When trying to assess Jack Nicklaus’ remarkable achievements and longevity in major championships, consider this:
In 1960, 20-year-old Nicklaus placed second in the U.S. Open, finishing ahead of Ben Hogan, who had been in contention going into the final round. In 1998, 58-year-old Nicklaus placed sixth in the Masters, finishing ahead of Tiger Woods, who came in eighth.
Nicklaus has been golf’s bridge for more than 40 years, dating to his first U.S. Open in 1957. Now the bridge is closing.
The last major of 2000, this week’s PGA Championship, will mark the end of Nicklaus as a major player. This year will be the last time he plays in all four majors in a season.
In all probability, Nicklaus’ only major appearance from now on will be in the Masters, where he will return, like Arnold Palmer, for an annual victory lap. Nicklaus could change his mind about the other majors if he suddenly started playing great golf, but he’s 60, and with his various ailments, the scenario is highly unlikely.
This year Nicklaus tied for 54th at the Masters and missed the cut at the U.S. and British Opens. Still, he was a presence, just by being present.
Nicklaus played in a record 154 consecutive majors for which he was eligible from 1957 to 1998.
The Nicklaus portfolio features a record 18 major titles as a professional; 20 if his two U.S. Amateur championships are included.
Even when Nicklaus didn’t win, he was always in contention. He finished second in 19 majors, and third in nine others. All told, he had 73 top-10 finishes in majors.
Nicklaus set the standard. Here’s a look at memorable highlights from the four majors:
The Masters
Nicklaus laid claim to Augusta National right from the start. He won three times in his first five years as a pro–1963, 1964 and 1965, and again in 1972 and 1975.
But it was the 1986 Masters that forever will be Nicklaus’ defining moment. If the best things in life are unexpected, then this tournament was Christmas coming on the first Sunday in April.
At 46, Nicklaus came into the Masters looking over the hill. His earnings for the year were a paltry $4,404.
The week started with a column by Tom McCollister of the Atlanta Journal proclaiming that Nicklaus was washed up. Other columns had been written to that effect, but this one struck a nerve. Nicklaus hung it on his refrigerator for motivation.
After three rounds, Nicklaus was 2-under, four strokes behind Greg Norman. On the morning of the final round, Nicklaus told his son Steve that it would take a 65 to win.
“Go shoot it,” Steve said.
The odds were against Nicklaus when he shot 35 on the front nine. Then he made a 25-footer for birdie on 10, and the charge began.
An eagle on 15 had the crowd shaking the Augusta pines. His tee shot at the par-3 16th just missed going in for a hole-in-one, leaving him with an easy birdie. Then another birdie on 17 put Nicklaus in the lead.
A par on 18 gave Nicklaus the 65 he predicted he needed to win. A “washed-up” Nicklaus had shot a 30 on the back nine.
Nicklaus recalled that as he walked up the 18th, the cheers were so deafening, and the emotions so intense, he had to fight back tears to finish the hole.
When Norman, who was tied for first at the time, made bogey on the 18th hole, Nicklaus had a victory for the ages. Noted golf writer Herbert Warren Wind called the victory “nothing less the most important accomplishment in golf since Bobby Jones’ Grand Slam in 1930.”
It was Nicklaus’ sixth Masters title. Nicklaus said it was his “most fulfilling,” especially with son Jackie as his caddie.
Nicklaus hasn’t won another major. No matter. He clearly saved the best for last.
U.S. Open
Nicklaus got an early indoctrination to the U.S. Open. During the 1960 Open at Cherry Hills, Nicklaus, as an amateur, played the last two rounds with Hogan.
“It was an exciting thing,” he said.
The tournament also provided another milepost: the start of the Nicklaus-Arnold Palmer rivalry. Palmer, at the peak of his game, shot 65 in the final round to roar to victory.
Nicklaus, though, got his revenge two years later on Palmer’s home turf. Palmer had the fans behind him at the 1962 Open at Oakmont, near his Latrobe, Pa., hometown.
