In January of 58 years ago, in 1962, the man who would become possibly the best player in the sport, Jack Nicklaus, received his first check for playing in a tournament with professional status. It was at the Los Angeles Open and after finishing tied for 50th place with two other players. The figure, $33.33, was not much, especially compared to what he pocketed just a few months later when he won his first tournament as a professional, the US Open, no less. He entered the Golden Bear through the sport’s biggest door, and his checking account was boosted by that triumph by $15,000.
The money, in this case, was the least important thing: the important thing was his spectacular irruption into the Olympus of the golf gods. The debutant was 22 years old and he was Jack Nicklaus. And what’s more, his entrance was triumphant, nothing less than defeating in a playoff the man who seemed to be going to take the title by storm: Arnold Palmer himself, The King.
The setting for Nicklaus’ extraordinary first professional victory was Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, a course that was very close to Palmer’s home. The King, 32 years old at the time, was certainly the true reigning monarch of American and world golf, and everything presaged that he would take a military stroll through Oakmont in pursuit of victory, especially since that year he had already won the British Open and the Masters, in addition to winning five other tournaments. Everyone took pity a priori on poor Nicklaus in view of the foreseeable sporting beating that the overmatched Palmer was going to inflict on him. Not in vain, The King had already given the Golden Bear a good thrashing at the Phoenix Open that same year, 12 strokes ahead of Nicklaus, and Nicklaus came second.
But, despite the fact that the local golfing parish was showering him with great devotion and that he started the last day with a 2-stroke lead, Arnold could not resist the push of a Nicklaus who was not intimidated by the pressure of the most fanatical and foul-mouthed spectators and, after 69 strokes, wiped out the advantage to force a playoff, to which they arrived with an overall score of 283 strokes, 1 under par.
The playoff was then played over 18 holes on Monday. More than 10,000 spectators cheered Palmer and shouted against Nicklaus, but the Golden Bear did not lose his concentration or the magic of his game and was 4 strokes ahead in only six holes. The local hero did not shrink and came back to within one stroke of his rival, who finally extended his lead to three by shooting a round of 71 against Palmer’s 74. That was the end of the history of the 1962 US Open and the beginning of the amazing winning career of the golfer who would go on to win the largest number of majors in history.
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IN SHORT
– For Arnold Palmer, that defeat at Oakmont against Nicklaus was the prelude to what would happen to him in the following editions of the tournament: he never won another US Open (only in 1960) and finished second four times in six years.
– Of the 150 players who started the 1962 US Open, only 51 made the cut, and among them only two winners of that major: Gene Littler, defending champion, and Arnold Palmer, winner of the 1960 edition.
– In addition to the $15,000 that came with winning the tournament, Nicklaus pocketed another $2,500 paid to him by the USGA. for tickets sold on playoff Monday. Palmer also received that extra plus 8,000 for finishing second.
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