Gary Player believes Westwood can still win a major if he eats right

Gary Player is without a doubt one of the greatest players to ever grace the game of golf. With nine major championship and 163 professional wins, yes that's right, 163, the South African legend is still going strong at the ripe age of 84, still playing golf to a very good level.

Player's golf course designing companies have executed over 400 projects in 36 countries, including the Gary Player Country Club in South Africa, the latest stop on the European Tour where the field battle it out in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, a Rolex Series event.

With the tournament hosted by Player himself, the nine-time major champion featured as a guest commentator for a short period of Thursday's first round, live on Sky Sports Golf.

Seeing Lee Westwood take his shot on the par-3 4th, Player was quick to give high praise to the Englishman.

"He was so unlucky not to win the Open at Turnberry," said Player. "I was really hoping he would, I love this man. What a supporter he's been for this tournament, winning it three times and visiting the country as well."

Nick Dougherty then proceeded to ask Player if Westwood still had time to win a major championship, given that he is now 46 years old.

"It depends on his eating," he said. "You've got to watch your eating when you get past 40. You've got to change your entire lifestyle with eating, you've got to exercise, you've got to rest well, you've got to know how to laugh, you've got to be happily married. All these things go towards winning major championships. You don't win one without them unless you're a freak, but you've got to be lighter at 45 than you were when you were 25 and very few people do that, because your ankles and your back can't take all the strain."

Dougherty then made the point that the science in golf has drastically changed and we now know a lot more about the importance of diet and exercise, something that Player was a 'trailblazer' and 'experimenter' in, back in the day.

"I was called a nut, doing weight training," said Player. "They said you'd never last past 35 and I'm 84 averaging 72, I've beaten my age 3000 times in a row."