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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-06-02 Jack Nicklaus Story The Glory Years (Palm Beach Post)Unpopular Nicklaus even drew boos in early days Laser, he lost weight, gainer! respect from Wolf fans By Craig Dolch Staff Writer If a scorecard could have measured Jack Nicklaus' image early in his professional ca- reer, he might never have made a tournament cut. It was definitely sub -par in the wrong way. Back in 1972, Nicklaus once said: "I guess a lot of people still think of me as the fat, rich kid with the crewcut who beat Arnold Palmer in the 1962 Open. That's the image I had 10 years ago and it might stick with me for the rest of my life." True, that was the public's perception of Nicklaus at one time, but it has since been turned around, He has gone from one of the least -liked superstars in the 196Us to perhaps the most popular athlete of the '80s. The reason is image. Nicklaus' turnaround in that department would have to rival any comeback he has ever made on the golf course. Early image unflattering For many old-timers, there will always be an indelible image of a Nicklaus possessing too much weight and too little emotion. At 220 pounds, he was known as "Fat Jack" or "Ohio Fats." He was certainly no slave to fashion,. either, especially when he wore what wife Bar- bara referred toas his "Army refugee" pants. It didn't help that Nicklaus had the misfor- tune to emerge at a time when the golf world was still agog over a belt -tugging charismatic Pennsylvanian named Arnold Palmer, "The fat kid with the crewcut" was seen as a usurper to Palmer's crown, and some fans never forgave Nicklaus for beating their hero in that head -to - head playoff for the 1962 U.S. Open title at `1 guess a lot of people still think of me as the fat, rich kid with the crewcut who beat Arnold Palmer in the 1962 Open. That's the image I had 10 years ago and it might stick with me for the rest of my life.' — Jack Nicklaus Oakmont. Members of Arnie's Army even taunt- ed and jeered the beefy Ohio youngster during those final 18 holes, much to Palmer's chagrin. But those days are long gone. Nicklaus is cheered wherever he goes, and he's got a better nickname, too. • Just how did the Golden Bear become so golden? It all started on a plane ride back to the United States from the 1969 Ryder Cup matches at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. This was the match where Nicklaus conceded a short putt to Tony Jacklin on the final hole — thus ensuring the only tie in the competition. But more importantly, Nicklaus also conceded he needed to lose some weight. "I got real tired the last day of the matches, and I didn't like the way I felt," Nicklaus said. "I knew I had always been a little overweight, but my doctor had always told me I would know when it was time to go on a diet." It was time. Weight Watchers diet helped When Nicklaus arrived at his Lost Tree Village home, he informed Hart, Schaffner and VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH HISTORIAN PAgE 5 Ju iv 2. Marx that he would soon be needing new pants. What followed was a Weight Watchers diet that forever reshaped Nicklaus' image. He went from 210 to 185 pounds in three weeks, taking an inch from his waistline (35 to 34) and almost seven inches from around his hips. The extra weight around his chin and neck also disappeared. As his weight dropped, his popularity. increased. Nicklaus then took a trip to the barber for a new hairstyle, and the crewcut was replaced by a shock of yellow hair that gave him an even younger appearance. The transformation was complete when Hathaway (the shirt company) and Hart, Schaffner and Marx sent him their new clothing lines. Suddenly, Nicklaus found something new with his game: sex appeal. "I get a kick out of that sex appeal talk," Nicklaus said at the time. "But my wife sure kids me about it." To this day, Nicklaus maintains there was never a conscious effort on his part to construct a new image. "I took the weight off for health reasons, and the hairstyle and clothing were just a sign of the times," he said. Through the 1970s he continued to relax more on the golf course, and that endeared him further with his growing legion of fans. His glowing golf record didn't hurt his popularity, either. "Inevitably you change somewhat as you gain experience," Nicklaus said. "It simply took me a while to learn that you have to give the fans a little more of yourself than just a golf game." Nicklaus' early image: overweight, short -haired rich kid ... bout improved looks and continued fine play eventually won over crowds VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH HISTORIAN PAgE Jc> z 4ALm e C-H PoSt' JONX 2) c 6 Nicklaus legacy includes many major successes Second of four parts. ❑ Nicklaus unpopular early in career, 4C 0 Charting Nicklaus' career, 4C By Craig Dolch Staff Writer Not a