Nicklaus Wins Masters

Apr. 11, 1965 - Jack Nicklaus, playing what Bobby Jones described as “the greatest tournament performance in all golfing history,” shot a 69 today in the final round of the 29th Masters for an incredible 72-hole total of 271 that shattered Ben Hogan’s 12-year-old record by three strokes.

So, at age 25, the blond slugger from Columbus, Ohio, has clearly demonstrated that he is the master of the famed Augusta National golf course, which not surprisingly is his favorite playground.

Nicklaus literally tore the course apart while the world’s best professionals could only watch in admiration. His record-breaking score was 17 strokes under par and left his business partners, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, nine strokes behind in a second-place tie at 280.

Wearing his new green coat and a big grin on his sunburned face, Nicklaus sat on a battered couch on a small stage in the crowded press room and said: “I never played a more enjoyable round of golf in my life.”

It was not just the fact that he had won $20,000. “But,” he grinned, “I am not going to give it back.”

Then he was serious for a moment. “I don’t even know how much I won. The medal they gave me would have been enough. The more tournaments I win, the better player I am. I never won the British Open, and I want to win it, although it doesn’t mean much financially.”

The Masters championship, his second, was the 13th tournament had had won — and he has been a professional for only three years and three months. He owns his own airplane, almost as many business enterprises as Arnold Palmer, and is rapidly becoming a millionaire at 25.

What next? Jack thought it was obvious. He is the only player with a chance to score the modern version of the “Grand Slam” — win the Masters, National Open, British Open, and PGA.

But right now he is going home to Columbus, Ohio, for a two-week vacation — or until after the birth of the child his wife Barbara is expecting about that time. His Masters victory today came on the second birthday of his son, Stevie, who was born four days after Jack won in Augusta in 1963.

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