Happy Birthday Jack Nicklaus

[puttingmatt]

Wishing you many more, Happy Birthday

[Londoner]

Happy birthday. You old GOAT.

[Darth Putter]

some good trivia from the PGA Tour

80 things for Jack’s 80th

 

I only saw him hit one shot in a real tournament with my own eyes. It was the approach to the 72nd at the 1980 Jackie Gleason Innverary. He was way behind, but he put his last iron shot about three inches from the hole for a final hole birdie.

 

Happy 80th Birthday to the Greatest Of All Time.

 

 

[larsonboss]

[Dpavs]

 

[Sean2]

Very much a class act, on and off the golf course.

[bscinstnct]

 

[Hawkeye77]

My first opportunity to see him play was in 1999 and he had to withdraw from the U.S. Senior Open played in Des Moines - man I was disappointed, but silver lining was it was the only time I got to watch Arnold play and walked a lot of that practice round with my dad (I had bought him a ticket). My dad and his dad were "Palmer guys" - I was 15 when Jack won at Augusta in 1975 and had been a dyed in the wool "Nicklaus guy" for as long as I'd been watching golf and buying Golf Digest with my hard earned money.

Luck in the draw allowed me to take my oldest daughter to The Masters in 2016. I think all she heard in the car on the way down was how I was going to finally see Jack play (because our tickets were for the Par 3 tourney and he was playing)! From our greenside chairs on the 5th I could see bits of his play on a couple other holes. Pic below was as he was approaching the green. He had a birdie putt, I set my camera to video and darned if that competitive so and so Player didn't jump right in front of me trying to get a teach from Jack's putt. Had Jack made his birdie my daughter claims to have been concerned I may have said something to Gary, who was about 10 feet away, lol. We then took off to watch parts of a couple more and get a spot behind 9 to watch him on 9. Seeing Jack actually hit some golf shots was the highlight, but of course the awesomeness of everything Augusta National was right there with it - sharing it with my daughter - boy oh boy!

Happy B'day Jack!!!!

Some photos of the day I got to see him play and one of the King at his last Masters on the "veranda" so to speak from the day before

 

 

[MadGolfer76]

I can't get over the amount of makeup they are applying to Irwin, Kite, and others in their interviews on the GC.

.......

That was the wrong takeaway, wasn't it?

[iBanesto]

"Yes sir!"

 

[MattyO1984]

The one and only time that I saw Jack in person was at The Open at St Andrews in 2000. Initially he had said that was to be his last Open but of course came back in 2005.

I was in my early teens at that point and managed to get an autograph in my programme and made sure that I was there in the stands adjacent to the first and eighteen as he came up the last and Tiger was waiting to tee off on the first. It’s a moment that I will never forget, really felt that it was a changing of the guard and I think it is only now when I mention that I was there that I realise the significance of it all. Scary to think that that was now coming up for 20 years ago and that the great man is now 80. Many happy returns to the biggest class act the game has ever known.

[puttfordoux]

Happy Birthday Jack Nicklaus!

Makes me remember my dad who would've been a couple of years older than Jack had he lived, and was his favorite golfer by far. From using the interlocking grip (which he passed down to me) to wearing slacks on the course even in the dog days of summer, my dad idolized Jack. The only time he got to see him in person, I took him to the Memorial Tournament honoree ceremony. It was a rainy, windy day and my dad was in the beginning stages of his long goodbye, but he was still thrilled to see Jack, almost like a little kid. It's a memory I'll never forget.

A video I took, which I wish I still had, was Jack and Tiger on the range before the Memorial Tournament Pro-Am some years back. They were side by side and in a moment in time, hit their practice shots in unison, almost like they planned it.

 

 

[caniac6]

Happy Birthday! Seems like just yesterday that he was a spry 46 year old at the Masters! I think I'll watch my DVD of the 86 Masters today!

[Hawkeye77]

That is just awesome!

[tiderider]

 

[Hawkeye77]

Tom Weiskopf's comment when asked what Jack is thinking is absolutely priceless! Honest and almost heartbreaking to me (but it always makes me laugh because it is so perfect), knowing Tom's close calls at The Masters.

