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Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), also known as "The Golden Bear"[1], was a major force in professional golf, first on the PGA Tour from the 1960s to the mid-to-late 1980s, then on the Champions Tour from the early to mid 1990s. Nicklaus is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time. Together with Arnold Palmer, he is credited with turning golf into the major spectator sport it has become. While Palmer brought golf into the television era, it was the developing Nicklaus-Palmer rivalry that drove subsequent interest.
Amateur career
PGA Tour careerProfessional breakthroughNicklaus began his professional career in 1962. His first professional win came in the same year, defeating Arnold Palmer in a playoff for the 1962 U.S. Open. Nicklaus is still the youngest ever winner of this event. By the end of the year Nicklaus had picked up two more wins, those being the Seattle Open and the Portland Open back-to-back. He completed his year with over $60,000 of prize-money, placed third on the tour money list, and was named Rookie of the Year.[2] In 1963 Nicklaus won two more major championships - The Masters and the PGA Championship. Along with three other wins including the Tournament of Champions, he placed second on the tour money list with just over $100,000.[2] Despite not winning a major in 1964, Nicklaus placed first on the tour money list for the first time in his career with a margin of $81.13 over Arnold Palmer. In The Open Championship at St Andrews, he set a new record for the lowest score in the final 36 holes with 66-68. Despite this, Tony Lema won the event with Nicklaus placing second.[2]
Career downturn (1968-1970)After Nicklaus won the 1967 U.S. Open, he did not win another major championship until the 1970 British Open at the Old Course at St Andrews. Moreover, his best placing on the tour money list for the years 1968 to 1970 was second, with a worst placing of fourth, his worst placing on the list since he turned professional. During this period, Nicklaus also had to deal with the death of his father Charlie Nicklaus in 1970. Soon after this tragedy, Nicklaus won the 1970 Open Championship, defeating Doug Sanders in a playoff in emotional fashion. He threw his putter up into the air after sinking the winning putt, as he was thrilled to have won The Open at the home of golf, St Andrews.[4] He describes this period in his life: "I was playing good golf, but it really wasn't that big a deal to me one way or the other. And then my father passed away and I sort of realized that he had certainly lived his life through my golf game. I really hadn't probably given him the best of that. So I sort of got myself back to work. So '70 was an emotional one for me from that standpoint. ... It was a big boost."[5] Record setterAfter winning the 1971 PGA Championship, Nicklaus became the first golfer to win all four majors twice in a career.[6] By the end of the year he had won 4 other tournaments including the Tournament of Champions and the National Team Championship with Arnold Palmer. Nicklaus won the first two majors of the year, The Masters and the U.S. Open, creating talk of a Grand Slam. This was soon extinguished as Nicklaus placed second in The Open Championship. In the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, Nicklaus struck a 1-iron on the par-3 17th hole into a stiff, gusty, ocean breeze which landed, hit the flagstick and ended up 6 inches from the cup. The U.S. Open was Nicklaus's 13th career major, and tied him with Bobby Jones for career majors (although the set of majors in Jones's time were different to Nicklaus's time). He won a total of seven tournaments during the year, and placing runner-up in a further three. Jones's record of majors was soon broken when Nicklaus won the PGA Championship in 1973 for his 14th career major. In that year he won another six tournaments. The PGA Player of the Year was awarded to Nicklaus for the third time, and the second time in a row, after winning it in 1972. A majorless year in 1974 was compensated by being one of the 13 original inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame.[7] Nicklaus says this induction was a "nice memento" after a "disappointing season".[8] Nicklaus's year in 1975 started off well, he won the Doral-Eastern Open, Heritage Classic, and The Masters in consecutive starts. His Masters win was his fifth, a record he broke eleven years later. In this tournament, Nicklaus made a 40 foot putt on the 16th hole to all but secure his victory. He also won the PGA Championship for the fourth time later in the year. His performance in 1975 resulted in his being named PGA Player of the Year for the fourth time, tying Ben Hogan, and he was also named ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. The tour money list was his again in 1976, despite only competing in 16 events, winning only two events and no majors, and playing what he called "hang-back-and-hope golf".