Rest In Peace, Legend: 'Gold Man' At The Players Is Reportedly Dead

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Cam Smith may have won last year's Players championship, but he wasn't the star of the week at TPC Sawgrass, that title belonged to Gold Man.

Unfortunately, the animated character will not return to TPC Sawgrass this week. Gold Man is dead, according to James Colgan of GOLF.

WATCH: HAYDEN BUCKLEY MAKES HOLE-IN-ONE ON THE 17TH AT TPC SAWGRASS, CELEBRATES LIKE A MAD MAN

NBC debuted the Gold Man last year to celebrate 40 years of The Players at the Stadium Course and it certainly got fans talking. Gold Man could very well be the most unifying figure in golf Twitter history as it seemed like everyone on the bird app bashed the bizarre animation a year ago.

The Gold Man was a 'real-life' figure of The Players trophy, and he was magic.

"He became his own person this week, Andrew Isaacson, executive vice president of The Famous Group, said of the Gold Man last year. "He came to life, born of the physical Players Championship trophy, meant to be an amalgamation of all past champions," Isaacson added, "but over the course of this week he developed a personality of his own."

While Gold Man won't be a part of NBC's broadcast of this year's Players, here's to hoping he shows up in future editions of the tournament.

If Gold Man isn't on the grounds of Sawgrass for the 50th playing of The Players, we riot.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.