Jack of all trades
Jack William Nicklaus has not teed it up in an official tournament since the 2005 British Open at St. Andrews and has not won since Bill Clinton’s first term, and that was against the seniors. Yet as we mark his 70th birthday on Thursday, the accomplishments of the son of a Columbus, Ohio, druggist stand out more than ever.
Chi Chi Rodriguez put it best years ago. The Golden Bear, he quipped, is a “legend in his spare time.”
When Nicklaus wasn’t winning tournaments or designing golf courses, he was home, where his heart was, watching all five of his kids grow up. They were his real majors. He hated to miss any of their games in school and rarely did. It wasn’t easy being the son or daughter of Jack Nicklaus, but he made it as easy as he could.
“How he and Barbara [his wife] raised the children was a compelling part of the whole Jack Nicklaus picture,” said former United States Golf Association president Frank “Sandy” Tatum.
Compelling, indeed, and worthy of more admiration than the green jackets in his closet and zeroes in his bank account. Today’s players vow, in overly sentimental terms, to spend more time with their families but many don’t live up to it. There is always the next “big” tournament with their other family, their peers of the PGA Tour. Nicklaus did live up to it. The most tour starts he made in one year were 26 in 1962, when he and Barbara’s first child was only a year old. From 1971 on, he never played in more than 19 events.
The money is much greater than it was in the ’60s and ’70s, the cynics will say, and that if Nicklaus were playing today he wouldn’t be able to resist adding events to his limited schedule. Nonsense. It was never about the money for him and it wouldn’t be the case now. It was about winning and chasing the records of the immortals before him, such as Bobby Jones, San Snead and Ben Hogan.
“He raised the bar to where no one else has ever been,” said two-time major winner David Graham. “Jack’s record [of 18 major wins] still stands alone. Whether someone breaks it remains to be seen.”
The player in position to break it, of course, is Tiger Woods, at 14 majors and counting and still only 34 years old. Nicklaus won eight majors after his 34th birthday. The bet here is that Woods, despite his recent troubles, will pass Nicklaus in the next three or four years.
But perhaps he should concentrate more on matching Nicklaus in another arena, as a father and husband. It might be too late to save his marriage – only his wife, Elin, can make that call – but the loyalty and devotion Nicklaus showed his family should not go unnoticed by his heir to greatness.
Woods shanked his first chance. Hopefully, he will get another.
No doubt many of the lessons to learn from Nicklaus took place on the course. Those fortunate enough to play with him in his prime are still in awe of what he did for the game, and for them.
“You had to be better than you thought you could be to compete with him,” Graham said.
In his early days as a professional golfer, Graham wasn’t sure about leaving his native Australia for the risky life on the American circuit. Nicklaus encouraged him to try. Graham will be forever grateful.
“I don’t think I would have done it if it had not been for Jack Nicklaus,” Graham added.
Jerry Pate recalls playing a round with Nicklaus in his rookie year of 1976 when he asked how he managed to win tournaments with all the pressure one encounters down the stretch.
“He said, ‘Just do it,’ and that was before Nike came out with that slogan,” Pate recalled.
That exchange has always resonated with Pate. As simple as it was, it was also profound. A few weeks later, Pate, only 22 years old, won the U.S. Open at the Atlanta Athletic Club.
For Larry Nelson, a three-time major winner, it was the attention which Nicklaus paid to every shot that most impressed him, and the fact that “he knew his limitations.” For all his remarkable talent, Woods, according to Nelson, has made his share of “bad decisions,” Nicklaus not as many.
The real measure of the man, though, remains the loved ones closest to him. That is no surprise to him and it shouldn’t be to us.
