The Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940 in Columbus, Ohio), also known as "The Golden Bear", was a major force in professional golf from the 1960s to the late 1990s.
Together with Arnold Palmer, he is credited with turning golf into the major spectator sport it has become. While Palmer brought golf into the TV era, it was the developing Nicklaus-Palmer rivalry that drove subsequent interest.
Career Highlights
After a sterling amateur career that included 2 US Amateur titles (1959, 1961) and an NCAA Championship (1961), Nicklaus began his professional career in 1962 and his winning performance in major tournaments is as yet unmatched: three Players Championships, three Open Championships (1966, 1970 and 1978), four U.S. 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, 1965-66, 1972, 1975 and 1986). In 1986, he became the oldest player to ever win The Masters.
In 1996, Nicklaus was the first person in the history of the PGA to win the same Senior Tour (now the Champions Tour) event four times. He is the only person in the history of the PGA to win all of the major championships on the PGA TOUR and Senior Tour.
In 1978, he received Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportsman of the Year" award.
In 1980 he was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award.
Jack Nicklaus had an unusual combination of being one of the greatest putters of all time as well as the longest hitter on the tour during his prime. He popularized the "power fade" which was his characteristic ball flight.
Current career
Nicklaus will turn 65 in 2005 which is the last year that he will be joining a PGA tournament as an exempt player. He has announced that he will be retiring from golf in 2005.
He is currently a leading golf course architect, in partnership with his sons through Nicklaus Design, and is personally responsible for well over 200 golf course designs. These include several of the world's leading courses, such as Muirfield Village, Shoal Creek, Castle Pines and the PGA Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel.
He also continues to manage the Memorial Golf Tournament he created, which 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.
External links
- Nicklaus.com (http://www.nicklaus.com/) Official site and portal to other official Nicklaus-related websites.
- Jack Nicklaus at Golf Stars Online (http://www.golfstarsonline.com/N/Jack_Nicklaus/) Links to relevant sites, interviews, feature articles and similar.
- Jack Nicklaus (http://golf.about.com/od/jacknicklaus/) Profile, trivia, quotes and other resources from About.com.
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