Jack William Nicklaus was born on January 21, 1940. He is considered by many to have been the greatest golfer of all time. During a golfing career spanning more than a quarter-century, he won a record 18 major championships, and 117 professional tournaments. He competed in 164 major tournaments, and finished with 73 PGA Tour victories, third behind Sam Snead (82) and Woods (82).
Nicklaus won the US Amateur Tournament in 1959 and 1961 and finished second in the 1960 U.S.Open, two shots behind Palmer. Nicklaus turned professional at age 21 and became the first player to win the Masters Tournament two years in a row; he also won The Open Championship, becoming at age 26 the youngest player to win all four golf majors. He won another Open Championship in 1970.
Between 1971 and 1980, he won nine more major championships, overtook Bobby Jones’s record of 13 majors, and became the first player to complete double and triple career grand slams. He won the Masters Tournament in 1986 at age 46, becoming the tournament’s oldest winner. During his career with the PGA, Jack won 18 major championships–an achievement that many believe will never be equalled. He joined the Senior PGA Tour when he became eligible in January 1990, and by April 1996 had won 10 tournaments, including eight 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 Masters Tournament and The Open Championship.
On May 19, 2014, the US House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that would award Nicklaus the Congressional Gold Medal “in recognition of his service to the nation in promoting excellence and good sportsmanship”. The bill says that Nicklaus’s “magnetic personality and unfailing sense of kindness and thoughtfulness have endeared him to millions throughout the world”.
Describing how he always visualized the perfect shot before initiating his swing, he wrote:
I never hit a shot, even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. It’s like a color movie. First I “see” the ball where I want it to finish , nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. then the scene quickly changes and I “see” the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behaviour on landing. There’s sort of a fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality. Only at the end of this short, private Hollywood spectacular, do I select a club and step up to the ball.
Jack has left a giant footprint in the world of golf and his achievements will set the bar high for all those aspiring golfers who chase his records.