Nicklaus, a first-year professional, was unfazed. Nicklaus said he won several majors by being around when the other player stumbled, and 1962 was one of them.
Palmer had the lead but turned a potential birdie into a bogey on the par-5 ninth. Palmer had makeable birdie putts to win on 17 and 18, but missed both. That meant a playoff the next day.
Nicklaus insisted he wasn’t nervous, knowing his game was at top form. Sure enough, after six holes, Nicklaus was four strokes ahead. With his army behind him, Palmer got on a roll. Birdies on Nos. 9, 11 and 12 cut Nicklaus’ lead to one shot.
But Palmer made a three-putt bogey on 13. That put Nicklaus up by two again, and he rode home with a 71, three shots better than Palmer.
The victory was Nicklaus’ first in 17 professional tournaments. He
went on to win three more Opens. At Pebble Beach in 1972, he dramatically hit the flag on the par-3 17th en route to victory. At Baltusrol in 1980, Nicklaus won the Open with a record score of 272, breaking the record he had set in 1967 by three strokes.
But it was the first Open title that would set the tone. Nicklaus beat Palmer, and one of golf’s great rivalries was born.
The British Open
Nicklaus loves Augusta National, but he calls the British Open his favorite event.
“To come over to the British Open, to experience the difference in the courses and the conditions, it’s almost like going back in time,” he said. “So many of the great players have played on all these same courses.”
Nicklaus won three British Opens, including two at St. Andrews. Winning there was extra special because Bobby Jones said all great players should claim a title at St. Andrews.
When Nicklaus made the winning putt in a playoff over Doug Sanders in 1970 at St. Andrews, he uncharacteristically flung his putter high in the air.
However, for all successes, Nicklaus’ most memorable British Open might be the one he lost. In 1977, he and Tom Watson staged an epic battle at Turnberry.
After both shot 65 during the third round, they came into the last day tied for the lead. Nicklaus went up by three shots after four holes, but Watson fired back with three birdies to even things after eight.
From there it was a battle of “Can you top this?” On the 14th hole, Watson, trailing by one, said to Nicklaus, “This is what it’s all about, isn’t it Jack?”
Watson’s 60-foot putt for birdie at 14 evened the match. It turned when Watson made a birdie on the par-5 17th. Nicklaus converted an incredible par from the gorse on 18, but it still left him short.
Watson won the tournament, shooting 65-65 compared to Nicklaus’ 65-66 over the last two rounds. Still, Nicklaus didn’t feel like a loser.
“As Tom had remarked on the 14th tee, our battle had been a superb example of what golf at its best is really all about,” Nicklaus wrote in his autobiography, “Jack Nicklaus: My Story.” “Regardless of the outcome, the actual doing of it had been tremendous fun.”
The PGA Championship
Nicklaus won this tournament five times. In 1980, he added the PGA title to his earlier U.S. Open victory, silencing doubters that he was done at age 40.
Rather than one tournament, it is one shot that stands out on Nicklaus’ PGA resume. It occurred in 1975, during the PGA at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.
In the third round, Nicklaus had surged ahead by five shots as he walked to the 16th tee. Using a driver instead of a 3-wood (“a dumb decision,” he later said) on the par 5, he pulled the ball left into the water. After taking the penalty, he hit his third shot in the rough behind a tree.
Nicklaus was faced with a 137-yard shot over a 30-foot tree with water in front of the green. If he missed he was looking at an 8.
Observing the scene, ABC’s Bob Rosburg offered his signature line, saying Nicklaus had “no shot.” Nicklaus, though, did have a shot, opting not to play it safe.
He took his 9-iron, opened the face and swung as hard as he could. The ball cleared the tree by inches and barely cleared the lake, landing 30 feet from the pin. Then to make the drama complete, Nicklaus made the putt for par.
“Nothing to it, fellas,” Nicklaus said. “Just your routine miracle par.”
Nicklaus went on to win the tournament. Looking back, Nicklaus called the shot at the 16th hole his biggest gamble in a major.
