr had their first son. And like Dave, Sr and Grace, honored him by giving him the name David Francis Marr. For the next three and a half years the quartet traversed the country, each stop another story, the drawers of motel dressers serving as makeshift cribs for the children. By 1965 dad had won three times, finished runner up at the Masters and was so well regarded by his peers that he had been voted chairman of the PGA’s tournament committee. In those days the PGA of America ran the tour and representing his fellow touring professionals vastly outnumbered in an association of thousands of club professionals was frustrating. He relinquished the position in August and gave an interview candid enough that among the PGA officers there was talk of suspending him for the upcoming championship. Thankfully for my college fund, cooler heads prevailed. When the week started dad had a nagging feeling that he would never win an important tournament. Seven days later…well a lot changed that week.

In late July he had the lead in Hartford only to give up the trophy to Billy Casper. His great friend Frank Gifford would needle him with the nickname “Ronnie Runner-Up” (to which dad would respond, “ahh, who could forget old No. 15…”). But the nickname was beginning to take on a life of its own. After the Hartford heartbreak dad told my mother, “I’ll never win the big one, there’s just too much dog in me.” She was eight-and-a-half-months pregnant and reassured him as he headed to Ligonier, Penn., just outside of Pittsburgh. He played his efficient and elegant style of golf, avoiding mistakes, his fluid swing yielding just enough birdies to hold the lead deep into the third round. A double bogey on 18 dropped him back into a tie and in the pressroom afterwards he told the reporters “If Susan didn’t have the baby watching that then she’s never going to have it.” Back on Long Island Susan was thinking more about the demons her husband was wrestling than the check he would earn. On Sunday morning my dad opened the door of his motel room and picked up the morning paper.

On it a note read “Fairways and greens, cuz”. Jackie Burke’s reminder surely stirred overwhelming thoughts of becoming the second man to honor his father with the association’s championship. I often wonder what that morning was like for my father. He had his best friends on tour nearby, Tommy Jacobs, Johnny Pott, Arnold Palmer and the rest, but his family was far away, his wife due at any moment. The trophy was nearby, just 18 holes away, but the task still seemed impossible. Nicklaus, Casper and so many others were waiting for the slightest stumble. But Susan wasn’t the only Marr who was due. The swing stayed fluid. The game stayed efficient. Others fell back but my father stood tall, all five feet, nine inches of him. In those days he used to throw me in the air and catch me as fathers do. While airborne I would shriek “careful daddy!” While standing over a par putt at 12 he could swear he heard my plea again “careful daddy!”…and missed the putt. About that same time Nicklaus was charging and my father knew it. Refusing to yield, dad birdied 16 and came to 18 with a 2-shot lead.

He pulled his drive into a fairway bunker. The green was protected by water in front and dad’s only play was to lay up. As he walked to his third shot the pressure had to be unbearable – past, present and future converging. The lead was two, he had doubled the hole the day before, the two best golfers in the game were waiting to see if there would be a playoff. His hero ByronNelson was calling the action on television from the 18th tower. Susan was listening to Byron, or was she? Had she given birth during the round? Was it another boy or another girl? And what of those PGA Professionals? Claude Harmon was watching in New York. Robie Williams was watching in Houston. And gone almost two decades, Dave Marr, Sr. was surely watching as well. That’s when my father stepped up and hit the greatest shot of his life. The green was elevated so he didn’t know how long his par putt would be, but when he looked up at the TV tower there was Byron Nelson dangling out the window with his hands held three feet apart, and a smile a mile wide.

Dad looked down at the ground and thought “My God, I’ve won the PGA…” After holing the putt he briefly put his hand over the hole and said to himself, “I’ve got you now”. And so the brilliant, hilarious, caring, talented Texas boy put his name on the Wannamaker Trophy. He also put his father’s name on the trophy. And mine. When the competition was over dad was dad. He needled Arnold at the trophy presentation as the club made a big deal over the honorary membership it was bestowing on Arnold. Dad said it was fitting since Arnold had played like a member all week. He had the media laughing during his interview. Earlier in the year Gary Player had won the U.S. Open and given the winning check to charity. Dad remarked that he was going to keep the check but he was happy to give Gary away. Then, two-and-a-half hours after the final putt dropped, Anthony James Marr was born and Dave Marr could share the Wannamaker with each of his sons. Aug. 15, 1965, changed everything.

