Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus

Personnel
Date of birth	January 21, 1940
place of birth	Columbus, Ohio
size	1.80 m
Weight	86 kg
nationality	United States
place of residence	North Palm Beach, Florida
college	Ohio State University
Career
Professional since	1961
current tour	PGA Tour (since 1962) Champions Tour (since 1990)
Tournament wins (as a professional)	115 (PGA Tour: 73, others: 21, Champions Tour: 12, other senior tournaments : 9)
Major tournament wins (18)
Masters	(6) 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1986
US Open	(4) 1962, 1967, 1972, 1980
The Open Championship	(3) 1966, 1970, 1978
PGA Championship	(5) 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980
Awards
World Golf Hall of Fame	1974
Bob Jones Award	1975
Sportsman of the year	1978
Old Tom Morris Award	2005

Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940 in Columbus, Ohio , USA ), also known as The Golden Bear , is an American former golfer. He was one of the best golfers in the world from the 1960s to the late 1980s . With 18 major wins, he is the most successful golfer in history. He is currently a leading golf course architect with his company Golden Bear International .

Life

Nicklaus has ancestors of German origin.

He has been married to Barbara Nicklaus since 1960. The couple has five children; one daughter and four sons. Together with his sons and son-in-law, Nicklaus runs the Jack Nicklaus Companies, which, in addition to various merchandising items, focus on the design of top-class golf courses.

Career

In 1996, Jack Nicklaus became the first golfer in PGA history to win the Senior Tour (now Champions Tour ) four times. He is also the only person in PGA history to win all of the major PGA Tour and Senior Tour tournaments.

Jack Nicklaus began his professional career in 1961 and his performance in major tournaments is unbeaten to this day: three Players Championships , three Open Championships (1966, 1970, 1978), four US Opens (1962, 1967, 1972 and 1980), six Australian Opens ( 1964, 1968, 1971, 1975, 1976 and 1978), five PGA Championships (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1980) and six US Masters (1963, 1965–1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986). Since 1986 he has been the oldest player (46) to ever win the Masters. He is the sole record winner of the Masters, as well as a shared record winner at the US Open and the PGA Championship.

In 1974 Nicklaus was among the first golfers to be inducted into the newly created World Golf Hall of Fame .

Sports Illustrated awarded him the Athlete of the Year award in 1978 . In 1980 he was awarded the Foreign Sports Personality of the Year award by BBC Sports.

The Open 2005 was, according to his announcement, his last professional golf tournament, among other things because former Open winners are only automatically eligible up to the age of 65. In his honor, the tournament order was changed and took place on the traditional Old Course in St. Andrews . The Royal Bank of Scotland also honored him with a special edition of the 5 pound note .

In his prime, Jack Nicklaus combined the very unusual combination of being one of the greatest putters of all time and the golfer with the longest stroke. He preferred the power fade , which was his signature ball flight.

Major wins (18)

Note: Jack Nicklaus claims 20 major victories for himself, as in his opinion the US Amateur Championship, which he won in 1959 and 1961, was still a major at the time. The modern definition of the four major tournaments, on which the following table is based, was introduced by Arnold Palmer in 1960 .

year	competition	54 holes	Win score	head Start	Runner-up
1962	US Open	2 strokes back	-1 (72-70-72-69 = 283)	Playoff 1	Arnold Palmer
1963	The Masters	1 stroke of guidance	-2 (74-66-74-72 = 286)	1 hit	Tony Lema
1963	PGA Championship	3 blows back	-5 (69-73-69-68 = 279)	2 strokes	Dave Ragan Jr.
1965	The Masters (2)	5 strokes of leadership	-17 (67-71-64-69 = 271)	9 strokes	Arnold Palmer, Gary Player
1966	The Masters (3)	Leadership shared	E (68-76-72-72 = 288)	Playoff 2	Gay Brewer , Tommy Jacobs
1966	The Open Championship	2 strokes back	-2 (70-67-75-70 = 282)	1 hit	Doug Sanders , Dave Thomas
1967	US Open (2)	1 stroke of guidance	-9 (71-67-72-65 = 275)	4 strokes	Arnold Palmer
1970	The Open Championship (2)	2 strokes back	-5 (68-69-73-73 = 283)	Playoff 3	Doug Sanders
1971	PGA Championship (2)	4 strokes of leadership	-7 (69-69-70-73 = 281)	2 strokes	Billy Casper
1972	The Masters (4)	1 stroke of guidance	-2 (68-71-73-74 = 286)	3 strokes	Bruce Crampton , Bobby Mitchell , Tom Weiskopf
1972	US Open (3)	1 stroke of guidance	[phone] = 290)	3 strokes	Bruce Crampton
1973	PGA Championship (3)	1 stroke of guidance	-7 (72-68-68-69 = 277)	4 strokes	Bruce Crampton
1975	The Masters (5)	1 blow back	-12 (68-67-73-68 = 276)	1 hit	Tom Weiskopf, Johnny Miller
1975	PGA Championship (4)	4 strokes of leadership	-4 (70-68-67-71 = 276)	2 strokes	Bruce Crampton
1978	The Open Championship (3)	1 stroke of guidance	-7 (71-72-69-69 = 281)	2 strokes	Ben Crenshaw , Raymond Floyd , Tom Kite , Simon Owen
1980	US Open (4)	Leadership shared	-8 (63-71-70-68 = 272)	2 strokes	Isao Aoki
1980	PGA Championship (5)	3 strokes of leadership	-6 (70-69-66-69 = 274)	7 strokes	Andy Bean
1986	The Masters (6)	4 hits back	-9 (74-71-69-65 = 279)	1 hit	Tom Kite, Greg Norman

