Who is Jack Nicklaus
Retired Professional American golfer, Jack Nicklaus was born on January 21st 1940 in Columbus, Ohio in the United States of America. He was born to Helen Nicklaus and Charlie Nicklaus who was a pharmacist. Jack’s father was also a skillful football player and he played for the Ohio Great Buckeyes.
Jack Nicklaus’ Early Life
Jack went to Upper Arlington High School, which has the same nickname and mascot as the Golden Bears. In his senior year, Nicklaus was an honorable mention All-Ohio basketball selection as a shooting guard, and he received some recruiting interest from college basketball programs such as Ohio State. He also competed successfully in football, baseball, tennis, and track and field as a child. Nicklaus began playing golf at the age of ten, scoring a 51 on his first nine holes at Scioto Country Club. That same year, Charlie Nicklaus joined Scioto, having returned to golf to help heal a volleyball injury.
At Scioto, he was coached by club pro-Jack Grout, a Texas-bred contemporary of Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan; Grout had played quite successfully on the PGA Tour and would go on to become Jack’s lifelong golf instructor. As a 13-year-old, Nicklaus overcame a mild case of polio. At the age of 12, Nicklaus won the first of five consecutive Ohio State Junior titles. At the age of 13, he broke 70 for the first time at Scioto Country Club and became that year’s youngest qualifier for the U.S. Junior Amateur, where he survived three match-play rounds. At the age of 13, he had earned a handicap of +3, the lowest in the Columbus area.
At the age of 14, Jack won the Tri-State High School Championship (Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana) with a round of 68, and he also recorded his first hole-in-one in tournament play that year. At the age of 15, he set the amateur course record with a 66 at Scioto Country Club and qualified for his first U.S. Amateur. He won the Ohio Open at the age of 16 in 1956, highlighted by a phenomenal third round of 64 against professionals. From the age of ten to seventeen, Nicklaus won 27 events in the Ohio area. After losing in a playoff the previous year, Jack won the International Jaycee Junior Golf Tournament in 1957. Nicklaus also missed the cut in his first of 44 consecutive US Opens that year. At the age of 18, he competed in his first PGA Tour event, the Rubber City Open in Akron, Ohio, finishing tied for 12th after being just one out of the lead at the 36-hole mark, and made the cut in the U.S. Open, finishing tied for 41st. He also won two Trans-Mississippi Amateurs, at Prairie Dunes Country Club in 1958 and Woodhill Country Club in 1959, with final match victories of 9 & 8 and 3 & 2. In 1959, he also won the North and South Amateurs at Pinehurst, North Carolina, and played in three additional PGA Tour events, finishing 12th at the Buick Open.
Career
When Nicklaus turned 50 in January 1990, he became eligible to join the Senior PGA Tour, now known as PGA Tour Champions. He quickly won his first Tour event, The Tradition, which was also a Senior Tour major championship. Nicklaus would go on to win three more Traditions, the last two in a row, while no one else has won more than two. During the 2006 par-3 contest, Nicklaus walks up to his ball on the 9th hole of the par-3 course at Augusta National Golf Club. Later that year, Nicklaus won the Senior Players Championship by six shots over Lee Trevino, his second win of the year and his second major, with a record 27-under-par 261. The following year, in 1991, Jack won three of the five events in which he began, including the U.S. Senior Open at Oakland Hills, which he won with a 65 in a playoff against Chi-Chi Rodrguez and a fine round of 69, the PGA Seniors Championship, and The Tradition for the second year in a row. Again, these were all senior circuit majors. With the exception of the Senior Open Championship, also known as the Senior British Open, he has won all of the senior majors. However, he did not compete in that event until he was 60 years old, and it was only elevated to a major in 2003.
Also that year, he won the Wendy’s 3-Tour Challenge for the Senior PGA Tour team with Chi-Chi Rodriguez and Raymond Floyd. Jack won the Senior PGA Tour’s version of the Mercedes Championship in 1994, his only victory of the year. The Tradition was his again in 1995, a year in which he finished in the top ten in all seven tournaments he entered. His 100th career victory came the following year, when he won the Tradition for the fourth time and the second time in a row. In the final round, he made a double eagle. Jack won by three shots over Hale Irwin after closing the final 36 holes with back-to-back seven-under-par rounds of 65. This was to be his final win on the Senior PGA Tour, as well as his final official win of his career.
Personal Life
Jack Nicklaus has been married to Barbara Nicklaus since 1960. They were blessed with five children, namely, Gary Nicklaus, Steven Nicklaus, Michael Nicklaus, Nancy Nicklaus and Jack Nicklaus Jr. Jack and his family currently resides in Columbus.
