GWD_MAY_16

JACK NICKLAUS
THE ANTITHESIS OF ARNIE
The politically correct golfing world and time itself has
brushed such memories under the carpet (as has
Nicklaus himself). But, it is a fact that crowds used
to heckle Nicklaus in his early career. He was the
impudent upstart who dared to be a pretender to the
throne of King ‘Arnie’, and the Army had their noses
severely put out of joint. The young Nicklaus was not
short of confidence, and wore ill-fitting clothes. One
unkind commentator described his wardrobe as fitting
him like a tent. He didn’t have the bicep-hugging figure
of Palmer, who was so much cooler, and who could
make female hearts flutter at 100 yards. The unkind
ABOVE: About
to seal his first
Masters triumph
in 1963, Nicklaus
lines up a putt
on the green
where he has
clinched a
record number
of Green
Jackets.
BELOW:
Flanked by
Augusta VIPs
Arnold Palmer
and Gary Player.
his ball missed a green, clapped when it found water,
even stamped their feet when he was at address.
This brash, confident, youngster from Ohio, who
looked more like he had come to shift your piano than
hit a golf ball, was so cocksure, he led many Southerners
to assume he was arrogance personified. And his first
visit to the course, which he made as an amateur, before
the 1959 tournament, did not help matters. He arrived
with a friend called Bob Obetz, not realising he wasn’t
allowed to take a guest onto the course. Eventually, a
friendly member was found, who was prepared to take
Obetz out as his guest, but you can imagine the dim
view taken by many from the club, at this impertinence.
On that first visit, Nicklaus stayed in the Crow’s
Nest, with five other young amateurs, and in his first
autobiography, The Greatest Game of All, his main memory
centred around his fondness for food. “It was
marvellous at Augusta. I loved the way they let amateurs
sign for everything. After four days, they clamped down
on Phil Rodgers and me, and wouldn’t let us order two
steaks apiece at dinner; but we were still allowed a
double shrimp cocktail.”
That year, eight three-putts meant he missed the cut
by a shot, and he promptly packed his bags and left.
“I didn’t want to hang around if I wasn’t playing. That’s
hard. It’s sort of like attending a wedding where your
girlfriend is marrying some other guy.” But, it was clear
Nicklaus’ power game fitted Augusta’s wide fairways
with little rough like a velvet glove. The next two years,
still as an amateur, he finished 13th and 7th.
And then, in his first five Masters as a pro, Nicklaus
won three of them – in 1963, 1965 and 1966. In the
last of these, his victory came after a three-way play-off
to become the first man in history to successfully
defend his Green Jacket. Despite this, and even at this
point in his career, it was not an overwhelmingly
popular victory. On the Saturday, for instance, there
was a tremendous round of applause when the
scoreboard showed he had dropped two shots. Maybe
the Patrons wanted a close tournament, and didn’t like
the idea of him running away with it. Perhaps they still
hadn’t forgiven him for usurping Palmer as the No.1 in
the world. But things changed quickly in years to come.
The fans started to realise Nicklaus had matured and
his sharp edges had softened. He’d replaced the crew
‘One unkind commentator suggested Jack’s clothes fitted him like a tent.
Equally uncharitable fans labelled him ‘Fats Ohio’ and ‘Fat Jack’ ’
shouted “Fats Ohio” at Nicklaus, or “Fat Jack”. Some
asked: “Where’s Laurel, Hardy?”
And Augusta National’s galleries were certainly not
immune from such shenanigans. Under ‘Patrons’ in the
Masters Tournament Policies and Customs it may proclaim:
“The Patrons know their golf and they respect golf
gallery etiquette.” And yet, when the young
Nicklaus outdrove their swashbuckling hero by
20 yards, or crouched for what seemed like
hours over a short putt, with his very
methodical pre-shot routine, Augusta
National’s Patrons looked like angry
wildebeest, smoke coming out of their
nostrils and ears. Some cheered when
cut with some golden locks and his puppy fat for a sixpack.
They loved the contrast between his raw power
off the tee, and his gentle but deadly-accurate short
game. As Palmer began to look a touch middle-aged,
Arnie’s Army began to disband, or worse still, swap
allegiances. Nicklaus was now so clearly the best player
in the world that fans just looked on in awe.
Throughout hout the ’70s he never finished worse
than 8th at Augusta (8th, 2nd, 1st, 3rd, 4th,
1st, 3rd, 2nd, 7th and 4th). In that decade,
he won two more Green Jackets, but it
could just as easily have been five.
However, we haven’t yet mentioned
the biggest reason why Nicklaus and the
May 2016 Golf World 51