View photos of Gary Player throughout his Hall of Fame career, including nine major victories.
Gary Player is a golf giant.
A nine-time major champion, Player earned the nickname “The Black Knight” thanks to his dashing looks and outfit choices on the course.
Born on Nov. 1, 1935, and with more than 150 worldwide career wins to his name, Player has been much more than just a champion golfer. He has dedicated his life to growing the game throughout his native South Africa and the world.
Player became just the fourth golfer to earn a career grand slam with his win at the 1965 U.S. Open at Bellerive. From there, he would go on to five more majors. As a senior, Player would tack on nine more major championships.
Following his playing career, Player continued his work as a global ambassador for the game. Sharing stories, swing tips and even showing off his fitness prowess, Player has been an endearing figure within the game throughout eight decades.
From helping underprivileged children across the globe to having a hand in designing over 400 golf courses, Player has made an impact well past his wins on Tour.
Will he be able to tee it up at the Genesis? Or potentially get some rounds under his belt ahead of the Masters?
As a kid, Tiger Woods and his father, Earl, used to go to a corner of the back nine of the Navy Golf Course in Cypress, California, and hit balls from their own shag bag.
“I got them mostly out of the ditch from other players hitting balls, and those were my shag balls,” Tiger recalled at the PNC Championship this week. “I’d pick the trees on the right to hit to, and he’d pick the trees on the left to hit to, and then we’d play in the last three holes kind of towards dark. And it was game on. And so it was, OK, you do your work, I do my work, and then let’s go head-to-head.”
Asked whether he did the same with his 13-year-old son Charlie, Tiger flashed his trademark wide smile and said, “All the time.”
Last week, rather than going head-to-head – Tiger said Charlie has outdriven him but yet to beat him – Tiger and Charlie teamed up for the third straight year in the PNC Championship in Orlando at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club. This anecdote may have summed up why Tiger was willing to limp around a golf course at a Silly Season event. Father and son, who limped along with him due to a bum ankle, finished T-8 after struggling a bit on Sunday and shooting 65 with two bogeys, but the score was immaterial. It’s a two-person scramble, a glorified exhibition, but it’s become the one event that Tiger won’t miss. He even said he’d risk a setback to play, something he wisely avoided at the Hero World Challenge by withdrawing with plantar fasciitis.
It wasn’t exactly the result we were looking for, but being able to play with Charlie is always a win in my book. pic.twitter.com/7vBcIvg3Ns
For a guy who managed to play just nine competitive rounds on the PGA Tour this year, Tiger kept busy in December between his hosting duties in the Bahamas, playing with Rory McIlroy in The Match and with Charlie in Orlando at the PNC. Tiger divulged in his Hero press conference that he’s undergone more surgeries this year, which was news to the world, but wouldn’t disclose anything about them. His plantar fasciitis prevented him from walking a golf course for five straight days in the Bahamas, but he can get around well enough with a cart. He showed at The Match that he still has enough speed and distance to compete on the PGA Tour, and outdrove Justin Thomas on multiple occasions on Saturday.
“I wasn’t joking yesterday when I said it,” Thomas said on Sunday. “When he’s feeling well, he’s longer than I am with a driver. I might be able to hit it further than him if I go after one but consistently, I mean, he’s hitting it farther than I am right now.”
Justin Thomas yesterday on Tiger: “He 100 percent hits it farther than I do with the driver right now, and when he's feeling well and moving well like he was today, he can do anything he wants.”
The challenge for Tiger is to get healthy enough to walk four straight days. That hasn’t changed and likely will impact how much longer he can compete on the PGA Tour. (Tiger turns 47 on Dec. 30, and the Champions Tour and the ability to use a golf cart are seeming like a match made in heaven in his 50s.) In his limited play this year, Tiger’s stamina wasn’t quite there and he ran out of gas, most notably at the PGA Championship, where he withdrew after the third round.
“Every day is different,” Thomas added. “I mean, yesterday he was clearly moving really — I could just tell on the range seeing him hit balls, you could just see, he was moving really well, and today obviously wasn’t moving as well … I’m sure he would trade 10 yards to be able to walk every day and feeling well. But yeah, it’s very impressive. You can tell, he’s very, very strong, very fit right now. It’s just dealing with the other issues.”
