Player family feud intensifies as son Marc slams Gary's 'baseless' auction allegations
Marc Player, son and former manager of SA golfing legend Gary, and his legal representatives have come out swinging to counter an earlier allegation that he's put several pieces of memorabilia up for auction without permission
In a statement released on Monday, Gary - a nine-time major winner - said that he would be taking "action" to recover the items that he alleges belongs to him.
However, Marc, through his lawyer Darren Heitner, responded that his father's claim to the admittedly unidentified items are "baseless" and "smacks of a continued petty effort by Gary's advisors to besmirch Marc's name and reputation wherever possible".
Instead, he details his extensive efforts back in 2002 cataloguing over 300 items in conjunction with Christie's London from Gary's career.
"Many of these items were scattered around the world or not actually won by Gary Player but commissioned by Marc Player from artists or purchased from various other collectors," the statement read.
It's further alleged that this collection - apparently labelled the Christie's Gary Player Collection - was then sold to South African business heavyweight Johann Rupert because Gary couldn't repay millions in outstanding taxes owed to the South African Revenue Service.
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"The agreement between Gary Player and his son was simply that, if this Christie's collection was ever to be sold, they would split the proceeds equally given the time, effort and cost involved related to Marc's efforts," the statement continued.
"To date, Marc Player has not received any compensation whatsoever."
The communique also noted that "all other trophies and memorabilia" was "validly gifted" to Marc by his parents and that have been in his possession for decades.
"For