Mom and dad would use the $25,000 check to buy their first house and while the marriage wouldn’t last, the memories are timeless. Dad would go on to follow Byron Nelson as ABC’s lead analyst for 22 years. Each season he would call the U.S. Open, Open Championship, PGA Championship and U.S. Amateur with the Ryder Cup every other year. He would do it with wit and wisdom, insight and intelligence. He was the best analyst the game has ever known, his broadcasting and playing styles a perfect match, each done with dignity, etiquette, integrity and empathy. There are a million Dave Marr stories. My favorite happened quietly, at Winged Foot about 10 years ago. I’d finished playing the West Course with friends when my caddy asked to chat for a moment. We stepped aside and he said “I asked for your bag today because I wanted to tell you about your father. I didn’t want to bother you during the round, but I thought you should know.” He continued, “When the club had its 75th anniversary every important person in New York golf showed up.

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were given honorary memberships and it was a huge party and your father was the emcee. All of us caddies were just happy to be around and watch from outside. We were back in the yard by the pro shop when your dad came out for a smoke. He saw some guys he recognized and teased them, saw some others he didn’t know and teased them. One cigarette became two, then three, we were laughing and carrying on and the old stories were going back and forth. We were having a great time. After 45 minutes one of the club officials came out looking worried and said, ‘Dave, we’ve been looking for you, we have to start the speeches.’ Your dad said, OK,’ put out his cigarette and headed for the door. Before he got there he turned around and said ,‘Thanks guys, it was a real pleasure spending time with you,’ then went inside. That was your dad. I just wanted you to know. He was one of us and he made us a part of the celebration. I’ll never forget that night.” I’m sure I thanked that kind man, though certainly not with the depth appropriate for the gift he gave me. So, on Saturday Aug.

15, 2015, I will go find the Wannamaker Trophy. I’ll find our name on the base in the back and smile. I’ll take a picture and text it to my brother for his 50th birthday. I’ll think about the man who shared that victory with his father, me, my brother and everyone he could, every chance he got. I’ll hope that this year’s winner carries the privilege of being the PGA champion with style, dignity, and generosity like my father did, and like his memory does. THE LATEST OR Thank you for signing up to receive information from PGA.com about current and future features and offers. TITLE YEAR FOR GARY PLAYER AWAITS DURING GRAND SLAM 50TH ANNIVERSARY: Gary Player TITLE YEAR FOR GARY PLAYER AWAITS DURING GRAND SLAM 50TH ANNIVERSARY Dec 22, 2014 | Filed Under: General News If you ask golf icon Gary Player about his victory at the 1965 U.S. Open Championship at Bellerive Country Club, it would be a clear and vivid memory that makes it hardly seem like 50 years ago.

While it might seem just like yesterday, 2015 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Black Knight’s U.S. Open feat that catapulted him to his monumental Grand Slam title. Player, who went on to become the most decorated and successful international golfer, became just the third individual to clinch golf’s most coveted title. Since Player achieved the Grand Slam, the only other golfers to join him, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen have been Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods proving the sheer difficulty of winning each of golf’s Major Championships. “The Grand Slam is certainly one of my greatest achievements because it showed that all my hard work had paid off,” said Gary Player. “With that 1965 victory, I became the first non-American to win the U.S. Open in 45 years and became only the third – and youngest, at 29 – to win the Grand Slam. That was an enormous achievement.” By 1965, South African Player already had achieved unparalleled success for an international golfer as he became the youngest Open Championship victor at age 23 and the first international winner of The Masters. When Player arrived at the 1965 U.S.