[MattyO1984]

Honestly, one of the best weeks of my life. Stayed with my aunt who stays about 10 miles from St Andrews and spent every day from Sunday to Sunday at the course from dawn til dusk. If I could only win the lottery that is what I would do day in day out.

[tiderider]

always been my fav moment from that tournament ... much moreso than verne's call on 17 ... esp since it was tw ...

[Ferguson]

Birth date: January 21, 1940Birth place: Columbus, OhioBirth name: Jack William Nicklaus

 

Father: Louis Charles Nicklaus Jr., a pharmacistMother: Helen (Schoener) NicklausMarriage: Barbara Jean (Bash) Nicklaus (July 23, 1960-present)Children: Michael, July 24, 1973; Gary, January 15, 1969; Nancy, May 5, 1965; Steve, April 11,1963; Jack II, September 23, 1961Education: Attended Ohio State University, 1957-1961Other Facts:

Nicknamed "Golden Bear."

Began playing golf at age 10.

Has won 20 major championships: six Masters, five PGA Championships, four US Opens, three British Opens, and two US Amateur Championships.

Owns the Nicklaus Companies, which includes a successful golf course design business.Timeline:1956 - Wins the Ohio State Open at age 16.1959 and 1961 - Wins the US Amateur Championship.January 1962 - First professional start at the Los Angeles Open.June 1962 - Earns first professional win, defeating Arnold Palmer, at the US Open.1962, 1967, 1972 and 1980 - Wins the US Open.1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and 1986 - Wins the Masters.1963, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1980 - Wins the PGA Championship.1966, 1970 and 1978 - Wins the British Open.1967, 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976 - Named PGA Player of the Year.1974 - Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.1991 and 1993 - Wins the US Senior Open.1997 - "Jack Nicklaus: My Story," written with Ken Bowden, is released.1999 - Named Sports Illustrated's best individual male athlete of the 20th century.2001 - Is awarded the ESPY Lifetime Achievement Award.2002 - The Jack Nicklaus Museum opens on the campus of Ohio State University.2004 - The Nicklaus Children's Health Care Foundation is formed.2005 - Retires from tournament competition.2005 - Is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.2006 - Is inducted into the PGA Professional Hall of Fame.March 24, 2015 - Congress honors Nicklaus with the Congressional Gold Medal.December 2015 - Nicklaus receives Sports Illustrated's Muhammad Ali Legacy Award.February 18, 2016 - Undergoes experimental stem cell therapy to help with debilitating back pain.March 2016 - Named to Forbes' list of The Highest-Paid Retired Athletes, with estimated earnings of $26 million.Current - Often characterized as the GOAT in discussions on WRX

[GeorgeHWB]

It was 10 years ago that I got my Golf Magazine with Jack and Arnie on the cover. Jack was 70 and Arnie was 80. It doesn't seem that long ago but now Arnie is gone.

 

Yesterday I got my Golf Magazine celebrating Jack's 80th.

 

Father time is undefeated.

[Ferguson]

 

Father Time - is he still married to Mother Earth or did they have marital problems?

[gvogel]

I was fortunate enough to have watched him at the 1980 PGA Championship and the 1981 Masters.

Lots of us tried to imitate his swing in my generation.

[Dpavs]

You'll be glad to know that quite some time ago he left her for Mother Nature... and together the new couple has been happily conspiring against mankind for generations untold.

[Ferguson]

 

Mother Teresa never married.

[Hawkeye77]

Father Time eventually nailed her, though.

 

She and Jack will partner up in a scramble someday -- I won't be able to keep my ice cubes from melting.

[Ferguson]

Father time nails everybody. That dude gets around.

Have you seen Kirstie Alley lately?

 

 

 

[Hawkeye77]

I just couldn’t like that, it felt awkward.

[dlygrisse]

Only Ferguson could bring Kirstie Alley into a Jack thread....what's next, Rosie O'Donnell in a Phil thread?

[Hawkeye77]

PIGJAM!

 

Ooops, my wife said that's mean in a you know who really is the you know what kind of way . . . . Loved her in Sleepless in Seattle. Can't remember seeing her in anything since.

[Hawkeye77]

Jack - we are so sorry!