In honor of Jack Nicklaus’ 70th birthday, GolfChannel.com has compiled a list of 70 things you don’t know about Nicklaus, or at least have forgotten by now:
1) He led outright or shared the lead after three rounds of a major championship 12 times in his career, and went on to win 10 times.
2) At age 10, he shot 51 on the first nine holes he ever played.
3) He qualified for his first U.S. Amateur at age 15.
4) His first-ever PGA Tour event was the 1958 Rubber City Open at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. After shooting 67-66 the 18-year-old amateur found himself one stroke out of the lead heading into the weekend. He went on to finish T-12.
5) His first and last PGA Tour victories were majors (1962 U.S. Open and 1986 Masters)
6) Pebble Beach is his favorite course. It was there where he won the 1961 U.S. Amateur and 1972 U.S. Open, as well as three Bing Crosby National Pro-Ams.
7) He’s the author or co-author of 15 books.
8) He never won a major with four rounds in the 60s.
9) He won 15 of his 18 majors in regulation by an average margin of 2.93 strokes.
10) He played in the 2003 Nationwide Tour BMW Charity Pro-Am with his three sons. He was the only one in the family to make the cut, and finished T-45.
11) He is the only player to win the U.S. Open in three different decades (1960s-1980s)
12) He is the youngest U.S. Open champion in the modern era having won in 1962 at age 22.
13) He was the first Masters champion to successfully defend his title (1965, 1966)
14) He won the Masters three times in his first five attempts as a professional.
15) He won at least one PGA Tour event in 17 consecutive years (1962-1978).
16) His worst finish at the British Open from 1966-1980 was sixth.
17) He’s in a select number of non-band members to dot the “i’ at an Ohio State football game (Bob Hope, Woody Hayes, OSU President Novice Fawcett, retired ticket director Robert Ries and astronaut John Glenn)
18) From the 1970 British Open to the 1978 British Open (33 majors) he finished in the top 10 in every major but two.
19) He holds the record for most top-five finishes in major championships with 56.
20) He played in 156 consecutive majors. (1957 U.S. Open to the 1998 U.S. Open)
21) One of his 19 runner-up finishes in a major came as an amateur (1960 U.S. Open)
22) In his first 22 seasons on Tour, he finished first or second in at least one major every year except one (1969).
23) He got his nickname from Australian sportswriter, Don Lawrence, who said in 1960 that Nicklaus looked like a big “cuddly, golden bear.”
24) He never won the Vardon Trophy for low PGA Tour scoring average.
25) Eight of his ten Champions Tour wins are majors.
26) In addition to winning the most majors (18), he also has the most senior major titles (eight).
27) In 1966 he completed the career grand slam, but he didn’t win his first Player of the Year award until the following year.
28) He was the first PGA Tour player to reach the 2, 3, 4 and 5-million-dollar mark in career earnings.
29) He has made 20 career holes-in-one during competition.
30) He made his first professional start at the 1962 Los Angeles Open and won $33.33.
31) He won the World Series of Golf his first two years on Tour.
32) He was one of 11 inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame class of 1974.
33) He made 105 consecutive cuts from 1970-1976.
34) He won five-straight Ohio State Junior Championships starting at the age of 12.
35) He made his first appearance in a U.S. Open at the age of 17, and made the cut for the first time at age 18.
36) He holds the 72-hole scoring record on the Champions Tour with his 27-under-par 261 at the 1990 Senior TPC. (65-68-64-64)
37) After winning his first Masters in 1963, he was supposed to receive his own green jacket within a year. For unknown reasons he never did, but he kept quiet about it, borrowing other jackets as needed. It wasn’t until 1998 that he brought the matter up, and his request for a green jacket was granted.
38) He, Arnold Palmer and John Harris are the only pro golfers who are members at Augusta.
39) A Jack Nicklaus plaque, honoring the six-time Masters champion, is affixed to a drinking fountain between Nos. 16 and 17 at Augusta National.
40) He is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.
41) He was diagnosed with polio when he was 13.
42) He and Tiger Woods are the only players who have won the career grand slam three times over.
43) He finished in the top 10 at the Masters every year in the 1970s.
44) There is a Jack Nicklaus Museum on the campus of Ohio State University in his home town of Columbus, Ohio.
45) Not only does he hold the record for most PGA Championship wins but also runner-ups, top-3s, and top 10s.
46) He holds the record for most under par rounds in the PGA Championship (53).
47) He holds the record for most rounds in the 60s in the PGA Championship (41).
48) 2005 was his final Masters and he missed the cut, but he birdied No. 16 both days.
49) He set the record for low 72-hole score by an amateur (282) at the 1960 U.S. Open.
50) He played on six Ryder Cup teams (1969-1971-1973-1975-1977-1981) and was never on the losing side.
51) He had a 4-4-2 singles record at the Ryder Cup, playing in morning and afternoon singles in 1969, 1971, 1973 and 1975.
52) He had a 17-8-3 overall career Ryder Cup record.
53) He was 8-1-0 in Ryder Cup foursomes.
54)He captained the 1987 U.S. Ryder Cup team, which was the first American team to lose on home soil.
55) The 1987 Ryder Cup was played at Muirfield Village, site of the Jack Nicklaus-hosted Memorial Tournament.
56) He captained four U.S. Presidents Cup teams, going 2-1-1.
57) The Jack Nicklaus Award, established in 1990, is awarded annually to the PGA Tour Player of the Year based on player voting.
58) The NCAA hands out an annual Jack Nicklaus Award to the collegiate Player of the Year.
59) In 2005 he joined the Queen of England and the late Queen Mother as the only people to be commemorated on a British bank note while alive. His image, clutching the Claret Jug, was on the back of two million five-pound notes as issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
60) His instructional book, “Golf My Way,” has sold more than 2 million copies.
61) In 2005 at St. Andrews, he drained a 15-foot birdie putt on his final hole, in his final British Open appearance.
62) When he went in to see his first-born child, Jackie, his knees got wobbly and he passed out.
63) When his second born, Steve, was first brought out to him, Nicklaus passed out again.
64) When his third born, Nancy, was brought out, Nicklaus blacked out yet again. The doctor joked that he required more time in the recovery room than his wife, Barbara.
65) When nurses brought out his fourth born, Gary, guess what happened? Nicklaus keeled over once more.
66) When his fifth and last child, Michael, was brought out, Nicklaus’ legs finally held up. He managed not to pass out.
67) On the morning of his wedding (July 23, 1960), Nicklaus played a full round of golf at Scioto Country Club with three of his friends. He cold topped his last drive as a single man into a water hazard left of the 18th tee box.
68) He caught a 1,358-pound black marlin in a 6-hour and 25-minute fight off the Great Barrier Reef while in Australia to play the 1978 Australian Open. Not only did he hook the largest fish, he won the golf tournament too.
69) He won the Australian Open six times. No other American has won it more than once.
70) He never plays a round of golf without three pennies in his pocket. One to use as his ball marker, one as a backup should he lose the first and one in case a fellow player needed one.