Open at Bellerive Country Club with three Major titles to his name, he was convinced that he could, in fact, win the tournament and thus the Grand Slam. That belief proved fruitful as it was Player who was lifted the U.S. Open trophy after a Monday playoff round against Australian Kel Nagle. While the Black Knight celebrates his monumental feat in 2015, there will be a great deal of excitement as Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson vie for the chance to join the list of Grand Slam winners at The Masters and U.S. Open, respectively. Nine-time major champion Player is the only international golfer to have his name etched on each of The Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship, and PGA Championship trophies still to this day. Should Irishman McIlroy prevail in Augusta, he will join Player as the only other international champion. The South African golfing legend is the only individual in the sport to claim the Grand Slam on the Senior Tour as well. Winning the Grand Slam is seen as the ultimate feat in golf, but with that, Gary Player has always felt that using his success to give back to those less fortunate has been integral. The Black Knight made history at the ’65 U.S.

Open and broke tradition as the first international Grand Slam champion donated all his tournament earnings to charity. Player had previously promised Joe Dey, Director of the USGA, that when he won the U.S. Open, he would donate his winnings to charity. After being handing the winner’s check following the 18-hole playoff with Kel Nagle, he upheld his promise and handed the winning check back to Dey specifying that the proceeds should go to two important causes: cancer research, in honor of Player’s mother who died of cancer, and the development of junior golf programs by the USGA. “I was extremely thrilled to be able to give back at that moment especially since it was such an enormous milestone in my career,” said Player. Player continues to carry out that vision by raising much needed funds for underprivileged children through The Player Foundation. Since its establishment in 1983 by Marc Player, The Player Foundation has raised nearly $60 million worldwide to create a brighter future for those in need. 2015 will hold many reasons for celebration. In addition the 50th anniversary of the Grand Slam, Player will celebrate his 80th birthday on November 1.

For a man whose life soundtrack seems to be “Forever Young,” it is hard to believe the Black Knight still travels the world as enthusiastically as 50 years ago. “Rest is rust,” said Player. “Age is a mentality. I am thrilled to celebrate my 80th birthday in November, but in my mind I am still in my 40s.” While life does not seem to slow down for Player, that is a good thing as he will have a busy year in 2015 as he travels to each of the Major Championships to commemorate the Grand Slam, but is also busy with an ever-expanding golf course portfolio and flourishing corporate relationships. Gary Player - Golf Topics - ESPN Gary Player Later Years Gary Player is a South African golfer and one of the most successful international golfers in history. During a professional career that began in 1953, Player won nine major championships and nine events on the Champions Tour. Player was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Player is known as the "Black Knight," for his all-black golfing ensembles, or the "International Ambassador of Golf," thanks to his 15 million miles in travel, more than any other athlete.

Player was the first non-American, non-European golfer to reach international fame. Player now owns several businesses, including Gary Player Design, Player Real Estate, Black Knight Enterprises and the Gary Player Stud Farm. He also owns and operates The Player Foundation, which aims to improve underprivileged education around the world. Gary Player was born Nov. 1, 1935, in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was the third of three children to his parents, Harry -- a captain in a gold mine -- and Muriel Player. His mother died of cancer when Player was only 8 years old. Player didn't begin playing golf until he was 14, but it didn't take long for him to pick up the sport. His father had taken out a loan to buy Player a set of clubs, and he played his first round at a course in Johannesburg -- parring the first three holes. Two years later, he avowed to his father that he would be the No. 1 golfer in the world. Two years after that, he turned professional and began trying to make that claim a reality. He turned pro at 18 in 1953.

He quickly began racking up wins in Africa and Europe, and four years later, he joined the PGA Tour. Gary Player began his professional career in Africa in the mid-1950s, winning his first South African Open in 1956. He had traveled to England briefly several years before, where he was told he did not have what it took to be a golfer. He responded by returning in 1956 and winning the Dunlop Masters at Sunningdale Country Club. One year later, in 1957, Player joined the PGA Tour. He won his first major championship only two years after joining the PGA when he took the 1959 British Open, becoming the youngest man to win that tournament. In 1961, he set another record when he became the first non-American to win the Masters. That year, Player topped the PGA money list for the first time. By then, Player was not only succeeding on the greens, but gaining more popularity off them. His all-black golfing ensembles earned him the nickname "The Black Knight," and he became known for his impressive fitness routines and bulging muscles (from which another nickname, "Mr. Fitness," stemmed).