round goes by when Jack Nicklaus isn't reminded of one of his 89 professional victories by someone who said he was with him every step of the way. That's one of the unique features of professional golf. While fans of most every other major sport take a seat to watch the action, the galleries in golf almost become a part of the action. They're cheering their hero when the putts fall and moaning the putts that don't. Nicklaus was playing a practice round before his Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, two weeks ago when a man bellowed to him from behind the yellow ropes: "Hey, Jack! Remember the 1973 PGA Champi- onship? I was there that final round. I saw you win that tournament." •Nicklaus smiled. He remembered, too. That was the year he beat Bruce Crampton by four shots at the Canterbury Golf Club in nearby Cleveland to win his 14th major championship, one more than the total of the legendary Bobby Jones. Nicklaus remembers all his major victories, each having a special meaning. He's no different that the. rest of us. Anyone who has ever watched him play golf has a favorite Nicklaus major victory. Question is, which one? There are 20 to choose from. Ask Nicklaus to choose his favorite and he'll invariably say, "The last one." 1962 U.S. Open was his first Historians point to the first one, when he beat Arnold Palmer in a playoff to win the 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont (Pa.). By beating Palmer in the land of Palmer, Nicklaus let everyone know early that he meant business. "Beating Arnold in his own back yard certainly wasn't the worst way to win your first major," Nick- laus said. It also made him the third golfer to hold the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open titles at the same time (Jones and Chick Evans were the others). For similar historical reasons, Nicklaus' victory in the 1966 British Open at Muirfield, Scotland, was significant because it completed his first career Grand Slam. His victory in the 1970 British Open must have meant a lot to Nicklaus — he almost beheaded Doug Sanders by flinging his putter after sinking the final putt. The timing of this win couldn't have been better; Nicklaus hadn't captured a major in three years and his father, Charlie, had died earlier that year. "I had gotten lethargic during those three years," Turn to NICKLAUS, 4C i tA9 1 VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH HISTORIAN The Glory Years Nicklaus From 1C Nicklaus said. "I just wasn't putting enough effort into my game. Dad's death made me realize that life's not that long, and there I was wasting three of the best years of my life. It bothered me because my golf game had meant so much to Dad, and I was just going through the motions." Set records in Open, Masters Itrilliant victories in the 1965 Masters and the 1980 I.J.S. Open at Baltusrol, establishing tournament records in both, are the victories most purists point to. Nicklaus shattered the Masters record by three strokes with rounds of 67, 71, 64 and 69, prompting Jones to say at the presentation ceremony, "Jack is playing an entirely different game, a game I'm not even familiar with." By 1980, Nicklaus' game hi become more famil- iarbut no less awesome. He use an Open -record 63 in the first round to set a 72-hole mark with 272, two strokes in front of Isao Aoki. The victory at Baltusrol was also important be- cause it came at a time when Nicklaus was supposedly finished. His obituary, in fact, has been written at least a dozen times during his career. Yet he has always finds a way to silence his critics, usually with an exclamation point. Five times he has ended long, disappointing slumps by winning a major champion- ship: the 1967 U.S. Open, the 1970 British Open, the 1978 British Open, the 1980 U.S. Open and the 1986 Masters. To Nicklaus, the golf season has always consisted primarily of the four major championships: Masters, U. S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. Nicklaus views the other tournaments — while they carry their own significance, especially his Memorial — as preliminaries to the main events. Schedule geared around majors Nicklaus' golf calendar runs from the second week of April until the second week of August — the stqrt of the Masters and the conclusion of the PGA Championship. a Nicklaus' reasoning is simple: "These events have tenure and continuity. They are played on the best cofir-ses. They attract the finest fields. And they are the tournaments that people enjoy watching the most and remember the longest." And it is his domination of these four Grand Slam events that has ensured Nicklaus' spot as a living legend. His 20 victories are remarkable, but so are his number of near -victories. In 97 tries as a professional, he' has 19 seconds and 19 thirds. Further, he has 69 top- 10 finishes, which means he's had legitimate chances to ;win two of every three majors he entered. It became almost too easy. "There was a time when I lost interest," Nicklaus sad. "Just about every major tournament that I played in, I won. And if I didn't win, it was because of a mistake that I had made. There was no challenge to it. "Now that I think back on it, I have to believe that I expected to win one or two each year. That was a ridiculous assumption. I'm almost ashamed to admit Caret r Tour Stab% Year Events Scoring Wins 26 70.80 3 ...... ..:.....:. 