Jack Nicklaus: Encyclopedia II - Jack Nicklaus - Career Highlights

Jack Nicklaus - Career Highlights

Nicklaus attended public school in Upper Arlington, a suburb of Columbus. He took up golf at the age of ten, shooting 51 for his first nine holes. He won the first of six Ohio State Junior titles at the age of twelve. While attending Ohio State University he won the U.S. Amateur title twice (1959, 1961) and an NCAA Championship (1961).

Nicklaus began his professional career in 1962 and his record of eighteen wins in major tournaments is as yet unmatched: three Open Championships, four U.S. Opens, five PGA Championships, and six Masters. He is one of only five golfers to win all four current majors in a career, and the first of only two (the other being Tiger Woods) to have won all four majors more than once. In 1986, he became the oldest player to ever win The Masters. In all, he had 48 top-3 finishes in majors, including 19 second places and nine thirds, 56 top-5 finishes and 73 top-10 finishes.

Nicklaus's six wins at the Masters came in 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986. His win tally is a record and he was also runner-up four times. In the 1970s he finished in the top ten every year. He appeared in the event 45 times and made the cut 37 times. In 1998, at the age of 58 he finished an impressive sixth.

He won the U.S. Open in 1962, 1967, 1972 and 1980, and is tied with Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and Willie Anderson for most wins. He is the only player to win the title in three different decades, and also had four runner-up finishes in his 42 appearances. He made the cut 35 times.

Nicklaus won the British Open in 1966, 1970, 1978, and was runner-up seven times. He made the cut in 32 out of 38 appearances, and from 1966 to 1980 he never finished worse than sixth.

His five wins at the PGA Championship came in 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1980. He is tied with Walter Hagen for most wins. He made the cut 27 times in 37 finishes and was runner-up four times. His 1971 victory made him the first player to win the career Grand Slam twice, an achievement which was matched by Tiger Woods at the 2005 British Open.

Nicklaus also won the prestigious Players Championship three times. He won events around the globe, including six Australian Opens (1964, 1968, 1971, 1975, 1976 and 1978).

He is second to Sam Snead on the all-time chart of players with most PGA Tour wins, having accumulated seventy-three titles. In seventeen consecutive seasons from 1962 to 1978 he always won at least one PGA Tour title and always finished in the top ten on the money list. He topped the PGA Tour money list eight times: 1964, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1976.

In 1996, Nicklaus was the first person in the history of the PGA to win the same Senior PGA 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 both the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour. (Although he never won the Senior British Open, it was not recognized as a major in the United States until 2003, after he had stopped playing the Champions Tour.) He never played a full schedule on the Champions Tour, but he won ten Champions Tour events, including eight majors.

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.

In July 2005, the Royal Bank of Scotland announced that Nicklaus's image would be printed on a special issue of two million £5 notes. Apart from HM The Queen, he is the only living person to be featured on a Scottish banknote [1].

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.

Jack Nicklaus was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

In what could be seen as a symbolic passing of the torch from one golf great to another, Tiger Woods won each major in the year that Nicklaus last appeared in it as a player. In 2000, Nicklaus played in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship for the last time, with Woods winning both; Woods also won The Open Championship in that year, which Nicklaus originally intended as his last appearance in that event. In 2005, Nicklaus made his last Masters appearance, and decided to play The Open one last time. Woods won both events as well.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Career Highlights", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki