One of the semi-cool things about the Masters is the way it lets in the old-timers, past champions well past their primes who don’t stand a chance in hell of contending.

It’s a link to the past, a historical showcase that’s fun to watch. Most of the time.

Still, I think Gary Player shouldn’t be playing this year, his 51st. He’s obviously in it solely to break Arnold Palmer’s record.

“We both had that record and I think that’s really the motive in the back of my mind,” Player told the media this week.

Players has always been fiercely competitive, but it would have been much more gracious to bow out last year, and go into retirement sharing the record with Palmer, who is much more beloved around these parts.

As it is, he’s making a mockery of the record. He can’t even reach some of the par-4s in two, much less the par-5s.

Records are meant to be broken legitimately, not selfishly.

And that’s what Player is being – selfish and egotistical.

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