Golf: Written by bloke who knew them all

Gary Player (above) had a round with Phil Tresidder after winning the Masters. Picture / Reuters

What did Gary Player do the morning after he had won the US Masters for the third time at Augusta in 1978? He kept an appointment at 7am on the first tee with 16-year-old son Wayne and Aussie writer Phil Tresidder.

"I'd just love you to see Wayne hit the ball," the proud father had said a few days earlier.

In the meantime, Player had completed the last nine holes of the Masters in 30 shots, coming from seven shots behind to don the green jacket again at the age of 42.

No post-triumph sleep-in for one of the fittest men in golf. The invitation still stood and Tresidder took his creaky backswing along for the round with the Player family.

It was entirely appropriate. Tresidder had worked with Player on newspaper and magazine columns since the South African had made his first trip Downunder in his early 20s and they had become great friends.

The Australian described his round with Player at Augusta in the American magazine Golf World and it is included in the newly published collection of his writings Phil Tresidder on Golf.

At the age of 19, he had persuaded Sir Frank Packer, owner of the Sydney Telegraph, to use his reports on the 1947 Wallaby rugby tour of Britain and he stayed on to report on Bradman's cricketers, the London Olympics and the Kangaroos league tour.

He covered all these sports over the years but his great love was golf and he later became editor of the Australian Golf Digest.

He was a regular visitor to the big tournaments in New Zealand, sparring with the local doyens of the sport, T. P. McLean and Brian Doherty.

Tresidder died two years ago at the age of 75 and many of the world's top golfers, including Player, Greg Norman, Peter Thomson and Karrie Webb, hailed him as one of their favourite writers on the game.

The 30 short articles in the new collection are devoted to household names like Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead and Nick Faldo.

But there are also insights into lesser-known players such as Tommy "Thunder" Bolt and the remarkable Norman von Nida, who could justifiably be credited with smoothing the greens for the modern Australian professionals.

And the book is laced with humorous golfing anecdotes, some true, some embellished at the 19th.

A favourite: "A Sydney club received a complaint from female members that a male member had been sighted urinating on the side of a fairway.

"The committee studied the complaint gravely, then assured the women they had equal rights on the course."

* Phil Tresidder on Golf, published by Allen & Unwin, at $27.99.