Three-time Masters winner Gary Player a global ambassador for golf

It’s fitting that Gary Player was the first international winner of the Masters Tournament.

No player has traveled more to promote golf, and no one is a better global ambassador.

The South African won his first green coat in 1961 and added victories in 1974 and 1978.

All three of Player’s Masters victories featured excitement over the closing holes.

The first win came courtesy of an Arnold Palmer collapse on the final hole. Palmer was bidding to become the first repeat champion in tournament history, but his typical final-day rally unraveled when he made double bogey on the 18th hole.

Player entered the final day - a Monday finish in 1961 because of rain Sunday - with a four-stroke lead over Palmer. Two early birdies increased Player’s lead to six, but Palmer made up the deficit and took the lead after 12 holes.

Player struggled for much of the back nine, but closed with three pars to finish with 74 and a 280 total. Palmer came to the 18th hole needing only a par to edge Player.

It wasn’t to be. His approach shot found the bunker on the right side of the green, and he bladed his third shot across the green. After using a putter to get the ball on the green, Palmer needed to sink his 15-foot putt for bogey to force a playoff. The putt missed, and the diminutive Player had his first triumph at Augusta National.

By the time of Player’s second triumph, in 1974, he was well established as one of the game’s top players and one of only four men to have won all four of the game’s major championships. He also was known as a physical fitness buff whose stamina and work ethic were legendary.

Starting with a pair of 71s, Player found himself five behind Dave Stockton at the midway point. A 66 in the third round, however, cut Player’s deficit to just one stroke.

No less than half a dozen of the game’s top players battled it out on Easter Sunday, but Player’s closing 70 was good for the win. He punctuated his two-shot victory with a tap-in birdie at the 17th hole after hitting his 9-iron less than a foot from the hole.

Player’s final victory at Augusta National Golf Club was his least likely and most spectacular.

The South African found himself trailing Hubert Green by seven shots going into the final day of the 1978 Masters. But seven birdies over the final 10 holes - including a clutch 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole - gave Player a closing 64.

Playing well ahead of Green and a slew of other contenders, Player posted his 277 total and then had to sweat it out as Green, Tom Watson and Rod Funseth played the final holes.

“It was agony, sheer agony,” he said of his one-stroke victory.

Green had the best shot at forcing a playoff after hitting his approach some four feet from the pin. But he missed the sidehill birdie putt, falling into a tie for second with Watson and Funseth.

Player’s final-round 64 matched the course record and also made him the oldest winner at age 42.

Although both of those records have been eclipsed, Player’s status in Masters history is secure. He holds the record for most starts (52) and has joined fellow Big Three members Palmer and Jack Nicklaus as honorary starters.