Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

For the past 30 years, Jack Nicklaus has been considered by many to be the greatest golfer of all time(1). His stamina has matched that of Arnold Palmer, and only the likes of Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Bobby Jones, and Tiger Woods are to be considered players in Nicklaus' league. In numbers of major tournaments won, Nicklaus stands alone with 18 victories(1), a number that does not include major titles won on the Champions Tour. He has won 73 times on the PGA Tour and has 58 second-place and 36 third-place finishes, as well as a total of 113 victories worldwide.(1) Nicklaus has finished top PGA Tour money winner 8 times and has also held the tour's low-scoring average eight times.(1) He was named the PGA's Player of the Year in 1967, 1972, 1973, 1975, and 1976, and Golf magazine in 1988 named him the "Player of the Century."(1) In his career on the PGA Tour, Jack Nicklaus has proven to be one of the best golfers in the history of the game, and has shown a true love for the sport since childhood on until his old age.

Nicklaus began playing golf at the age of 10 in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio(7). He shot a 51 on the first nine holes he ever played.(2) At the age of 13, he broke 70 and held a three handicap.(2) Tutored by club pro Jack Grout, Nicklaus showed real

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potential early on for tournament play and he dominated local and national junior golf events as well as going on to capture two U.S. Amateur Championships in 1959 and 1961.(1) By the time he turned pro in November, 1961, he had established himself as the country's greatest amateur golfer while at the same time giving the professionals a scare. He finished runner-up to Arnold Palmer by only two strokes in the 1960 U.S. Open, and was a fourth-place finisher in the 1961 U.S. Open(1).

In 1962, at the Oakmont Country Club outside of Pittsburgh, Nicklaus beat Arnold Palmer in a playoff to win the U.S. Open(1). Palmer's millions of diehard fans and the huge crowd of gallery members, called Arnie's Army(9), that followed their hero from tee to green, were crushed by their hero's loss. The Nicklaus victory went down as one of the most unpopular the world of golf had ever known(9).

Nicklaus's mind, even more than his great natural talent and long-ball swing, was the key to his success. He rarely made a poor decision in a tournament and never second-guessed himself. One of the most amazing examples concerning Nicklaus' concentration was the fact that early on in his career he was an addicted cigarette smoker, as most professional golfers were at the time, and smoked two packs per day(2). However, he never lit a cigarette on the golf course, unlike every other smoker in the field, even when he was stuck in a trying moment. When asked why this was so, Jack simply replied, "I just don't think about it." (2)

In 1963, Nicklaus won the Masters and the PGA Championship(1). He ran away with the 1965 Masters, winning by nine strokes, in what Bobby Jones called "the greatest

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performance in golf history."(2) Nicklaus shattered Ben Hogan's Masters record of 274 by three strokes.(1)Nicklaus successfully defended his Masters title the following year and won his first British Open, becoming one of only five golfers to win all four majors(1) (the others are Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods).(1) At the 1967 U.S. Open, Nicklaus pulled away from Palmer in the final round to win by four strokes(1), finally proving to "Arnie's Army" that Jack Nicklaus was truly the best golfer in the world.

The beginning of the 1970's was the start to Jack's most dominant decade. When it came to winning consistently, Nicklaus was a machine. Between 1970 and 1975 he won seven more majors, the only victories "that count,"(2) as he liked to say. His 1973 PGA Championship title put him one ahead of Bobby Jones' thirteen major victories, and his 1975 Masters was his fifth win at Augusta(1), and was hailed by the gallery and sportswriters to have been one of the most thrilling golf victories of all time.(2) On Augusta's sixteenth hole during the final round of the tournament, Nicklaus sank a 40-foot putt to take a one-stroke lead and held on the last two holes, winning by one over Tom Weiskopf and two over Johnny Miller.(2)

In 1977, Nicklaus was involved in a thrilling duel with Tom Watson, America's new star, at the British Open. He lost what was later called by sportswriters as "The Duel in the Sun"(3) to Tom Watson, but came back in 1978 to claim the British title as his. With the emergence of players