Gary Player and Tom Watson are two of the most successful golfers in the history of the sport.
However, it’s fair to say that Player and his great rival Watson haven’t always seen eye to eye.
The South African ended his career with 159 worldwide professional wins including 24 PGA Tour events and nine major championships.
Meanwhile, the American had 70 worldwide wins to his name, including 39 PGA Tour titles and eight majors.
Watson is 13 years Player’s junior but that doesn’t mean that the two players didn’t enjoy some great battles on the golf course throughout the years.
Player and Watson have real respect for one another, but they have also had plenty of disagreements throughout the years.
However, one clash between the two players nearly 50 years ago was about as spicy as they come.
Gary Player said Tom Watson should be stripped of his Masters and Open titles
Back in 1977, Watson won The Masters and The Open Championship at Turnberry – the second and third major championship titles of his career at the time.
At 28, Watson was just a young man then, while Player was on the back nine of his PGA Tour career, at the age of 41.
The South African would win only one more major after 1977, while the American would add another five to his collection.
However, there was a time when Player believed that Watson should not have won as many majors as he did.
The 89-year-old wrote a book which was published back in 1991 called, ‘To Be The Best’.
In the book, the man from Johannesburg called upon Watson to return the Masters and Open Championship trophies and titles he won in 1977 because the clubs he was using at the time failed to meet U.S. Golf Association groove specifications, as outlined by The Tampa Bay Times.
In his book, Player also said: “I would hate to have won major championships knowing I had used illegally grooved clubs.“
Ahead of the PGA Championship in 1977, PGA of America officials ruled the equipment used by Watson as illegal because the grooves on his irons exceeded the 35/1000ths of an inch in width limit.
At the time, Watson said: “I had no idea, I wasn’t trying to cheat anybody. It won’t make any difference to me.”
The interesting part of the story is that Player himself used the clubs made by Ram as well, so he too was unwittingly guilty of the same thing as Watson.
What Tom Watson said in response to Gary Player’s accusation
Watson spoke to reporters ahead of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in 1991, just as Player’s new book was being released.
A journalist asked Watson what he made of Player’s suggestion that he should return the Masters and Open Championship trophies and titles he won in 1977 after the wedges he used when winning those tournaments had been deemed illegal.
The American kept his cards close to his chest with a very short and sweet response.
He said: “I don’t want to talk about it. This is the Open Championship. This is not the time nor the place to get involved in a debate that would detract from the Open championship.“
The main thing to point out here is that Watson was not seeking to gain an advantage by using the Ram clubs he had in play during The Masters and The Open Championship back in 1977.
After it was discovered that the equipment was illegal, he obviously took the irons out of his bag.
And let’s not forget, Watson wasn’t the only player who used them. As mentioned before, Player himself used the same club, as did the great Raymond Floyd.
Due to the wear and tear on golf clubs back in the day, it’s fair to suggest that many major championships were won by players whose equipment may have been ever so slightly altered without their knowledge.
For Player to suggest that the two majors Watson won in 1977 should come with an asterisk is unfair to say the least.
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