# Jack Nicklaus Jack Nicklaus holds the record for the most major championships in golf history with 18 titles across the Masters, U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and PGA Championship. Known as "The Golden Bear," he won his last major — the 1986 Masters — at age 46, completing one of sport's most extraordinary careers. He played on six Ryder Cup teams, captained the U.S. team twice, and is universally regarded as the greatest golfer of the 20th century. ## Quick Facts - **Born:** January 21, 1940 - **Birthplace:** Columbus, United States - **Nationality:** American - **Occupation:** Golf - **Category:** Athletes - **Net Worth:** $320M (est. 2024) - **Also Known As:** The Golden Bear, Jack ## Early life and amateur golf career Nicklaus was born on January 21, 1940, in Columbus, Ohio, and grew up in the suburb of Upper Arlington. He is of German descent, the son of Helen (Schoener) and Charlie Nicklaus, a pharmacist who ran several businesses named Nicklaus Drug Store. Charlie was a skilled all-round athlete who had played football for the Ohio State Buckeyes and had gone on to play semi-professional football under an assumed name for the Portsmouth Spartans (who later became the NFL's Detroit Lions). Charlie had also been a scratch golfer and local tennis champion in his youth. In February 1970, Charlie Nicklaus died of pancreatic cancer at age fifty-six. Nicklaus attended Upper Arlington High School, whose nickname and mascot are coincidentally the Golden Bears. In Nicklaus's senior year, he was an honorable mention All-Ohio selection in basketball as a shooting guard, and he received some recruiting interest from college basketball programs, including Ohio State. During his youth, he also competed successfully in football, baseball, tennis, and track and field. Nicklaus took up golf at the age of 10, 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. He was coached at Scioto by club pro Jack Grout, a Texas-developed contemporary of golf greats Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan; Grout had played quite successfully on the PGA Tour and would become Nicklaus's lifelong golf instructor. Nicklaus overcame a mild case of polio as a 13-year-old. Nicklaus won the first of five straight 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, where he survived three match-play rounds. He had earned a handicap of +3 at age 13, the lowest in the Columbus area. 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. 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 International Jaycee Junior Golf Tournament, 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 after being just one out of the lead at the 36-hole mark, 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 ## PGA Tour career Professional breakthrough: 1962–1963 Nicklaus officially turned professional in late 1961 and began his career on the PGA Tour the following year. He had previously debated the idea of remaining an amateur in order to further emulate his idol, Bobby Jones. However, Nicklaus realized that in order to be regarded as the best, he would have to compete in greater frequency against the best. Shortly after turning professional, Nicklaus's future agent, Mark McCormack, was interviewed by Melbourne Age writer Don Lawrence, who inquired about the American golf scene. When McCormack described Nicklaus, Lawrence referred to the "large, strong, and blond" player as "the Golden Bear", a nickname that would become synonymous with Nicklaus throughout his professional life. However, another possible origination of the name derives from the high school that Nicklaus attended in Upper Arlington, Ohio, which uses the mascot the Golden Bears for its sports teams. As mentioned above, Nicklaus played on several Golden Bears athletic teams, including captaining its 1956 state-champion golf squad, suggesting that McCormack may have adopted the name through Nicklaus's high school affiliation. Regardless, by 1963, the nickname had stuck. Nicklaus won his first PGA tournament in his 17th start. He and Arnold Palmer were tied for the lead at 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont after Rounds 3 and 4 were played on Saturday. Nicklaus won the Sunday 18-hole playoff and earned $17,500 ($15,000 plus the $2,500 playoff bonus)—far behind Gary Woodland's $2,250,000 check for the 2019 U.S. Open—for his efforts. The galleries were more vocal in their support for Palmer—who had grown up in nearby Latrobe—but Nicklaus won the playoff by three shots (71 to 74). In 90 holes, Nicklaus had only one three-putt green. The U.S. Open victory made Nicklaus the reigning U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur champion. This major championship win was also his first PGA Tour win. In addition, Nicklaus (22) was the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones won at age 21 in 1923, and remained the youngest winner until Jordan Spieth won the 2015 U.S. Open at age 21. (John McDermott is still the youngest winner of the U.S. Open at age 19 in 1911). The U.S. Open win thrust Nicklaus into the national spotlight, and he was featured on the cover of Time magazine. This was also the beginning of the Nicklaus-Palmer rivalry, which attracted viewers to golf on television. By the end of 1962, Nicklaus had won two more tournaments, which were back-to-back in the Seattle Open and Portland Open. In addition, he tied for third in his first appearance in the PGA Championship. Nicklaus completed the year