At 5 foot 7, weighing barely 68kg, Gary Player didn’t look like a man who’d out-work golfers twice his size for six decades. Yet the South African built one of the sport’s great careers on a training routine his rivals thought was mad in the 1950s. He won nine majors, completed the Career Grand Slam at just 29, and is still doing sit-ups in his late 80s. That’s the whole story in one paragraph, but it’s worth knowing why it happened.

How Many Majors Did Gary Player Win?

Gary Player won nine major championships across four different decades, a spread no other golfer in the modern era has matched. He took three Masters titles, three Open Championships, two PGA Championships, and one U.S. Open.

The Full Major Breakdown

His first major came at The Open Championship in 1959, held at Muirfield in Scotland, when he was just 23. He didn’t stop there. His last major arrived at the 1978 Masters, nearly two decades later, where he shot a final-round 64 to chase down the leaders.

Why the Four-Decade Spread Matters

Plenty of golfers bag majors in a five or ten-year window when their swing and their nerve line up perfectly. Player won majors in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and technically extended his top-level competitive run into Champions Tour majors in the 1980s and beyond. That kind of longevity isn’t luck. It’s a direct result of how he treated his body, which we’ll get to.

Here’s the breakdown, major by major:

The Career Grand Slam and The Big Three

Gary Player is one of only five golfers in history to complete the Career Grand Slam, winning all four men’s major championships at least once. He got there in 1965 after his U.S. Open win at Bellerive Country Club in Missouri, finishing the set faster than almost anyone else has managed since.

That achievement put him alongside Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus as The Big Three, the trio that dominated golf through the 1960s and into the 70s. Palmer had the charisma and the army of fans. Nicklaus had the sheer numbers, 18 majors in total. Player had the grind, the travel miles, and a physique built to outlast both of them.

It’s worth correcting a common mix-up here: people often blur Player’s total into Palmer’s or Nicklaus’s numbers because the three are always mentioned in the same breath. Palmer won seven majors. Nicklaus won 18. Player’s nine sits firmly in the middle, and it’s his own number, not a rounding of someone else’s résumé.

Travelling from South Africa to compete on tour, decade after decade, wasn’t a minor inconvenience back then. Long-haul flights weren’t the smooth affair they are today, and Player was doing it constantly while still winning on foreign soil.

The Fitness Pioneer Nobody Copied Until Decades Later

Gary Player was doing gym work, stretching routines, and dietary discipline in an era when most professional golfers considered a cigarette and a pint the standard pre-round routine. He’s often credited as the man who invented modern golf fitness culture, decades before Tiger Woods made a gym visit part of the tour routine.

What His Routine Actually Looked Like

Player was known for hundreds of sit-ups and push-ups daily, a habit he reportedly kept up well past his 80th birthday. He avoided the heavy drinking culture that was common on tour and paid close attention to diet long before sports nutrition was a recognised field.

Why It Changed the Sport

Today, walk into any tour player’s warm-up area and you’ll see resistance bands, trainers, and physios treating the range like an athletics facility. That entire culture traces back, at least in part, to a man who was mocked for doing star jumps in a car park before a round in the 1960s. Fitness wasn’t optional for Player, it was the whole competitive edge.

For the weekend golfer reading this on a Sunday morning before heading to the course, there’s a genuine takeaway here. You don’t need a personal trainer to borrow Player’s principle: consistent, boring, daily effort beats sporadic bursts of practice. A five-minute stretch before you tee off at your local club won’t win you a major, but it’ll save your back on the back nine.

Beyond the Majors: Senior Tour, Course Design, and Hall of Fame

Gary Player’s competitive story didn’t end when his regular tour career slowed down. He became one of the most successful golfers in Champions Tour (senior) history, and his fingerprints are on golf courses across five continents.

Champions Tour Dominance

Once he turned 50, Player kept winning, racking up senior major titles and proving his fitness obsession paid dividends long after most of his peers had picked up a whistle instead of a club. His senior career is often underweighted in casual write-ups, treated as a footnote rather than genuine continued excellence at the highest level of over-50s golf.

A Design Career Spanning the Globe

Player built a second career as a golf course architect, with his firm responsible for designs and redesigns in countries including South Africa, the United States, and across Asia. It’s a path several modern pros have followed since, but Player was doing it at scale decades earlier.

The Hall of Fame and Global Legacy

He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974, cementing a legacy that stretches well beyond his home country. As one of South Africa’s most recognised sporting exports, Player did for South African golf what few individuals have managed for any single sport representing their nation. If you want a deeper dive into how legends like him shape the modern game, Golf Yet’s player profile series is a decent next stop for that kind of context.

Here’s a quick rundown of the milestones that round out his legacy beyond the nine majors:

1. Completed the Career Grand Slam in 1965 at Bellerive Country Club.
2. Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
3. Won multiple Champions Tour major titles after turning 50.
4. Built a global golf course design portfolio spanning several continents.
5. Maintained a daily fitness regimen into his late 80s.
6. Represented South Africa on the world stage across four competitive decades.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many majors did Gary Player win in total?

Gary Player won nine major championships: three Masters, three Open Championships, two PGA Championships, and one U.S. Open, spread across four decades from 1959 to 1978.

Did Gary Player win the Career Grand Slam?

Yes. He completed it in 1965 with his U.S. Open win at Bellerive Country Club, becoming one of only five golfers ever to win all four men’s majors at least once.

Was Gary Player part of The Big Three?

Yes, alongside Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Player’s nine majors sit between Palmer’s seven and Nicklaus’s 18, and each man’s total is distinct, not interchangeable with the others.