Global Golf Post - January 18, 2010

Time, like the characteristic right elbow in Jack Nicklaus' golf swing, flies. The man they call
the Golden Bear turns 70 Thursday. That's almost as hard to believe as it is that he won 18
professional majors; or that he captured The Masters at the advanced age of 46; or that the
photo ta left was taken 33 years ago; or that golf icon Bobby Jones once said Nicklaus played
a game that he (Jones) was not familiar with.
Today Nicklaus spends most of his working hours designing golf courses and preaching the
importance of understanding the increasing international aspect of the game he dominated for
so long. He “gets” the global thing.
And the staff of Global Golf Post “gets” that a Nicklaus milestone — even if it's a birthday that
makes it that much easier for the sometimes-cranky-about-getting-older Nicklaus to shoot
his age — is worth celebrating. To that end, our writers and editors have weighed in with short
takes on their favorite Nicklaus golf memories or anecdotes. What follows is a compilation
that, we think, shows Nicklaus from a fascinating variety of angles while presenting him in an
interesting number of lights:

JACK AND THE WRITERS

The first time I was in Jack Nicklaus’ presence was at a Western Open at Butler National outside Chicago. It was after a practice round and Nicklaus had grabbed an iced tea, plopped himself into a lounge chair outside the locker room and greeted about a half-dozen waiting reporters. This was before the days of transcripts. Writers weren’t even carrying tape recorders yet. One question was asked and Nicklaus answered it. Then, without pause, he continued talking about this that and the other thing. He didn’t stop to take another question until he had finished, about 25 minutes later. “Anything else, guys?” he asked. Nobody had anything else. It was one of the damndest things in golf, outside the ropes, I’ve ever seen. He had anticipated every question, added a little extra and left his ink-stained audience speechless but with full notebooks. There was nobody there from the Tour to warn “One more question, please.” Just Jack Nicklaus, in no particular hurry. In his prime, Nicklaus was the best interview in golf and the other players all knew it even though they called Nicklaus “Carnac” (a reference to Johnny Carson’s know-it-all character on “The Tonight Show) behind his back. Fact was, Jack had the media thing figured out as well as he did the golf part.