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Even before he was old enough to drive a car, it was obvious that Jack Nicklaus (also known as The Golden Bear) was destined to become a golf legend. At the age of 13, this son of a Columbus, Ohio pharmacist broke 70 while playing 18 holes.

When only 16, Nicklaus won the 1956 Ohio Open and won the US Amateur in 1959 and 1961. He came in second in 1960, to no less a player than Arnold Palmer. He would make up for this by playing on the Eisenhower Trophy winning team and establishing a as yet unbroken 269 score in four rounds that year.

By 1962, Nicklaus was playing professionally, winning the US Open for the first time. His defeat of Arnold Palmer gave his immediate fame – he went on to win the Masters Tournament twice before the 1960s came to a close; although he would not win another US Open championship until 1970. The 1970s saw Nicklaus taking 9 other major titles, breaking Bobby Jones’ 13 title record. In 1986, Jack Nicklaus played and won his last major tournament, his 18th – and at 46, becoming the oldest player to do so.

He joined the Senior PGA Tour in 1990, where he racked up 10 wins by 1996 – eight of which were major tournament wins. His made his last Senior PGA tournament appearances in 2005. However, he has stayed active in the sport, writing on the subject, designing courses and even holding his own PGA tournament, the Memorial tournament. Hi runs one of the world’s leading golf course design firms and has written autobiographical titles as well as instructional works on playing the Nicklaus way.

Nicklaus, like Palmer came to fame with the advent of televised golf games. By 1962, he had won an unprecedented $60,000 as a pro golfer, becoming the third-highest paid player in the sport as well as winning the Rookie of the Year award. The following year was one of his best, winning bith the Maters and the PGA championships.

In 1964, he won the British Open at St. Andrews and established a new record for lowest score in the last thirty-six holes-66-68. His Masters win in 1965 set a tourney record of 271-which stood until Tiger Woods shot 270 in 1997. In the 1968, The Golden Bear let his physical condition slip, which most felt affected his playing skills, but Jack improved in the fall of 1969 where he returned to top form. Sadly, he lost one of his biggest supporters and mentors, his father, Charlie Nicklaus in 1970.

Asked to describe himself and his career in a 1970 interview given shortly after the death of his father, Nicklaus remarked: “I was playing good golf, but it really wasn’t that big a deal to me one way or the other. And then my father passed away and I sort of realized he had certainly lived his life through my golf game. I really hadn’t probably given him the best of that. So I sort of got myself back to work. So 1970 was an emotional one for me from that standpoint-it was a big boost.” This may be the case; Nicklaus was certainly a record setter – he was the first player to win all four major tournaments twice in the course of his career.

In 1974, the PGA Player of the Year was given to Nicklaus for the third time and he was among the first to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 1975, he won his fifth Masters and his fourth PGA Championship. ABC named him Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. Again, at the top of the money list in 1976, he played what he liked to call, “hang-back-and-hope golf.” In 1986, he won his sixth Masters-again and unbelievably was still going strong. His 1978 British Open win gave him a place in golf history where he won each major championship three times-a record finally tied by Tiger Woods in 2008. His Senior Tour wins include The Tradition (four times), the Senior Players Championship, and the US Senior Open. Along with his 100th career win (The Tradition) in 1996, he and his four sons and son-in-law had 299 courses open in 2005, an impressive 1% of all the courses in the world. Jack Nicklaus is The Golden Bear for record breaking, his playing style, and his off-the-course achievements and will remain one of golf’s greatest players of all time.

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