He won a third major, the PGA Championship, in 1962, and in 1965, he won the U.S. Open in a playoff and earned a career Grand Slam before he turned 30. But Player was not content participating in only PGA events. He continued playing in South African Opens -- winning 13 in his career -- and Australian Opens (winning seven). In every year from 1955 to 1982, Player won at least one sanctioned international tournament. His constant travel -- he estimates he's spent three years of his life in airplanes and traveled more than 15 million miles -- leads many to believe that the "International Ambassador of Golf" has traveled more than any other athlete. Also significant about Player's popularity and success was his nationality. A South African, Player was the first non-American, non-European golfer to gain worldwide notoriety and a truly international following. He represented his country at the World Cup 16 times, winning twice -- in 1965 and 1977. He also won the World Match Play Championship a record five times between 1965 and 1974.

In all, Player won titles in the U.S., England, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, North Africa, West Africa, Canada, Japan, Latin America and Brazil (where, in 1974, he shot the only 59 ever in a national open). Player won a second PGA Championship in 1972, and two more Masters titles in 1974 and 1978. He became the first and only man to win Open Championships in three different decades when he added victories in 1968 and 1974 to his 1959 title. That 1978 Masters title was his final major victory on the PGA Tour, and he won it despite being seven back at the start of the final round. But, at age 42, Player birdied seven of the final 10 and won the tournament by one stroke. Even after giving up most other PGA Tour events, Player participated in the Masters every year until 2009, playing for his record 52nd time. In 1998, at 62, he became the oldest golfer ever to make the cut.

Champions Tour By the time Player joined the Seniors Tour in 1985, he already had recorded 21 victories on the PGA Tour (he would earn three more PGA titles while playing on the senior circuit). He went on to find great success on the Champions Tour as well, winning 19 events in 10 years -- nine of those being major titles. His first senior win came in 1985, when he won the Quadel Seniors Classic, and he would win his first senior major one year later, when he won the Senior PGA Championship for the first time. He went on to win the Senior PGA title two more times in the next four years, also winning a Players Championship and two U.S. Senior Opens in that time. Two of those -- a Senior PGA Championship and a U.S. Senior Open -- came in a five-win season in 1988. In 2009, Player competed in the Senior Open Championship at Sunningdale Country Club -- 53 years after he earned his first European Tour victory at the same venue. Since his retirement from the PGA Tour, Gary Player has become known as one of the greatest golfers in the history of the game.

He was one of the inaugural inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. He also won the South African Sportsman of the Century award in 2000, and he earned a decoration for meritorious services and the gold Order of Ikhamanga for services to sport by the South African government. Now he focuses much of his attention on The Player Foundation, which helps improve underprivileged schools. The foundation established the Blair Atholl Schools in Johannesburg in the 1980s, which created schools for more than 500 students from kindergarten to eighth grade. When celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2008, the foundation had rasied more than $35 million. Player also owns Black Knight Enterprises, which handles Player's licensing, events and marketing, as well as wine, apparel, memorabilia and publishing efforts. Player's oldest son, Marc, owns and operates Black Knight International, which represents Player in commercial activities. He also owns a well-respected real estate company and a stud farm that has become known for breeding high-quality thoroughbred race horses. Player also has become a renowned golf course architect in recent years.

He has completed more than 300 projects in 35 countries on five continents. His company offers three design brands -- Gary Player Design, Player Design and Black Knight Design -- each of which places a different focus on appearance or environmental policies for courses. GARY PLAYER QUICK FACTS

Question: In 1965, who became the first non-American golfer to win the Masters, the US Open, The Open Championship and the PGA Championship?
Answer: Gary Player