[imagesource: US PGA Tour]

Gary Player is revered as one of his generation’s finest golfers.

Ask his son, Marc, and he’ll tell you that the nine-time major winner falls a little short in the father department.

It’s no secret that their relationship has strained considerably in recent times, with legal wrangling resulting in Gary receiving a settlement of $5 million.

Marc previously managed his father’s businesses for more than two decades and started the Gary Player Group. Following that settlement ruling, he expressed sadness over his “deteriorated” relationship with his father.

Most recently, the pair clashed over what Gary says is Marc’s unauthorised sale of his memorabilia. With claims and counterclaims and public spats, there may be no mending this relationship.

Sport24 reached out to both men for comment and they weren’t afraid to speak their minds. Here’s Gary:

“When you’ve got a big family, you’re going to have some problems. One man said to me the other day because he could see that my son was trying to sell my trophies, he’s got five children, and two of them are a pain.

“All families have a brother or sister … they all have family problems. I never thought I’d have that because I adored my son.

“I gave him [Marc] too much. Now, he’s taking my trophies and selling them. I had to get a lawyer to stop him because they’re mine. I earned them.”

Perhaps the most stinging rebuke came when Gary criticised Marc’s treatment of Vivienne Verwey, Gary’s wife of 64 years. She died of pancreatic cancer in August last year and Gary says his son “could have been sweeter and kinder to her”.

When reached for his side of the story, Marc told Sport24 that his father’s decision to deal with the fallout so publicly was shameful:

“My father is absolutely correct when he says every family has their problems, disputes and disagreements. Most, however, prudently choose to deal with these issues amongst themselves through meetings, discussion, forgiveness and with the belief that family are the most important part of our lives.

Image: US PGA Tour

“My father has always preached about his Christian faith and how love, forgiveness and communication are essential – that blood was thicker than water.

“How sad that in his old age, he has turned out to be such a bitter hypocrite.”

He went on to say that his father was “ungrateful” for Marc’s efforts to build the Gary Player brand and likened his family suddenly playing attention to Gary’s business dealings to “vultures or hyenas around a carcass”.

It really is just a hugely unfortunate falling out with the dirtiest of laundry now being aired for all to see.

Let’s give Marc one final chance to put the boot in:

“My father has always maintained that your reputation is worth more than all ‘the gold and silver in the world’ but his recent misguided support of Donald Trump, Saudi Golf and Dave King, when coupled with his original support of apartheid, numerous accusations of cheating, illegally hiding and keeping funds offshore and now attacking me are disingenuous to say the very least. I know where all the so-called ‘bodies are buried’ and have documents to prove it.”

On the apartheid front, Marc has a point.

Gary was a big fan of segregation and actively worked with the National Party government to try and curry favour with foreign countries.

Whatever happens from here on out, I think a truce between 86-year-old Gary and 62-year-old Marc is off the table.

[source:sport24]