No less than Padraig Harrington and Jim “Bones” Mackay gushed at Tiger’s play. Will he be able to tee it up at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February, one of the elevated events and a place where he serves as tournament host? Or potentially get some rounds under his belt during the Florida Swing ahead of the Masters?
Tiger Woods of the United States plays a shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the PNC Championship at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club on December 17, 2022, in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Only time will tell, but when asked how far he’s come in a year’s time since surprising most people by playing at the PNC just nine months after his car accident in February 2021, Tiger said, “A lot. The first year, I had back surgery and last year I played with a broken leg. So this year, nothing was broken, but it was good that all the pieces are there again all lined up.
“Just, again, the plantar fasciitis is no fun, and now I get to truly recover and heal and progress forward on this because there’s so many good things that I’ve been able to do physically, be able to hit the golf ball and practice and do everything in a standstill, but I haven’t been able to get from point A to point B, and we’re obviously going to work on this.”
That process begins by taking care of his feet. Tiger needs rest and more rest.
“We shut it all down and take care of this foot so that I can ramp up properly,” he said. “As you’ve seen, I can hit golf balls. I can do all that. I can practice at home. I can hit shots around the green. I can do all that. I just can’t get from point A to point B.”
Point A might as well stand for Augusta. Here’s to a healthier 2023 for Tiger.
The best-dressed teams include Team Woods, Team Daly and Team Thomas.
The 2022 PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando has come to a close. This was one of the most legendary events of the year featuring generations of great players.
We saw a variety of looks from Team Woods, Team Singh and Team Daly. We saw the return of Woods’ Sunday red that everyone knows and loves. Qass Singh’s sweatshirt turned some heads with its modern fit. Some looks were questionable, but drew attention from the crowd and from viewers at home.
Check out some of the photos of the best dressed teams from the 2022 PNC Championship in Orlando.
Check out how much money each team earned this week in Orlando.
It pays to play well, even during professional golf’s silly season. Just ask the Singhs.
Three-time major champion Vijay Singh and son, Qass, signed for a 13-under 59 for the second consecutive day to win the 2022 PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando for the first time in their 16th playing of the annual family hit-and-giggle.
For their efforts, the team took home the top prize of $200,000, while the runners-up Justin and Mike Thomas and John and John Daly II earned $68,625.
Check out how much money each player earned this week at the 2022 PNC Championship.
Those with a front-row seat to Tiger Woods at the 2022 PNC Championship came away with high praise.
ORLANDO — Tiger Woods and son Charlie stepped up to the mics once more Sunday at PNC Championship, where they were asked what they’d learned about each other this week.
Charlie, 13, noted that he, of course, knew what his father was capable of, but that first round at the PNC showed him something more.
“That’s the best he’s ever played in a while,” said Charlie, “and that kind of shocked me a little bit.”
A smiling Tiger responded with, “I used to be good.
“Again, it was neat to be able to roll back the clock for him to see what I used to be capable of,” Tiger continued. “I was given some grief – anyone that knows what I used to be able to do was Bones. Bones got a big kick out of that yesterday.”
Team Woods opened with a 59 at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and trailed by two heading into the final round of the PNC. They dipped down to a share of eighth after a second-round 65.
Jim “Bones” Mackay was on the bag for Justin Thomas this week and got a front-row seat to Woods all weekend.
“As impressed as I was with Charlie,” said Mackay, “I was that much or more impressed with Tiger in terms of where he is.”
Earlier this week, Padraig Harrington made headlines with his prediction that Woods will win another major.
“Did you see the 3-iron he hit into 18 yesterday?” Harrington continued after Sunday’s round. “There’s not many in the world of golf that could hit that shot, 159 ball speed, off the fairway with an iron and knowing his irons have quite a bit of loft, that’s a very impressive strike.”
Charlie Woods plays his shot from the first tee as Tiger Woods looks on during the final round of the 2022 PNC Championship at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando. (Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Mackay, who was also taken with Woods’ speed, noted that next year is a Ryder Cup year: “Let’s not put anything past the guy.”
Watching Woods pour in putts dead center at the perfect speed in the middle of Saturday’s round gave Mackay flashbacks to peak Tiger.
“I’m excited,” said Mackay, “because I think he’s going to come out there and make plenty more noise and give some of those guys who would love dearly to play with him late on Sunday an idea of what it was like.”
