Golf legend Gary Player bids reverent farewell to departing R&A boss: "Drove meaningful progress"

Back in January 2024, R&A boss Martin Slumbers announced he would be leaving the golf body by the end of 2024. The 64-year-old Slumbers had been in charge of the St. Andrews-based golf body for the last nine years. After his departure as CEO from R&A, golf legend Gary Player penned a farewell for Slumbers.

On social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Player mentioned that Slumbers made a profound impact on the sport of golf during his tenure as the CEO of the R&A. Player added that he witnessed how his leadership benefitted not only professional golf but amateur golf too.

Attaching a photo of the former R&A boss, Player wrote:

"During his tenure as CEO of The R&A and Secretary of The Royal & Ancient Golf Club, Martin Slumbers made a profound impact on the game of golf. I was privileged to witness how his leadership drove meaningful progress across our sport - from enhancing the global prominence of The Open Championship and Women’s Open to championing initiatives that foster growth at the amateur level worldwide. His contributions have strengthened golf’s foundation. No doubt Martin’s vision and dedication leave an enduring legacy that will benefit the game for generations to come."

You can check Gary Player's post on X below:

In a prior interview with Golf Digest, Martin Slumbers had mentioned that he has ticked off everything he wanted to achieve during his time as CEO of R&A. The influential golf figure spoke about the three things he achieved during his reign, and that is - The Open Championship being a bigger brand with more attendance, an increase of investment in The Open, and getting more women and girls to play golf.

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R&A chief Martin Slumbers once revealed who his favorite golf player is

When a person is asked about who their favorite golfer is, it's not uncommon to hear names like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. After all, golfers like Woods and Nicklaus were dominant for the majority of their careers, which makes most people pick them.

However, when Martin Slumbers was asked who his favorite golfer was in an interview with Golf Digest, he gave a different answer. First, he spoke about which player intimidated him. It's worth mentioning that Slumbers stated he is not someone who gets easily intimidated.

He said:

"I don’t get intimidated easily, but I was the first time I met Jack Nicklaus. I always adored watching Tiger play golf. But for me Jack is the best player the game has ever seen. So I was very nervous meeting him."

Further, when Slumbers was asked if Jack Nicklaus was his favorite, the former refused and named his favorite golfer. Slumbers added:

"No. That’s Seve."

It's worth noting that Slumbers' pick, Seve Ballesteros, was a Spanish golfer who had a pretty legendary career. In his time as a professional golfer, he registered 90 wins, and most of these wins came on the European Tour (50).