[9] He also won the PGA Player of the Year award for a record fifth time. Between 1972 and 1976 the only time he failed to win this award was 1974. 1977 was a majorless year for Nicklaus, but a second placing to Tom Watson in The Open at Turnberry created headlines around the world. Nicklaus shot 65-66 in the final two rounds at Turnberry, only to be beaten by Watson who scored 65-65 in a one-on-one battle dubbed "Duel in the Sun". Nicklaus gives his views on this event: "There are those in golf who would argue into next month that the final two rounds of the 1977 British Open were the greatest head-to-head golf match ever played. Not having been around for the first five hundred or so years of the game, I'm not qualified to speak on such matters. What's for sure, however, is that it was the most thrilling one-on-one battle of my career."[10] During 1977 Nicklaus brought up his 63rd career tour win, and passed Ben Hogan to take second place on this list, with only Sam Snead ahead of him. Nicklaus won the 1978 Open Championship to become the only player to have won each major championship three times. He won three other tournaments on the PGA Tour including the Tournament Players Championship, and was named "Sportsman of the Year" by Sports Illustrated. After this year he suffered a lapse of form, not winning another tournament until 1980. 1979 was the first professional year that he had failed to win a tournament, and only had one runner-up finish. In 1980, Nicklaus only recorded three top-10 finishes, but two of these were majors (the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship), and the other was a runner-up finish in the Doral-Eastern Open. During the next five years Nicklaus won only two times on the tour, including his own tournament (Memorial Tournament) in 1984. In 1986, Nicklaus recorded his sixth Masters victory in incredible circumstances, posting a 30 on the back nine at Augusta for a final round of 65. On the 17th hole, Nicklaus hit it to 18 feet and proceeded to roll it in for birdie, raising his putter in celebration and completing an eagle-birdie-birdie streak. He became the oldest Masters winner in history. Nicklaus won this tournament using the Response ZT putter, the manufacturer, MacGregor Golf, received 5,000 orders the next day; the company had planned to sell only 6,000 for the entire year.[11] Before the tournament a journalist wrote that he was "done, washed up, through", and this spurred him on, as he says: "I kept thinking all week, 'Through, washed up, huh?' I sizzled for a while. But then I said to myself, 'I'm not going to quit now, playing the way I'm playing. I've played too well, too long to let a shorter period of bad golf be my last."[12] This victory was to be his last in his long lasting career on the main PGA Tour. At the age of 58, Nicklaus made another run for the Green Jacket when he tied for sixth in the 1998 Masters.[13] Champions Tour careerNicklaus became eligible to join the Champions Tour when he turned 50 in early 1990.[14] He then quickly won in his first start on the tour, The Tradition, which was also a Champions Tour major championship. Nicklaus would go on to win another three Traditions, while the most anyone else has won is two. Later in the year, Nicklaus won the Senior Players Championship for his second win of the year, and also his second major of the year. The next year, in 1991, Nicklaus won three of the five events he started in, those being the U.S. Senior Open, the PGA Seniors Championship and The Tradition for the second year straight. These, again, were all majors on the Champions Tour. After a winless year in 1992, Nicklaus came back to win the U.S. Senior Open for the second time in 1993. Also in that year he teamed up with Chi Chi Rodriguez and Raymond Floyd to win the Wendy's Three Tour Challenge for the Champions Tour team. In 1994 he won the Champions Tour's version of the Mercedes Championship for his only win of the year. The Tradition was his again in 1995, in a year where he made the top 10 in all of the seven tournaments he entered in. His 100th career win came the next year, when he won The Tradition for the fourth time, and second time in succession. This was to be his last win on the Champions Tour, and the last official win of his career. Close of playing careerNicklaus played without much preparation in April 2005 at The Masters, a month after the drowning death of his 17-month-old grandson Jake (child of his son, Steve) on March 1 2005. He and Steve played golf as therapy for their grief following the death. After days of playing, it was Steve who suggested his dad return to The Masters. He made that his last appearance in the tournament.