Team Woods, also known as “Team Ice Bath,” struggled physically throughout the weekend with Tiger’s plantar fasciitis and Charlie’s bum left ankle. Tiger said they looked like walking penguins out there, but noted that the bonding time between all involved in the Woods and Thomas crew – including all the ribbing – is what mattered most.
To that end, Justin Thomas stepped up to the mic to ask Charlie for the background on his Snoopy hat.
“Well, it’s the hat that was in my closet and fits the best,” said Charlie, “and that’s all I can say about it.”
“He’s in heaven. As a parent, that’s all you can ask for,” said Sorenstam.
ORLANDO — Will McGee pumped his fist as his 6-foot birdie putt dropped on the final hole. As the crowd around the 18th erupted, the 11-year-old son of Annika Sorenstam doffed his cap and turned toward the grandstands, beaming with joy.
Fans began to chant “Will! Will! Will!” as he hugged mom, dad and Team Duval. Will then turned toward the crowd one more time and gave a final wave.
He rated his first experience at the PNC Championship a 10 out of 10.
“It was awesome to be inside the ropes with her and to be able to walk down the fairways,” said Will, the youngest player to ever tee it up in this event, which celebrated 25 years this week.
My favorite part of the day so far. Young Will acknowledges the crowd as they chant his name on 18! pic.twitter.com/79mPmIERvC
“It was also incredible with the all the people chanting for me. Thanks to PNC for inviting us.”
Will, who dreams of one day playing golf at Stanford like his good buddy Maverick McNealy, mostly competes in local U.S. Kids Golf events and the Space Coast Tour.
Annika Sorenstam of Sweden embraces her son Will McGee on the 18th during the first round of the 2022 PNC Championship at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club on December 17, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)
Earlier this year, while his mother competed in the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles for the first time in 14 years, Will made headlines when he aced the fifth hole of The Cradle, the par-3 course at Pinehurst. The resort presented Will with a pin flag and an engraved bag tag to commemorate the moment.
As they came up the 18th, mother and son clasped hands and raised them high. Sorenstam, a 10-time major champion, soaked up every second of this opportunity. She got emotional as she talked about what this week has meant to the family.
Husband Mike was on the bag for Will. Sorenstam’s father, Tom, caddied for her, and mom Gunilla rode in the cart. Daughter Ava followed outside the ropes.
“It’s just been a dream come true,” said Sorenstam, “to see him smile in the morning, get out here early, being the first out there putting. He’s in heaven. As a parent, that’s all you can ask for.”
“If I have to go out, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather go out with than Roger” — Gary Koch
Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie are signing off for the last time from NBC on Sunday at the PNC Championship in Orlando, ending two distinguished careers as broadcasters.
“If I have to go out, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather go out with than Roger,” said Koch, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour who joined NBC in 1997.
Maltbie, who won five times on Tour and joined NBC in 1992, has agreed to do several tournaments for Golf Channel in 2023.
“I wake up one day and say, ‘Why would I do that?’ ’” Maltbie told pgatour.com. “And the next day I wake up and say, ‘I still really like doing this. It’s fun.’ So I’m going to do a few.”
Koch, 70, turned down a similar offer.
“After being in the majors for 26 years, I don’t have much desire to work in the minors,” Koch told Golf Digest, referring to being relegated to lesser events. “I can only think it has to do with money. I really don’t know what the justification is. I was told that they wanted to refresh the team and that they were looking at 10-15 years down the road, but then they hired two 60-something guys [Brad Faxon and Curt Byrum], so it’s kind of confusing.”
After Saturday’s opening round of the PNC, NBC paid tribute to Koch and Maltbie, which included a video of several of their best calls – including Koch’s famous ‘Better than most’ call of Tiger draining a bomb at the 17th at TPC Sawgrass in the Players – and top players sharing what the announcers meant to them. It meant a great deal to them, too.
NBC Sports paid one final tribute to Roger Maltbie (left) and Gary Koch as the network signed off from the PNC Championship on December 18, 2022.
“It’s been a long, wonderful ride,” said Maltbie, 71. “Neither one of us want it to end, but that decision was made, and so be it. It’ll be a sad afternoon when it’s all done.”
Here’s what the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino and others had to say about Koch and Maltbie, who will be missed.
Thank you, Roger Maltbie and Gary Koch.
