Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), also known as "The Golden Bear", is an American professional golfer. He won 18 career major championships on the PGA Tour over a span of 24 years [1] and is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional golfers of all time. After winning two U.S. Amateur Championships in 1959 and 1961, and challenging for the 1960 U.S. Open, Nicklaus turned professional toward the end of 1961. The 1962 U.S. Open was both Nicklaus' first major championship victory and his first professional win. This win over Arnold Palmer began the on-course rivalry between the two. In 1966, Nicklaus won the Masters Tournament for the second year in a row, becoming the first golfer to achieve this, and also won The Open Championship, completing his career slam of major championships; at 26, he became the youngest to do so at the time. After failing to win a major in 1968 and 1969, Nicklaus won another Open Championship in 1970. Between 1971 and 1980, he would win a further nine major championships, overtake Bobby Jones' record of 13 majors, and become the first player to complete double and triple career slams of golf's four professional major championships . At the age of 46, Nicklaus claimed his 18th and final major championship at the 1986 Masters Tournament, becoming that championship's oldest winner. Nicklaus joined the Senior PGA Tour (now known as the Champions Tour) in January 1990, when he became eligible, and by April 1996 had won 10 of the tour's tournaments, including eight of that tour's major championships, despite playing a very limited schedule. He continued to play at least some of the four regular Tour majors until 2005, when he made his final appearances at The Open Championship and the Masters Tournament. Nicklaus has also taken part in various off-course activities, including golf course design, charity work and book writing. Nicklaus also runs his own tournament on the PGA Tour, the Memorial Tournament. His golf course design company is one of the largest in the world. Nicklaus' books vary from instructional to autobiographical, with his Golf My Way considered one of the best instructional golf books of all time; the video of the same name is the best-selling golf instructional to date. Contents 1 Amateur and college golf career 1.1 College studies 2 PGA Tour career 2.1 Professional breakthrough 1962-63 2.1.1 Business success 2.2 1964-67: continued excellence 2.3 Career downturn (1968-1970) 2.4 Resurgence 2.5 Short slump and revamping 2.6 Wins 4th U.S. Open, 5th PGA Championship 2.7 Wins 6th Masters at 46 3 Champions Tour career 4 Close of playing career 5 Off-the-course career 5.1 Golf course design 5.2 Writings and media 5.3 Golf computer games 5.4 Other interests 6 Playing style 7 Awards and recognition 8 Career achievements 8.1 Major championships 8.1.1 Wins (18) 8.1.2 Results timeline 8.1.3 Summary of performances 8.2 Champions Tour major championships 8.2.1 Wins (8) 8.2.2 Results timeline 8.2.3 Summary of performances 9 See also 10 Notes and references 11 External links Amateur and college golf career Nicklaus was born in Columbus, Ohio, the son of pharmacist Charlie Nicklaus and his wife Helen. Charlie was a skilled all-round athlete, who had played college football for The Ohio State University Buckeyes, and had gone on to play semi-professional football under an assumed name for the Portsmouth Spartans. Charlie had also been a scratch golfer and local tennis champion in his youth.[2] Jack was raised in the suburb of Upper Arlington, and attended Upper Arlington High School. Jack was an honorable mention All-Ohio selection in basketball as a shooting guard his senior year, and received some recruiting interest from college basketball programs. Jack also competed successfully during his youth in football, baseball, tennis, and track and field.;[3][4] Jack Nicklaus took up golf at the age of ten, scoring a 51 at Scioto Country Club for his first nine holes ever played. Charlie Nicklaus had joined Scioto that same year, returning to golf to help heal a volleyball injury. Jack was coached at Scioto by club pro Jack Grout, a Texas-developed contemporary of golf greats Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan; Grout would become Nicklaus's lifelong golf instructor.[3] Nicklaus overcame a mild case of polio as a 13-year-old.