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Inside Gary Player’s Masters Week Tradition That Comes With a Six-Figure Price Tag

Originally posted on DailyClubGolf | By Sneha Abraham | Last updated Mar 29, 2026 2:29 PM ET

Gary Player hasn’t teed it up at Augusta since 2009, and he still shows up every April, and the tab would make most people choke on their sweet tea.

The three-time Masters champion first arrived at Augusta in 1957. One rental house covered it back then. Now it’s five houses, full catering, corporate outings, and a Wednesday night cookout for 250 guests. Marc Player, his son and head of Black Knight International, runs the operation. The annual bill sits at roughly $120,000.

“Last year at Champions Retreat, we spent about $120,000 on renting five houses, catering, maid service, and such,” Marc Player said. “Every Wednesday night, we have a big barbecue in South Africa, we call it a braai for 250 people.”

Each April, the operation runs out of Champions Retreat, the course built by Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus. With no card to play, Player shifts into host mode, bringing in select corporate partners for small-group rounds instead of chasing a place on the leaderboard.

The whole operation traces back to a missed opportunity that still stings.

“Back in the ’60s, Mark McCormack told my father, Jack, and Arnie that they ought to buy houses in Augusta,” Marc Player said. “Spend $50,000 for one. My father said, ‘You’re crazy.’ Well, now 50 years later, everyone has spent at least 10 times that on rent, and that $50,000 house would be what, a million?”

Nobody’s laughing, but Gary Player keeps writing the check.

The Chef Called ‘Doc’ and Why Gary Player Keeps Coming Back to Augusta Every Spring

Take away the big events and the $120,000 cost, and what’s left is a Southern cook who has been cooking for Gary Player’s group for 15 years.

“We’ve had the same chef for 15 years,” Player said. “We call him ‘Doc.’ He’s a great character, and we all love him. We have copious amounts of red wine and Belvedere vodka.”

Doc, red wine, Belvedere vodka. The same houses, the same week, the same people. For the Player family, Augusta is not about scores anymore. It is about a yearly tradition that never changes.

“Ever since my dad stopped playing, we can have more time with him,” Marc Player said. “He’s really relaxed now and doesn’t have to focus on how he’s going to play the tournament.”

This tradition, spanning nearly seven decades at Augusta and fifteen years with the same chef, has become a cherished annual event for the Player family.

For Gary Player, the green jacket stopped being the point a long time ago.

This article first appeared on DailyClubGolf and was syndicated with permission.

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