The great Gary Player — nine-time major champion, global jet setter with 165 career wins, one of the Big Three with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer — will turn 80 in November, but he is not slowing down.

On February 27, the World Golf Hall of Fame and Museum had its grand opening for the “Gary Player: Grand Slam Success” exhibition. The showcase displays several of Player’s major championship trophies, his Green Jackets, other items from his career and also tells the story of his global traveling, his family’s influence and his regimented fitness.

On the day of the opening, our Kevin Casey caught up with Player for a brief chat on his new exhibit, thoughts on the career Grand Slam, his Masters pick, and exactly how long this fitness buff feels he can stick around. 

KC: Did you ever think you would have your own exhibit in the World Golf Hall of Fame?

GP: I was here from the very beginning when I saw them building the place. I’ve always been a great admirer of the Hall of Fame, because I saw how other sports like football and baseball getting their hall of fames done before us. I always knew we would have a hall of fame. I don’t know if I thought I would have an exhibit, but with my record, I thought there was no way they could leave me out of the Hall of Fame. 

As for an exhibit of my own, I couldn’t envision at that stage, nobody could, what that would entail in the Hall of Fame. I am honored, and gratitude is a terribly important word in one’s life. I am grateful for it, I appreciate it and I’m a staunch supporter of the Hall of Fame, I represent them without payment.

And now to move it to Scotland this year is a brilliant move because now they will get all of this publicity in Europe and around the world. To take place at St. Andrews, the home of golf, and during the Open Championship, it’s one of the best moves they’ve ever made.

KC: Who do you credit with allowing you to have the career that afforded this exhibit?

GP: My father played a great role because he made sacrifices. He was a very poor man. He bought me my first set of Ryder Wilson clubs. He would watch me practice in the rain or heat. He would walk around and lie in the rain. He was a man of 6-foot-2 and he would be careful when I won big tournaments. 

And then there’s my wife, who has made all of these unbelievable sacrifices. I would’ve never stayed married to me if I was a women. I was always going away, always traveling overseas. She had to travel with six children in an airplane without a jet. It took 14 hours with four stops. No, I wouldn’t have stayed married to me. So whatever she does wrong, I forgive her.

KC: You’re one of the five players to ever win the career Grand Slam, and at the moment, Phil Mickelson is trying to go for that, too. You had the same thing as him, needing the U.S. Open to finish it off. What do you think his state of mind is right now?

Gary Player completed the career “Grand Slam” in 1965 at the U.S. Open. He won nine major championships.

GP: I don’t know what his state of mind is. I think he’s a very positive person and I think if you said to me, “Who is the ideal man for a company who wants somebody to endorse my product?” I would immediately go to Phil Mickelson. He’s the role model for the pros on how to treat the press, how to treat the public, how to treat young people. He’s been the No. 1 man there. 

Do I think he will win the Grand Slam? No. He’s been very unlucky. He’s aging. He’s at the age where you’re going to start to go, where’s it’s 1 percent or 2 percent. You can’t afford that against the young players that are playing. 

And he doesn’t drive the ball straight enough. He’s not a good driver of the ball. I love his confidence in the fact that he thinks he drives it well, but I don’t think he drives the ball well enough. What chance he had was at Pinehurst this year. I thought he would win at Pinehurst, because they didn’t have any rough. I went to play there the week [before the event] and it was wide open and I thought he would win. But I don’t think he will win the Grand Slam, but I sincerely hope he does.

I think the next Grand Slam winner is Rory McIlroy. He’s a much better player than Mickelson now. He’s young. He’s won 3 of the 4, and I think he’ll win it this year. If not this year, he’s playing at a golf course every year that suits him. If Mickelson had to win the Grand Slam at Augusta, I would give him a great chance because you don’t have to drive the ball well there, but it’s the U.S. Open. Whereas Rory, the course suits him, he has a long, high draw and through all the problems he’s had, he’s remained confident. He’s a wonderful young man and he behaves beautifully. I think everything is ready for him. He has tremendous talent, and a phenomenal golf swing, and I think he’s ready to win.

KC: I was going to ask you about your Masters pick this year. I assume then it’s McIlroy?

GP: Yes, McIlroy or Jason Day. Day has got a swing very similar to Ben Hogan. And I thought Hogan, Bobby Jones or Sam Snead had the best swing ever. I just love the way Day and Rory swing. 

This young guy Spieth, he’s a great competitor. I think he has a little something wrong in his backswing in my opinion, but he can get away with it at Augusta. I think he’ll be tough to beat there.

KC: Your son Marc at one point said that you thought you would live forever. Maybe a bit tongue in cheek, but you do take your healthy very seriously. What age do you expect to or aspire to live to?

Gary Player was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.

GP: That’s in God’s hands, and I’m a big believer in God. I’m near 80, and I think I am fitter than the average 40-year-old in America and I would beat the average 40-year-old in America in a fitness contest. I have a blood pressure of 110/70. I have a heart rate resting at 50. I still put the treadmill on maximum. I still push 300 pounds with my legs, and I do 1,300 crunches four times per week minimum.

All things being equal, barring a plane crash or car crash. I’ll come to your funeral, my buddy!

Editor’s Note: Author Kevin Casey is 57 years younger than Gary Player.