At the age of 26 Jack Nicklaus won the British Open, joining Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan as only golfers who achieved a “Career Grand Slam”.
The four tournaments that comprise golf’s grand slam are The Masters, The U.S. Open, The PGA, and The British Open (Some folks, especially the British, refer to it simply as “The Open”.) Gary Player joined the elite circle of career Slam winners in 1972 and Tiger Woods joined the club in 2000. The legion of golfing greats who have failed to notch a career slam include the likes of Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, and Lee Trevino.
Prior to completing his slam at Muirfield (Edinborough, Scotlaqnd) in 1966, Nicklaus had won the U.S. Open in 1962 at Oakmont, in Oakmont, PA; the 1963 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta,GA (where it’s always played); and the 1963 PGA at the Dallas Athletic Club, in Dallas, TX
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When Jack Nicklaus approached the 18th green at Muirfield last Saturday afternoon the largest crowd in Scotland’s long golfing history let go a roar of acclaim. Instead of responding like the certain winner he seemed to be, Nicklaus gave the appreciative gallery a tentative wave of the hand and a momentary smile, and then lapsed back into a deep frown of concentration. He had only to two-putt from 22 feet to win the 106th British Open, but the 75-year-old Muirfield course had made its impression. All week long it had seemed to submit to one or another of the game’s best players, and then had used its knee-high rough and glass-slick greens to nullify their accomplishments. Cautiously, Nicklaus stroked his first putt to within six inches of the hole. He marked his ball—partly as a courtesy to Phil Rodgers, who putted out, and partly out of real concern about this last shot. When the moment arrived, Nicklaus bent over his minuscule putt, and the only sound to be heard was the far-off atonal argument of sea gulls. He tapped it in, of course, for a two-under-par 282 that defeated Doug Sanders and Dave Thomas by a stroke. Then, and only then, did he let himself believe he had finally won the last major golf title to have eluded him. As the applause soared, his smile grew wider and wider, and he kept raising his arms from his sides, like a sleepy man reluctantly doing his morning exercises. But the fearful concentration that Muirfield had exacted from him was going to take a long time to wear off, for once again an historic British golf course had proved to be an historic test of skill.
Sports Illustrated