[5] Nicklaus won the first of five straight[6] Ohio State Junior titles at the age of 12. At 13, he broke 70 at Scioto Country Club for the first time, and became that year's youngest qualifier into the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, where he survived three match-play rounds. He had earned a handicap of +3 at age 13, the lowest in the Columbus area.;[3][7] Nicklaus won the Tri-State High School Championship (Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana) at the age of 14 with a round of 68, and also recorded his first hole-in-one in tournament play the same year. At 15, Nicklaus shot a 66 at Scioto Country Club, which was the amateur course record, and qualified for his first U.S. Amateur Championship. He won the Ohio Open in 1956 at age 16, highlighted by a phenomenal third round of 64, competing against professionals. In all, Nicklaus won 27 events in the Ohio area from age 10 to age 17. In 1957, Nicklaus won the U.S. National Jaycees Championship, having lost the previous year in a playoff. Nicklaus also competed in his first of 44 consecutive U.S. Opens that year, but missed the cut. In 1958 at age 18, he competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Rubber City Open, at Akron, Ohio, tying for 12th place, and made the cut in the U.S. Open, tying for 41st place. Nicklaus also won two Trans-Mississippi Amateurs -- in 1958 at Prairie Dunes Country Club and 1959 at Woodhill Country Club, with final match victories of 9 & 8 and 3 & 2, respectively. Also in 1959, Nicklaus won the North and South Amateur at Pinehurst, North Carolina, which was generally considered the most prestigious amateur event next to the U.S. Amateur Championship, and competed in three additional PGA Tour events, with his best finish being another 12th place showing at the Buick Open. While attending Ohio State University, he won the U.S. Amateur Championship twice (1959, 1961), and an NCAA Championship (1961). In the 1959 U.S. Amateur, Nicklaus defeated two-time winner and defending champion Charles Coe in the final 36-hole match 1-up, with a birdie on the final hole. This was significant because of Coe's proven ability as a player, but because Nicklaus became the then-youngest champion in the modern era, and second only to Robert A. Gardner, who won in 1909. In 1961, Nicklaus became the first player to win the individual title at the NCAA Championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year. He was followed by Phil Mickelson (1990), Tiger Woods (1996), and Ryan Moore (2004). Nicklaus also won the NCAA Big Ten Conference Championship that year with a 72-hole aggregate of 283, while earlier claiming the Western Amateur in New Orleans. In his second and last U.S. Amateur win in 1961, Nicklaus convincingly defeated Dudley Wysong 8 & 6 at Pebble Beach in the 36-hole championship match. For the week, Nicklaus was 20 strokes under par, including 34 birdies and two eagles. At the 1960 U.S. Open, Nicklaus shot a two-under par 282, finishing second by two strokes to Arnold Palmer, who won the tournament with a final round charge of six-under-par 65. This score remains the lowest ever shot by an amateur in the U.S. Open. Nicklaus played the final 36 holes with Ben Hogan, who later remarked he had just played 36 holes with a kid who should have won by 10 shots. During the final 36 holes, Nicklaus was two-under-par, and never shot a single round above par during the entire tournament, the only entrant to do so. Nicklaus had led by two shots with six holes to play. In 1960, Nicklaus also tied for 13th in the Masters Tournament. He tied for fourth in the 1961 U.S. Open, three shots behind champion Gene Littler, having played the final 54 holes one under par. Each of these three major championship finishes designated Nicklaus as Low Amateur. However, Nicklaus' one-under-par 287 tied for seventh in the 1961 Masters Tournament, and was second that year only to Charles Coe's low amateur placing, when he tied for second with Arnold Palmer at seven-under par 281, one shot behind champion Gary Player. Nicklaus represented the United States against Great Britain and Ireland on winning Walker Cup teams in both 1959 and 1961, decisively winning both of his matches in each contest. He was also a member of the victorious 1960 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team, winning the unofficial individual title by 13 shots over teammate Deane Beman with a four-round score of 269, a record which still stands; this score was 18 shots lower than Ben Hogan's earlier U.S. Open aggregate of 287 at the same site (which had, however, been scored under much tougher conditions).;[3][8] Nicklaus was named the world's top amateur golfer by Golf Digest magazine for three straight years, 1959-1961. College studies Nicklaus attended Ohio State from 1957 to 1961. He majored in pre-pharmacy his first three years, with good grades, and intended to follow his father into that profession after graduation. As his golf achievements mounted, Nicklaus changed his mind on his career path, switching programs to study insurance, as he planned at that stage to remain a career amateur in golf, and to make his living by selling insurance. For a time he worked in the insurance field while also attending college. However, after having married Barbara Bash in July 1960, and with their first child (Jack Jr.) born in September 1961, Nicklaus then decided to become a professional golfer in late 1961, to best support his family. He wound up a few course hours short of graduating from college. Ohio State granted him an honorary doctorate in 1972.[9] PGA Tour career Professional breakthrough 1962-63 Nicklaus began his professional career on the PGA Tour in 1
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