Golf: Long Live the King!

The first year Jack Nicklaus decided that playing golf was a nicer way to make a million than selling insurance, he merely won the U.S. Open (TIME cover, June 29, 1962), two other tournaments, and pocketed $61,869 in official earnings. That year Arnold Palmer, golf’s reigning king, won eight tournaments and took home $81,448. In his sophomore year, Nicklaus won five tournaments and $100,040. Palmer was still king with seven victories and $128,230. After that, it was goodbye Arnie. In his junior year, Nicklaus won four tournaments to Palmer’s two and collected a nifty $113,284 to edge Palmer by $81 as golf’s top money winner. Now, at 25, Jack is a four-year man, and about all that aging (35) Arnie has left is his army. After last week’s P.O. A. championship, Nicklaus has won four tournaments, including the Masters, has already made more money than last year (see box), and is within $2,500 of beating Palmer’s alltime record for a season. Where’s Arnie? With only one victory and $27,712 in official earnings, he was not even among the top 20 money winners. Light Fantastic. Not that Nicklaus has been working all that hard. He was so preoccupied with learning to fly his new twin-engined Grand Commander early in the year that he had a paltry $14,400 in prize money just before the Masters in April. All of which was hardly enough to pay for the airplane gas. Nicklaus fixed that at the Masters with a withering third-round 64 that gave him a nine-stroke victory worth $20,000 and a 72-hole total of 271—17 strokes under par and three under Ben Hogan’s 1953 record. All that Gary Player, Jack’s runner-up at the Masters, could say was: “Fantastic!” At the Memphis Open in late May, Nicklaus seemed out of contention, five strokes off the pace after 54 holes. Then there came Jack with a sensational 65 on the last 18 to throw the tournament into a sudden-death play-off with Johnny Pott, and pocket the winner’s $9,000 after the first play-off hole. In the Thunderbird Classic at Westchester Country Club two weeks ago, Nicklaus was one stroke behind Gary Player with four holes to go. So on the next hole, a 454-yd. par four, he banged his No. 3 iron second shot to within 15 ft. of the pin, canned the putt for a birdie three—and went on to a two-stroke, $20,000 victory. He made it two in a row at the Philadelphia Golf Classic. Locked in a four-way tie for the lead with two holes to go, he unlocked the tournament with an eagle three (including a 45-ft. putt) on the 515-yd. 17th. That one was worth $24,300. Hazards of Helpfulness. As for Arnie, after a horrendous 43 for nine holes at Philadelphia, he picked up and went home to Latrobe, Pa., to get ready for the P.G.A., last of the Big Four tournaments and the only one he has never won. The experts gave him a chance. After all, this year’s tournament was being played on Palmer’s home course at the Laurel Valley Golf Club. Poor Arnie. Between assisting the tournament committee and signing autographs, he hardly knew what he was doing. In the very first round, he let a couple of helpful fellows tear down a wooden bridge railing that was blocking his shot to the 1st green. That cost him two penalty strokes and a six for the hole. Next day he knocked a rock out of a gully on the llth hole while taking a practice swing. Two more penalty strokes for grounding his club in a hazard. Score after three rounds: 221, eight strokes over par. Nicklaus, of course, was high up, fighting for his second P.G.A. victory. Jack was grousing about his drives, then his approaches went a trifle sour. Even so, going into the final hole, he was still two under par for the tournament, tied with Billy Casper and barely two strokes behind his playing partner, Dave Marr, a journeyman golfer who had not won a tournament since 1962. A birdie for Nicklaus and a bogie for Marr would mean a playoff. Teeing off for the 470 yd. par-four, Marr hooked his drive into a fairway trap, while Nicklaus slammed one 300 yds deadcenter. But after all those years, Marr was not about to throw it away. With a beautiful recovery and approach, he salvaged his par, and Jack missed his birdie. That did it. The new P.G.A. champion, $25,-000 richer, was Dave Marr. Nicklaus settled for a $12,500 split of second and third money with Casper—not a bad week’s work. Considering the caliber of the play,’ the odds are always against any one golfer winning any one tournament. But whoever wins has to worry about beating Jack Nicklaus. Golf, if anyone had a doubt, has a new king.