Gary Player Recalls Troubling Past Memories in Emotional Confession: ‘Going Back to an Empty Home..’ Seven decades after the first family tragedy struck Gary Player, he looks back on his childhood at

Gary Player was only 8 years old when his mother, Muriel, died of cancer. Player’s father, Harry, worked long hours over 8,000 feet underground in gold mines. His sister, Wilma, attended boarding school, and his brother, Ian, fought with the Allies. As a result, Gary Player had to practically raise himself. The 2020 Old Tom Morris Award winner reflected in December 2019: “I had to travel an hour and a half to school and an hour and a half home. I’d get home, and there’s nobody there, and I’d cook my own food and iron my own clothes, and I’d lie in bed crying, wishing I was dead.” However, he persevered through these difficult childhood circumstances and is now here to tell us about it all, seven decades later.z`

He ultimately transformed his feelings of despair into a source of motivati