1963 25 70.42 5 1660i 26 69;06 4 2nds 3rds Earnings 61668 $100,040 t113,284 1965 24 966 1967 23 8 70.09 79.58.': 70.23 5 4 2 $140,752 $13,1,3. $188,998 23 1969 71.06 3 1 0 $140,167 5 3 ` 3 2 $142,140 1971 18 70.08 5 3 3 $244,490 70.23 7 3 0 $320,542 1973 18 1974` 1975 976 1977 t978 15 7107 3 979 12 72.49 0 1980 t 13 > 70 86 2 1- 1981 16 70.70 0 3 69.81 7 70.06 69.87 5 701 70.36 1 }1 $308,362 0 ': $228,178 3... $298,149 3 2 1 5284,509 2 0 $256,672 0 1 $59,434 $172,386 $178,213 1982 15 70,90 1 3, 2 $.32,645 1983 16 70.88 0 3 1 $256,158 84' 13 70,75 1 2 1 $272 505 1985 15 71.81 0 2 1 $165,456 .78 1 tl 0 $171,214 Total 465 70.58 71 58 36 $4,857,494 requent top-10 finisher His expectations were not that far out of line. insider that from 1970 to 1978, Nicklaus finished in !' + top 10 in 31 of 33 majors. (He was 11th and 13th in i others). And from 1966 to 1980, he finished among the top six in the British Open. "Jack Nicklaus always had more ability to rise to the occasion to win the majors," said Byron Nelson, who won four majors. "He'll be playing along and, suddenly, something hits him. I call it an adrenal release. The speed of his walk will change. When Jack starts walking real fast, that usually means the rest of the field is in trouble." Nicklaus' pace usually quickened whenever he arrived in Augusta, Ga. He finished out of the top 10 only three times in his first 18 Masters; five times he left with a green jacket. His caddie, Willie Peterson, should have been a world -class high jumper, consider- ing the number of times he leaped in the air to cele- brate Nicklaus' birdies. "I must have jumped a thousand times or more for that man," Peterson said recently. "My favorite was when he made that long putt on the 16th hole to win his fifth Masters (in 1975). `.AGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH HISTORIAN P g� z Jury Z "You could tell how he was going to play by the way he came out of the clubhouse on Sunday. If he had that stare in his eyes — and I could tell right away — I knew that he was going to play well." Some bad memories, too Still, not all of Nicklaus' memories from the majors are pleasant ones. First, there was the 1972 British Open, when Lee Trevino chipped in from a bunker on the 17th hole to beat Nicklaus by a stroke. The loss was especially painful because Nicklaus had won the Masters and U.S. Open that year and had his sights set on the unthinkable — sweeping the Grand Slam. events. , There were also the unbelievable events of the 1977 British Open when Nicklaus, tied for the lead after two rounds, closed with scores of 65 and 66 -- and lost. Watson was just one stroke better, shooting consecutive 65s to win. Watson also dug a sand wedge through Nicklaus' heart with his chip -in from the rough on the 71st hole to win the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. "It took me a long time to get over that chip from Mr. Watson," Nicklaus, who lost by a stroke, said later. Lost in Nicklaus' records, perhaps, was his domi- nation of the regular PGA Tour. Despite playing an abbreviated schedule for the latter part of his career, Nicklaus still has won 70 events, was Player of the Year five times and was the leading money winner and held the lowest scoring average eight times. These accomplishments, however, must take a back seat to his performance in the major champion- ships. That's the way Jack Nicklaus planned it a long time ago. Nicklaus celebrates 1980 U.S Open title ... second -to -last major victory before the 1986 Masters ...w iS �..., aus fR nisIiei in i nalo s Year Masters U.S. British Open Open 1°t: 1957 MC* 1959 MC'' MC* 1960 13t* 2* 1961 ? t* 41* ��. .. 1962 Ist ,E 32t _ 3t 1963 Won MC 3 Won 1964 2t 23t 2 2t 1965 Won 31t 12t 2t 1986_sWieo 3 — ,y .._ .__ 221 3t �_. lit 1967 ._._ MU,. .. Won 2 19f:8 5t 2 ,t1C'. 1969 24t 251 61 __ 1970 8 19; Won {`t 1971 2t.�� W, Won .�_ ..._ 1972 p .v Y� sr` _.- @5i,, 2 1973 4f. q, t 13t Won p 1974 4t 1W 3 19 ...�_._ Won �.... 7t �...�.3t.�.. m_ 2 Won. 197E 3t 11t 2i _ 4t 3 1 1977 2 lOt 2,__0 1978 7 6t W-n MC 1980 33t Won 41 W ,:r; 1981 t.�.m' t 4s, 1987 ��? 1`'ti 1983 WD 443t 29t 1(4 2 1984 lot.,:,. 1985 1986 Won * — amateur: t — tie; MC — missed cut VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH HISTORIAN Arnold Palmer (left) watches Jack Nicklaus putt in practice before an early matchup; Palmer was crowd favorite in the early days VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH HISTORIAN