Gary Player snubbed by Mandela over Myanmar ties - should human rights matter to golf course designers?

An interesting development from South Africa. It seems Nelson Mandela has withdrawn an invitation to Gary Player to host a charity fundraising tournament in Mandela’s name due to Player’s business ties in Myanmar. According to The Guardian, Mandela has responded to Bishop Desmond Tutu’s call to cut ties with Player.

The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund said it was “not fully aware of the extent and nature” of Mr Player’s involvement in Burma when it made the invitation, “nor of the political impact of this involvement". It took note of the “international campaign in support of greater freedom in that country.”

For any making the claim that Player is a scapegoat in this particular situation, it wouldn’t be difficult to see their point. South Africa has been widely condemned for failing to back UN motions criticizing the junta’s human rights violations. But having Player as the host for a charity golf tournament - and the bad publicity that would come with it, strikes too close to home for Mandela, apparently.

For his part, Player said the course he designed in Myanmar was built at a time when political strife in that country had cooled.

Mr Player said his company’s involvement with the design of the golf course occurred in 2002 when “the world’s relations towards the regime in Burma had thawed; Aung San Suu Kyi had been released from house arrest and it seemed as though real political change was in the air".

“Let me make it abundantly clear that I decry, in the strongest possible terms, the recent events in Burma and wholeheartedly support Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu in his efforts to bring peace and transition to that country,” he said.

The situation in Myanmar is politically complex, to say the least, and for the purposes of this post, best left for other discussions. The situation to look at here, however, is what responsibility do golf’s big names have when it comes to doing business with foreign nations.

It is easy to make claims of “growing the game,” but it’s difficult to imagine that Tiger Woods had a burning desire to promote golf in Dubai. He went where the money was for his first course design. Human rights issues were secondary, at the very least. Also, Jack Nicklaus has substantial ties to China, another nation where the term “human rights” is often spoken with a wink.

It’s by no means a cut and dried situation. But perhaps it could be wise for those like Woods and Nicklaus to see the trouncing that Player’s legacy is in the process of receiving. Because when you have a name that resounds as loudly as “Gary Player” or “Jack Nicklaus” or “Tiger Woods,” who you connect that name to can come back to haunt you.

–WKW