with over $60,000 (equivalent to $638,614 in 2025) in prize money, made 26 of 26 cuts with 16 top-10 finishes, placed third on the PGA Tour money list, and was named Rookie of the Year. He also won the inaugural staging of the World Series of Golf, a select-field event for the year's major champions, and collected another $50,000 (equ ## Senior golf career Nicklaus became eligible to join the Senior PGA Tour, now known as PGA Tour Champions, when he turned 50 in January 1990, at which point he declared, "I'm never satisfied. Trouble is, I want to play like me—and I can't play like me anymore." He then quickly won in his first start on the Tour, The Tradition, also a Senior Tour major championship. Nicklaus would go on to win another three Traditions—the final two in succession—while the most anyone else has won is two. Nicklaus walks up to his ball on the 9th hole of the par-3 course at Augusta National Golf Club during the 2006 par-3 contest. Later in the year, Nicklaus won the Senior Players Championship by six shots over Lee Trevino for his second win of the year, and also his second major of the year by shooting a record 27-under-par 261. The next year, in 1991, Nicklaus won three of the five events he started in, those being the U.S. Senior Open at Oakland Hills by firing a 65 in a playoff against Chi-Chi Rodríguez and his final round of 69, the PGA Seniors Championship and The Tradition for the second year straight. These, again, were all majors on the senior circuit. Nicklaus has won all the senior majors with the exception of the Senior Open Championship. However, he never played in that event until after he turned 60, and it was only elevated to a major in 2003. After a winless year in 1992, Nicklaus came back to win the U.S. Senior Open for the second time in 1993 by one shot over Tom Weiskopf. Also in that year he teamed up with Chi-Chi Rodríguez and Raymond Floyd to win the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge for the Senior PGA Tour team. In 1994, Nicklaus won the Senior PGA Tour's version of the Mercedes Championship for his only win of the year. The Tradition was his again in 1995, in a year where he made the top 10 in all of the seven tournaments he entered in. His 100th career win came the next year, when he won the Tradition for the fourth time, and second time in succession. He made a double eagle in the final round. Nicklaus closed the final 36 holes with back-to-back seven-under-par rounds of 65 to shoot a 16-under-par 272 and win by three shots over Hale Irwin. This was to be his last win on the Senior PGA Tour, and the last official win of his career. ## Close of playing career In 2000, Nicklaus played in his 44th and final U.S. Open. He shot 73-82 and missed the cut at Pebble Beach Golf Links. This was the same tournament where Tiger Woods won his first Open when he outclassed the nearest competitors by a 15-shot margin. During the tournament, after defending champion Payne Stewart had died in an airplane crash the previous October, Nicklaus was given Stewart's place in the traditional opening pairings alongside the Open Championship winner (Paul Lawrie) and the U.S. Amateur winner (David Gossett), and Nicklaus asked for a moment of silence in Stewart's honor before his opening tee shot. Later in the year, he was paired with Woods and Vijay Singh in his final PGA Championship, where he missed the cut by one shot only a few days after the death of his 91-year-old mother. In both tournaments, Nicklaus provided last-minute heroics by reaching the par-5 18th in two shots in the U.S. Open and nearly holing his wedge shot for eagle at the par-5 18th in the PGA Championship. Nicklaus played without much preparation in the 2005 Masters, which was a month after the drowning death of his 17-month-old grandson Jake (child of his son Steve) on March 1, 2005. In a written statement, Nicklaus said that it was impossible to put into words the devastation of his family. Nicklaus later spoke emotionally about the tragedy. He said: "It's been an overwhelmingly difficult and trying time for my entire family. The loss of our precious 17-month-old grandson Jake was devastating." Nicklaus and his son Steve played golf as therapy for their grief following Jake's death. After days of playing, Steve suggested his father return to The Masters. He made that his last appearance in the tournament. Later in 2005, Nicklaus finished his professional career at The Open Championship played at St Andrews on July 15. On St Andrews, Nicklaus stated: I'm very sentimental and the place gets to me every time I go there. In May I walked around and welled up with hardly anyone watching me. St Andrews was always where I wanted to finish my major career. Nicklaus turned 65 in January that year, which was the last year he could enter The Open Championship as an exempt player. He played with Luke Donald and Tom Watson in his final round. After hitting his tee shot off the 18th tee in the second round, Nicklaus received a ten-minute standing ovation from the crowd. On the eighteenth fairway, he gave his final farewell to professional golf while standing on the iconic Swilcan Bridge. Soon afterwards, Nicklaus ended his career with a birdie, holing a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th green. Nicklaus missed the 36-hole cut with a score of +3 (147). The last competitive tournament in which Nicklaus played in the United States was the Champions Tour's Bayer Advantage Classic in Overland