Jack Nicklaus
Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus, nicknamed "The Golden Bear", is a retired American professional golfer. He is widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time, winning a total of 18 career major championships, while producing 19 second-place and 9 third-place finishes in them, over a span of 25 years. Nicklaus focused on the major championships, and played a selective schedule of regular PGA Tour events, yet still finished with 73 victories, third on the all-time list behind Sam Sneadand Tiger Woods...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionGolfer
Date of Birth21 January 1940
CityUpper Arlington, OH
CountryUnited States of America
I have always said that if I am healthy, competitive enough, and can contribute to the tournament by being a part of the field, then the Memorial Tournament is the one event I would like to play,
I love the golf courses because it brought the best out of me. It made me prepare, made me work at it, made me do the things I needed to do to be better, and that's what I loved about USGA events. If you couldn't handle it, then you got beat, and that's OK.
I couldn't control Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Tom Watson or Lee Trevino. The only person I could control was me. The only person I could prepare for events was me. And if I didn't play well, I didn't play well, and I wasn't going to compete.
It was obviously a great week for me and an exciting week, one that was kind of fun to look back on. It's about the only television event when I see it come on television, I actually stop and watch a little bit of it.
As I sat down, Norman started making birdies. I got nervous, so I got up and started walking around. They didn't make as many birdies when I walked around, so I walked around the rest of the time.
First hole, I hit a driver, 3-wood and a 7-iron.
Through the years of experience I have found that air offers less resistance than dirt.
I love Augusta. Don't get me wrong. All I want is for Augusta to be Augusta, because it's such a great tournament. But when you take a golf course and limit the number of people that have the ability to win ... Their intention is not to do that. But they're doing that.
My goal has always been to win more tournaments than anyone. I think we all try to do something in life that separates us from someone else.
Naturally it is nice to be widely known for worthwhile achievements, but it forces you to do many things which you don't like to do and these things take up time you want for other things.
It allows somebody like myself, who is really not playing a whole lot of golf, to have some fun, play with some of my old friends, and have a little competition which I always yearn for.
From a tournament standpoint that will be it for me,
When he won his match, I told him, 'We'll, you've doubled your allotment for the week,'
I always enjoyed La Costa. I had some great times there. It was kind of funny, because La Costa sat right on the heels of the Masters and I'd say to my wife, 'I really don't want to go out and play this week; I'm tired.' And Barbara would say, 'You get out of this house and get out there and play.' And she'd kick me out and make me go out there, and rightfully so, because I always had good preparation for the Masters and it carried over many times into the Tournament of Champions.