¹ win over Arnold Palmer in an 18-hole playoff - Nicklaus (71), Palmer (74)
² win over Tommy Jacobs & Gay Brewer in an 18-hole playoff - Nicklaus (70), Jacobs (72), Brewer ( 78)
³ win over Doug Sanders in an 18-hole playoff - Nicklaus (72), Sanders (73)

Results in major tournaments

competition	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971
The Masters	DNP	DNP	CUT	T13 LA	T7	T15	1	T2	1	1	CUT	T5	T24	8th	T2
US Open	CUT	T41	CUT	2 LA	T4 LA	1	CUT	T23	T31	3	1	2	T25	T49	2
British Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T32	3	2	T12	1	2	T2	T6	1	T5
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	T3	1	T2	T2	T22	T3	CUT	T11	T6	1

competition	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986
The Masters	1	T3	T4	1	T3	2	7th	4th	T33	T2	T15	WD	T18	T6	1
US Open	1	T4	T10	T7	T11	T10	T6	T9	1	T6	2	T43	T21	CUT	T8
British Open	2	4th	3	T3	T2	2	1	T2	T4	T6	2	T43	T21	CUT	T8
PGA Championship	T13	1	2	1	T4	3	CUT	T65	1	T4	T16	2	T25	T32	T16

competition	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
The Masters	T7	T21	18th	6th	T35	T42	T27	CUT	T35	T41	T39	T6	DNP	T54	CUT
US Open	T46	CUT	T43	T33	T46	CUT	T72	T28	CUT	T27	T52	T43	CUT	CUT	DNP
British Open	T24	CUT	T27	T63	T44	CUT	CUT	CUT	T79	T45	60	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP
PGA Championship	T24	CUT	T27	CUT	T23	CUT	CUT	CUT	T67	CUT	CUT	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP

competition	2002	2003	2004	2005
The Masters	DNP	CUT	CUT	CUT
US Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP
British Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT
PGA Championship	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

LA = best amateur
DNP = not started
WD = withdrawn
CUT = failed at cut
"T" = shared rank

PGA Tour victories

• 1962 (3) US Open , Seattle World's Fair Open, Portland Open
• 1963 (5) Palm Springs Golf Classic, The Masters , Tournament of Champions, PGA Championship , Sahara Invitational
• 1964 (4) Phoenix Open , Tournament of Champions, Whitemarsh Open, Portland Open
• 1965 (5) The Masters , Memphis Open, Thunderbird Classic, Philadelphia Golf Classic, Portland Open
• 1966 (3) The Masters , The Open Championship , Sahara Invitational
• 1967 (5) Bing Crosby Pro-Am , US Open , Western Open, Westchester Classic, Sahara Invitational
• 1968 (2) Western Open, American Golf Classic
• 1969 (3) Andy Williams-San Diego Open, Sahara Invitational, Kaiser International Open
• 1970 (3) Byron Nelson Golf Classic, The Open Championship , National Four-Ball Championship PGA Players with ( Arnold Palmer )
• 1971 (5) PGA Championship , Tournament of Champions, Byron Nelson Golf Classic, National Four-Ball Championship PGA Players with (Arnold Palmer), Walt Disney World Golf Classic
• 1972 (7) Bing Crosby Pro-Am, Doral-Eastern Open, The Masters , US Open , Westchester Classic, US Professional Matchplay Championship, Walt Disney World Golf Classic
• 1973 (7) Bing Crosby Pro-Am, Greater New Orleans Open, Tournament of Champions, Atlanta Classic, PGA Championship , Ohio Kings Island Open, Walt Disney World Golf Classic
• 1974 (2) Hawaiian Open, Players Championship
• 1975 (5) Doral-Eastern Open, Sea Pines Heritage Classic, The Masters , PGA Championship , World Open Golf Championship
• 1976 (2) Players Championship, World Open Golf Championship
• 1977 (3) Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic, MONY Tournament of Champions, Memorial Tournament
• 1978 (4) Jackie Gleason-Inverrary Classic, Players Championship, The Open Championship , IVB-Philadelphia Golf Classic
• 1980 (2) US Open , PGA Championship
• 1982 (1) Colonial National Invitational
• 1984 (1) Memorial Tournament
• 1986 (1) The Masters

Honors

2005 gave US President George W. Bush Nicklaus, the Medal of Freedom ( "The Presidential Medal of Freedom") and on 16 December 2014 he received the Congressional Gold Medal , the two highest civilian awards in the United States.

See also

• List of winners in major golf tournaments

literature

• Michael D'Antonio : Tour '72. Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Trevino. The Story of One Great Season . Hyperion, New York 2002.

Web links

• The Official Site of Jack Nicklaus (English)
• Literature by and about Jack Nicklaus in the catalog of the German National Library
• World Golf Hall of Fame Profile (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paul Gittings, CNN: Jack Nicklaus: 'I'm happy to die penniless' - CNN . In: CNN . ( cnn.com [accessed April 4, 2018]).
2. ^ Peter T. Lubrecht: Germans in New Jersey: A History . Ed .: The History Press. 2013, ISBN 978-1-62619-054-2 .
3. ^ Major Championship Statistics. In: Nicklaus.com. Retrieved May 11, 2009 .