Then again, any time Nicklaus had a club in his hand, the odds were in his favor.
NICKLAUS AT THE MAJORS
How Jack Nicklaus finished in every major tournament he entered:
YEAR MASTERS US OPEN BRITISH OPEN PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
1962 15th tie WON 32nd tie 3rd tie
1963 WON Missed Cut 3rd WON
1964 2nd tie 23rd tie 2nd 2nd tie
1965 WON 31st tie 12th tie 2nd tie
1966 WON 3rd WON 22nd tie
1967 Missed Cut WON 2nd 3rd tie
1968 5th tie 2nd 2nd tie Missed Cut
1969 24th tie 25th tie 6th tie 11th tie
1970 8th 49th tie WON 6th tie
1971 2nd tie 2nd 5th tie WON
1972 WON WON 2nd 13th tie
197 33rd tie 4th tie 4th WON
197 44th tie 10th tie 3rd 2nd
1975 WON 7th tie 3rd tie WON
1976 3rd tie 11th tie 2nd tie 4th tie
1977 2nd 10th tie 2nd 3rd
1978 7th 6th tie WON Missed Cut
1979 4th 9th tie 2nd tie 65th tie
1980 33rd tie WON 4th tie WON
1981 2nd tie 6th tie 23rd tie 4th tie
1982 15th tie 2nd 10th tie 16th tie
1983 WD/Injury 43rd tie 29th tie 2nd
1984 18th tie 21st tie 31st tie 25th tie
1985 6th tie Missed Cut Missed Cut 32nd tie
1986 WON 8th tie 46th tie 16th tie
1987 7th tie 46th tie 72nd tie 24th tie
1988 21st tie Missed Cut 25th tie Missed Cut
1989 18th 43rd tie 30th tie 27th tie
1990 6th 33rd tie 63rd tie Missed Cut
1991 35th tie 46th tie 44th tie 23rd tie
1992 42nd tie Missed Cut Missed Cut Missed Cut
1993 27th tie 72nd tie Missed Cut Missed Cut
1994 Missed Cut 28th tie Missed Cut Missed Cut
1995 35th tie Missed Cut 79th tie 67th tie
1996 41st tie 27th tie 44th tie Missed Cut
1997 39th tie 52nd tie 60th tie Missed Cut
1998 6th tie 43rd tie — —
1999 — Missed Cut — —
2000 54th tie Missed Cut Missed Cut
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STATS AND STUFF
JACK NICKLAUS
3
Number of pennies Jack Nicklaus carries in his pocket during a round, which he still does.
4
U.S. Open victories, most by any player.
5
PGA Championship victories, tied with Walter hagen for most alltime.
6
Masters victories, most green jackets won by any player.
27
Cuts made in 36 PGA Championship appearances by Nicklaus, the most ever.
28
Most major championship titles–18 on PGA Tour (6 Masters, 5 PGA Championships, 4 U.S. Opens, 3 British Opens) 8 on Senior PGA; 2 U.S. Amateur Championships.
41
Number of rounds in the 60s Nicklaus has shot in PGA Championships.
46
Age when he won his sixth Masters title in 1986, the oldest player to do so.
54
Top fives finishes in the PGA Tour majors–18 wins, 19 seconds, 9 thirds, 6 fourths and 2 fifths.
58
Age when he finished sixth in the 1998 Masters, the oldest top-10 finisher in Masters history.
64
Lowest score Nicklaus ever shot in a PGA Championship.
71
Score he shot to beat Arnold Palmer (74) in playoff at 1962 U.S. Open, his first professional victory.
79
Highest score Nicklaus ever shot in a PGA Championship.
126
Record Nicklaus holds for most rounds played in PGA Championships.
154
Record consecutive major championships played in from 1957 to 1998 U.S. Open.
155
Record number of rounds played at Augusta National (Sam Snead second at 146).
8,987
Total number of strokes by Nicklaus in PGA championships (7.33 average per round).
