Wayne Player’s Masters Issues Didn’t Start In 2021: A Look Into Wayne’s Troubled Past

It appears that Wayne Player is all too familiar with dragging the Player family name through the mud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by GARY PLAYER (@gary.player)

Wayne made headlines this week after it was announced by his brother Marc that he was banned from any future Masters tournament, due to a seeming attempt to undermine Lee Elder’s ceremonial opening by “strategically” placing OnCore branded golf balls directly in the camera shot for all to see.

All the commotion caused by Wayne’s marketing ploy stirred up some issues from Wanye’s past, including some prior incidents that are starting to come back into the light.

It may be that the ban handed down to Wayne has been in the works since 2018, when he first got in trouble at Augusta National.

Enter year 2018; Player, then 56, rented a house for two days in April to watch the Masters Tournament. Wayne paid the homeowner $2000 (by check) for the stay, and left. A month later in May, the homeowner’s lawyers attempted to contact Wayne; the check had bounced for insufficient funds. No response. In July, Wayne reportedly told the lawyers he’d send $1000 to cover the rest of the stay. That money never left Wayne’s hand. At this point, the issue was referred over to the police.

Fast forward to January of 2019, Wayne was stuck in Georgia on a layover while en-route to his native South Africa, when he was informed that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest. He was subsequently arrested. Wayne was detained on Jan 18, and processed by Columbia County on the 23rd, spending 5 nights in jail, overall.

Player claims that shortly after he paid the $2000, and the fraud charges were subsequently dropped.

Sadly, the trouble didn’t end there for Wayne.

Another issue, also stemming from the 2018 Masters was plaguing Wayne at the time of the fraud incident.

Wayne and his brand Wayne Player Enterprises LLC were at the time, also facing a civil lawsuit for acting in bad faith on a promise, and also headbutting (yes, you read that right), the plaintiff when approached about the issue.

Todd Feltz, the plaintiff, had been promised by Wayne, a customized “Green Jacket Masters Experience 2018” for him and his wife. The experience was to include things such as tickets for the Par-3 contest, one series badge each for the opening Masters round, and a meet-and-greet with Gary Player.

When Wayne failed to hold up his end of the deal, Feltz, obviously frustrated that the money he’d paid wasn’t being met with the promised goods in return, confronted Wayne. Wayne, instead of forking out the funds to pay for the badges, decided to headbutt Feltz.

Wayne said it was more of a nudge, rather than a headbutt as Feltz claimed.

“I wouldn’t say I did a full-throttle, hit-bus butt; it was a bump,” Player says. “The judge gave me a disorderly conduct charge with a $300 fine. And I’ve since tried to reach out to Todd Feltz to try and make good with him, but he’s obviously not interested because he’s doing a civil case against me.”

According to the court records of Columbia Country, the Feltz versus Player case is closed.

Cover Image via Instagram