04/18/24
July 15, 2005
The Golden Bear Bows Out...: One more birdie on the 18th at St. Andrews. Nice.
posted by The_Black_Hand to golf at 11:31 PM - 3 comments
He was the best of the best. It's hard to come up with a superlative too outlandish for him. In the golf world, he was the Beatles, he was Microsoft, he was not only at the top of his profession, but he had the surrounding sense of place and perspective to grow the game along with him. Tiger is showing signs of being able to carry the load of the sport on his back, but he will always be following in the footsteps of Nicklaus, his personal hero and mentor. The game is in great shape, and it's due in no small part to him. Thanks, Jack.
posted by chicobangs at 03:45 PM on July 17, 2005
I'll never forget Harry Carpenter's commentary at the 1987 Ryder Cup for the BBC review-of-the-day programme after the second day: "By then, it must have been starting to occur to Nicklaus that he could become the first American team captain to lose the Ryder Cup on home soil, in his own home town, on a course that he designed and built himself." Not that I didn't like Nicklaus - I read that book of his every night without fail. Leafing through it now and looking at McQueen's diagrams is like looking at my childhood. In that sense, a lot of what I know about golf came from him.
posted by JJ at 04:16 AM on July 18, 2005
I got a tear in my eye... I watched him when I was a kid. I can't think of an athlete that has been involved in or provided more emotional moments than Nicklaus.