Gary Player weighs in on Tiger Woods struggles

Woods was arrested and charged with driving under the influence after his Range Rover overturned in Florida last month, reportedly while heavily medicated.

Player, a three-time Masters winner, was asked what advice he would give to the 50-year-old, who has been plagued by pain, injury and several surgeries in recent years.

"You know, it's very easy, the human being is so critical of everything. If I or any of you in this room had the pain that Tiger Woods had – think of the excruciating pain that this man has been going through for a long time," defended the 90-year-old.

"I personally think, in my opinion – if I'm right or wrong, I'm sorry – but he was trying to be a Navy SEAL scout for a while. Funny enough, I had a friend who was a Navy SEAL scout. 

"He said this long ago. He said Tiger will really suffer in future with his back and with his legs. Look what's happened? I think it's 20 operations on either the back or the legs, but many, many operations on his leg and his back. So he's in pain."

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While understanding the pain endured by one of the all-time greats of the game, Player acknowledged that driving himself around in his current state is reckless.

"Do I blame him for taking medicine? Hell, no. He has sleep deprivation. Do I blame him for taking something to help him sleep? No," he continued.

"But I don't think he should drive a car. When you're taking that medicine, it's dangerous when you're driving a car, same as it's dangerous when you look at your cell phone in the car. There's 6,000 accidents a day in motor cars.

"So I think all he's got to do is just not drive a car and get a chauffeur. My reflexes, I think, are as good as when I was 20, but I don't drive anymore. I get a chauffeur. I think that's the answer to it."

The nine-time major winner further expressed empathy for Woods, who has been widely spoken about at the current Masters underway in Augusta.

"But my heart goes out for him. There's nothing worse than living in pain every day of your life. You can't think of anything worse. I just hope he can get it all sorted out because he's such an asset to golf and has done so much for the game," Player said.

"There was never – when we were young people, there were no Blacks playing the [PGA] Tour, guys. I remember going to Charlie Sifford in 1957, and I said, Mr. Sifford, how did you play today? He said, I'm not allowed to play, I'm Black. 

"So I experienced Apartheid in South Africa and in America. Tiger comes along, and you realise what he does for the Black man around the world, you can never work out what he's done for golf. So my heart goes out for him."