Names from around the game paid tribute to these Golf Channel icons who are broadcasting their last event at the @PNCchampionship this weekend. pic.twitter.com/fkbktjCeLq
Daly held off on surgery so that he and John II could attempt to defend their title.
ORLANDO – Tiger and Charlie Woods aren’t the only ones hobbled this week at the PNC Championship.
Former two-time major champion John Daly revealed that he is scheduled to have left knee replacement surgery Wednesday. Daly, 56, who has dealt with osteoarthritis, previously had his right knee replaced three years ago.
“It’s tough when you don’t have a follow-through,” Daly told pgatour.com. “I’m basically just trying to stay on one leg. But the adrenaline of playing with my son will get me through.”
Team Daly, the defending champs, just teed off. They’re four shots back.
“So I’ll be out for a while,” he added in a pre-tournament interview. “We’ve got Christmas coming up, so we’ll get to spend some time together.”
Daly held off on surgery so that he and John II, who is redshirting this year at Arkansas, could attempt to defend their title at the PNC Championship. The Dalys edged out Team Woods by a stroke last year.
Daly can relate to the pain that Tiger, who lately has been dealing with plantar fasciitis, is enduring to play.
“It’s no fun when you can’t walk and can’t turn and be able to get out and practice enough and complete, which I can’t do right now really,” Daly said. “I pray for Tiger. I hope his leg holds up and gets fixed because we need him on the Tour. For me, I’ve had probably more surgeries probably than Tiger. They just keep adding up over the last five years. But I get this metal put in this knee, hell, I got more metal than the Bionic Man does.”
While Tiger has been adamant that he won’t petition for use of a cart on the PGA Tour, Daly, who has used a cart in the PGA Championship since 2019, doesn’t think riding in a cart provides an edge. He argued, in fact, that it is a disadvantage.
“I’m not embarrassed to take a cart. It’s not helping my golf game by any means,” Daly said. “I would rather walk and play golf because then you have time to settle down on a good hole or a bad hole and you’re walking instead of just getting in the cart and going up and hitting the shot. It’s actually a big disadvantage. But if I could walk, I’d definitely do it.”
Check out the best moments from Sunday’s final round.
It was a close contest at the Ritz.
Justin Thomas and his dad, Mike, entered the final round of the 2022 PNC Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando with a two-shot lead on Sunday after an opening-round 15-under 57 on Saturday. They walked off the course T-2, two shots behind the winners.
Vijay Singh and his son, Qass, shot a 13-under 59 for the second consecutive day to win their first PNC Championship title. The father-son duo have played the annual silly-season event for the last 16 years and finished runner-up in 2006, 2013 and 2020.
Check out the best photos and highlights from the final round of the 2022 PNC Championship in Orlando.
“I mean, it’s such a cool tournament, really unique.”
ORLANDO — Jason Langer graduated from the University of Pennsylvania last May with a degree in economics and finance from The Wharton School and landed a job in investment banking in New York City. The former college golfer was only 14 years old the first time he won the PNC Championship with his father, Bernhard. They won it again in 2019, matching the number of times Bernhard won the PNC with son Stefan (2005, 2006).
Now Jason, 22, is back with dad seeking a third title. The pair trail Justin and Mike Thomas by three strokes heading into Sunday’s final round. Tiger Woods and his son Charlie trail the Thomas’ by two. Should Team Woods win, Charlie, 13, would set a new tournament record.
“I didn’t want to expose him to this kind of pressure too early, but he said, ‘I’m ready. I can handle this,’ ” said Bernhard, “and he was right.”
Langer, a two-time major champion, has won 44 times on the PGA Tour Champions. The family rotates to see who gets to play with dad, but after Jason hurt his back and couldn’t defend in 2020, his sister stepped in to compete.
Now it’s Bernhard who is feeling under the weather in Orlando, battling a sore throat.
Bernhard Langer and Jason Langer line up a putt on the 18th hole during the first round of the PNC Championship at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club on Dec. 17, 2022 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
When asked what advice his dad gave him 6 years ago to compete under this kind of spotlight, Jason echoed the thoughts of everyone this week – just enjoy the experience.
“I mean, it’s such a cool tournament, really unique,” said Jason, “and don’t get to be inside the ropes and hitting a golf ball with my dad too often.”
Team Daly
