Marc Player
Marc Brandon Player (born February 17, 1960) is an entrepreneur and philanthropist born in South Africa and is the eldest son of golf icon Gary Player. He is best known as founder and CEO of The Player Group and Black Knight International, founded in 1980 to provide luxury goods and services to the golf industry, and as a philanthropist through the establishement of The Player Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to underprivileged children and impoverished communities worldwide.
Early life
As eldest son of golfing legend Gary Player, he started traveling to various golf tournaments all over the world with his parents from a very young age.
Player says that "travel is the best education in the world" and it took a small bus, several rooms, au pair and tutor to accommodate the Player family on the road as well as careful logistics And Co-ordination between children and luggage while travelling.
This lifestyle enabled him to be immersed in the world of sport and specifically golf and experience many different nationalities, languages and cultures.
Marc Player was educated at King Edward V11 school in Johannesberg, South Africa, as well as Weston Agricultural College in Mooi River, Natal.
He graduated from the South African military after 2 years compulsary national service with the officers rank of lieutenant.
Player completed an executive education program at Wits University in Johannesberg, South Africa.
He attended Harvard University and completed an OPM Executive Program.
Sport Representation
Marc Player exclusively represented the global sports marketing agency IMG in South Africa through most of the 1980s and worked closely with his mentor Mark McCormack.
His company Sports International represented several of South Africas leading sportsmen including cricketer Clive Rice, tennis player Wayne Ferrera and golfers Retief Goosen and Mark McNulty.
One of his first clients was his father Gary Player, and after founding Gary Player Design in 1981 and The Player Foundation in 1983, he decided to exclusively represent The Black Knight.
Business career
Gary Player Design was established in 1981 and has over the past 30 years developed over 300 golf courses in 36 countries on 5 different continents under the Gary Player, Black Knight and Player brands and become one of the leading global golf industry businesses.
Gary Player Enterprises was started in 1986 to represent Gary Player "off the golf course" and form corporate partnerships which today include companies such as Callaway, SAP, MasterCard, Rolex, Coca-Cola, Verizon, and Citi Private Bank.
He established The Player Foundation in 1983 to support underpriveledged children and education around the world and has raised over US$30 million for these causes through charitable golf events staged internationally.
Throughout the 1990s Player grew the companies and set up offices in Palm Beach, London, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, Buenos Aires and Cape Town.
In 2000 he established the Gary Player Invitational charity golf series that are played annually in the USA, China, Europe and South Africa and whose principal beneficiary is The Player Foundation.
Personal life
He resides in Palm Beach, Florida with his wife Claudia and three sons.
He is an avid collector of modern art and African artifacts and has designed, landscaped and decorated five homes in his signature "infused with Africa" style, including the Player Residence at the Gary Player Estates (The Cliffs Communities, South Carolina) , Plettenberg Bay in South Africa and his personal home in North Palm Beach, Florida .
Bibliography
He has produced several books, including The Art of Player and Gary Player's 50 Years at The Masters . He is also the founder, sole owner and editor-in-chief for Player Magazine which is published quarterly in both hard copy and digitally and distributed to over 100,000 people.