Park, Kansas, on June 13, 2005. One of the most memorable moments in Nicklaus' career occurred well after his formal retirement from the sport. At the grand opening of a course Nicklaus de ## Off-the-course activities Golf course design See also: Nicklaus Design and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus Nicklaus devotes much of his time to golf course design and operates one of the largest golf design practices in the world. In the mid-1960s, Pete Dye initially requested Nicklaus's opinion in the architecture process of The Golf Club in suburban Columbus, Ohio, and the input increased from that point forward. Nicklaus considered golf course design another facet of the game that kept him involved and offered a challenge. His first design, Harbour Town Golf Links, co-credited with Dye, was opened for play in 1969. The nine-hole, par-3 golf course of Cheeca Resort & Spa was also designed by Nicklaus in the 1960s. A subsequent early, yet more prominent design was Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, OH which opened in 1974 and has hosted the Memorial Tournament since its inception in 1976. This course has also hosted the 1987 Ryder Cup, the 1998 Solheim Cup matches and the 2013 President's Cup. For the first few years, all of his projects were co-designs with either Pete Dye or Desmond Muirhead, who were two of the leading golf course architects of that era. His first solo design, Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, Ontario, opened for play in 1976. This course served as the host site for the Canadian Open for many years, the first being in 1977. The oldest golf club in the U.S., Saint Andrew's Golf Club in New York, was redesigned by Nicklaus in 1983. In 2000, the King & Bear opened in St. Augustine, Florida, as a joint collaboration between Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. In 2006, The Concession Golf Club opened in Sarasota, Florida, as a joint collaboration between him and Tony Jacklin, to commemorate their historic Ryder Cup singles match in 1969. Nicklaus is in partnership with his four sons and his son-in-law through their company, Nicklaus Design. The company had 299 courses open for play at the end of 2005, which was nearly 1% of all the courses in the world (in 2005, Golf Digest calculated that there were nearly 32,000 golf courses in the world, approximately half of them in the United States). While the majority of Nicklaus-designed courses are located in the United States, the company has designed golf courses in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, and Mexico. For 2009, Nicklaus Design had 12 courses in Golf Digest's "75 Best Golf Resorts in North America". Writings and media Nicklaus had a golf column in Sports Illustrated from 1965 until 1971, with Mark Mulvoy as a ghostwriter. Nicklaus has written several golf instructional books, an autobiography (My Story), a book on his golf course design methods and philosophy, and has produced several golf videos. The writer Ken Bowden often assisted him with this work. His book Golf My Way is one of the all-time classics of golf instruction, and has been reissued several times since the initial printing in 1974. Nicklaus has also written golf instructional columns for Golf Magazine and for Golf ## Timeline ### 1923 — Open champion since Bobby Jones won at age 21 in 1923, and remained the... Open champion since Bobby Jones won at age 21 in 1923, and remained the youngest winner until Jordan Spieth won the 2015 U.S ### 1940 — Born in Columbus Jack William Nicklaus born in Columbus, Ohio. ### 1940 — Nicklaus was born on January 21, 1940, in Columbus, Ohio, and grew up in the... Nicklaus was born on January 21, 1940, in Columbus, Ohio, and grew up in the suburb of Upper Arlington ### 1956 — As mentioned above, Nicklaus played on several Golden Bears athletic teams,... As mentioned above, Nicklaus played on several Golden Bears athletic teams, including captaining its 1956 state-champion golf squad, suggesting that McCormack may have adopted the name through Nicklaus's high school affiliation ### 1957 — In 1957, Nicklaus won the International Jaycee Junior Golf Tournament, having... In 1957, Nicklaus won the International Jaycee Junior Golf Tournament, having lost the previous year in a playoff ### 1958 — In 1958 at age 18, he competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Rubber City... In 1958 at age 18, he competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Rubber City Open, at Akron, Ohio, tying for 12th place after being just one out of the lead at the 36-hole mark, and made the cut in the U.S ### 1961 — Professional breakthrough: 1962–1963 Nicklaus officially turned professional in... Professional breakthrough: 1962–1963 Nicklaus officially turned professional in late 1961 and began his career on the PGA Tour the following year ### 1962 — First Major: US Open Wins first major, defeating Arnold Palmer at the US Open. ### 1962 — By the end of 1962, Nicklaus had won two more tournaments, which were... By the end of 1962, Nicklaus had won two more tournaments, which were back-to-back in the Seattle Open and Portland Open ### 1963 — Regardless, by 1963, the nickname had stuck Regardless, by 1963, the nickname had stuck ### 1966 — Career Grand Slam Completes the Career Grand Slam at the Open Championship. ### 1986 — Masters at 46 Wins 18th and final major at the Masters at age 46, the greatest major victory ever. --- Source: https://peoplebio.info/p/jack-nicklaus