Gary Player, Golf’s new Mr. Moneybags

Gary Player is sitting on a veritable king's ransom, and he's going to spend it on some of the planet's premier golf properties.

Player says that he's collected $500 million -- generously provided by investors from Abu Dhabi -- and that he plans to raise another $500 million from sources described as "private and institutional investors."

Marc Player, the eldest son of the Travelers Rest, South Carolina-based golf designer, reports that the $1 billion will buy "iconic resorts where there are existing hotel, residential, golf amenities that have been over-capitalized."

In other words, Player and his partners plan to buy high-profile resort properties at bargain prices.

It's the same old story: In a depressed economy, cash is king.

The fund's first targets have been identified. The National reports that Player's fund is already trying to buy the iconic Turnberry Resort in Ayrshire, Scotland and the luxurious Sea Island resort just outside Brunswick, Georgia (in the United States).

In 2008, Leisurecorp paid more than $100 million for Turnberry, a 45-hole complex that's hosted British Open four times, most recently in 2009. Shortly after the purchase, Leisurecorp's fortunes went south, and its owner, government-based Dubai World, transferred ownership of the resort to another of its subsidiaries and put it on the market.

Turnberry isn't Dubai World's only golf holding. Through various subsidiaries, the cash-strapped company also owns a golf course in South Africa and Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, the site of the richest golf tournament on earth (the Dubai World Championship). It also owns small pieces of Troon Golf and GPS Industries.

Sea Island, which has a pair of 18-hole golf courses, hosted the G8 Summit in 2004, but it laid off something like 500 employees (about a quarter of its staffers) in 2008, and its owners, a group led by Bill Jones III, defaulted on loans in both 2009 and 2010. It used to have a third 18-hole course, but a lender now controls it.

"We see this as a perfect storm," Marc Player said at the recent KPMG Golf Business Forum in Belek, Turkey. "There may not be a lot of guys hiring us to design golf courses, but maybe we can acquire the ones that are distressed."

Here's a link to the National's story, "Golf Fund Tees Off in Capital."