[15] The last competitive tournament in which Nicklaus played in the United States was the "Bayer Advantage Classic" in Overland Park, Kansas on June 13, 2005. Nicklaus finished his professional career at the The Open Championship at St. Andrews on July 15, 2005.[16] Nicklaus turned 65 in January that year, which was the last year he could enter a PGA tournament as an exempt player. He played with Luke Donald and Tom Watson in his final round.[17] On the 18th hole, Nicklaus hit the final tee-shot of his career, and strolled to the Swilcan bridge and waved to the appreciative crowd (who gave him a ten-minute standing ovation). He then began posing for commemorative photographs with his son and caddy, Steve, as well as Donald and Watson. Afterwards, Nicklaus ended his illustrious career in style, making a fifteen-foot birdie putt and extending his putter and left arm in the air as he had done so many times to celebrate crucial putts. Nicklaus missed the 36-hole cut with a score of +3 (147). In what could be seen as a symbolic passing of the torch from one golf great to another, Tiger Woods won each major in the year that Nicklaus last appeared in it as a player. In 2000, Nicklaus played in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship for the last time, with Woods winning both; Woods also won The Open Championship in that year, which Nicklaus originally intended as his last appearance in that event. In 2005, Nicklaus made his last Masters appearance, and played The Open one last time. Woods won both events as well. Off-the-course careerNicklaus devotes much of his time to golf course design and operates one of the largest golf design practices in the world. His first design was opened for play in 1970. For the first few years all of his projects were co-designs with either Pete Dye or Desmond Muirhead, who were two of the leading golf course architects of that era. His first sole design, Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, Canada, opened for play in 1976. He is now in partnership with his four sons and his son-in-law through Nicklaus Design. The company had 299 courses open for play at the end of 2005, which was nearly 1% of all the courses in the world (In 2005 Golf Digest calculated that there were nearly 32,000 golf courses in the world, approximately half of them in the United States.[18]). There are Nicklaus Design courses in more than thirty U.S. states and more than twenty five countries around the world. Jack Nicklaus is personally responsible for over 200 golf course designs. These include Muirfield Village, Shoal Creek, Castle Pines and the PGA Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel. Image:NicklausI.jpg Nicklaus "Dotting the i" at the Buckeyes football game against Golden Gophers at Ohio Stadium on 2006-10-28 Nicklaus also continues to manage the Memorial Golf Tournament he created in his home state of Ohio, which is played on a course he designed and is one of the more prestigious events on the PGA TOUR. His other interests are varied and many, and include a golf equipment company and golf academies. There is a Jack Nicklaus Museum on the campus of The Ohio State University in his home town of Columbus, Ohio.[19] He had the unique privilege of dotting the "i" of "Script Ohio" (specifically the "i" in "Ohio"), the signature formation of The Ohio State University Marching Band, at the Ohio State homecoming game on October 28, 2006 when the Buckeyes played Minnesota; this is considered the greatest honor that can be bestowed on a non-band member.[20] While at Ohio State University, Nicklaus became a member of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta[21]. Nicklaus also started/ heavily supported a private school in North Palm Beach called The Benjamin School. Playing styleJack Nicklaus had an unusual playing style, combining being one of the greatest putters of all-time with being the longest hitter on the tour during his prime. He popularized the "power fade," which was his characteristic ball flight. He was also known as a conservative player at times, only going for broke when he needed to. This was especially apparent on the green. He would be less aggressive and make sure of an easy two-putt.[22] RecordsRecords in major championships
Other records
Major ChampionshipsWins (18)
1 Defeated Arnold Palmer in 18-hole playoff - Nicklaus (71), Palmer (74) Results timeline
LA = Low Amateur Summary of major championship performances
PGA Tour wins (73)
Major championships are shown in bold. Senior PGA Tour wins (10)
Senior majors are shown in bold. Amateur wins (6)
Other wins (21)
Other senior wins (8)
See also
Notes and references
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