Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson - An account of friendship and rivalry
Golf is itself a huge rivalry. When a player enters the course, he has to fight against his own emotions, others’ hot putters and the course built to befuddle the participants.
For a good comparison of rivals, people analyze their swings, clubs, charges and chokes, and their total wins and losses against each other.
Rivalries aren’t just a plain fun, in fact, they are necessary in any game. They had been part of the game, historically. They provide a framework for people to talk about the game, their personal interests and important times of their lives.
People crave the history and find many interesting rivalries of all sorts including professional jealousies among the players.
The most interesting to recall and read is the rivalry of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, the two most acclaimed golfers in the game history.
They were considered to be fierce opponents when they used to play against each other. They were good friends but worst rivals on the golf course. It was more sort of a professional opposition than a serious enmity.
It all started from mere speculations that the two players who had been playing side by side for many years faced each other in the 1977 The Masters Tournament.
In 1977, Jack Nicklaus, 14-time major winner by then, was defeated by Watson in the Masters Tournament. This was the first ever win by Watson in the Masters and second major win of the career.
Few months later, they again met each other at Turnberry in the Open Championship where Watson astonished Nicklaus with a single stroke win over him.
That was just a start of great rivalry between both the players. In 1981 Masters, Watson thrashed Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus with two-stroke lead on the final day of the tournament. This was his second victory in the Masters Tournament.
The climax came in 1982, when Watson again topped Nicklaus in The Open Championship at Pebble Beach by sinking a Chip shot out of rough on the 17th hole of the final round.
Until 1982, Watson won six major championships including four majors when Nicklaus finished runner-up. On the contrary, Nicklaus only managed three victories in the majors during that span of time.
From 1977 to 1982, the best player of golf seemed to handoff his title being the “best” to Watson who was outstanding throughout the time span. If Nicklaus could have managed to win four major events that he lost to Watson, he could have easily crossed 20s
in no time.
Both the players faced each other for the last time in 2005 The Open Championship at St Andrews when Nicklaus announced his retirement from the game of golf. That day, Watson looked sad and tears started flowing down of Watson’s eyes.
It was end of the great rivalry between two legendary names in the history of golf. They are still good friends, but the era they enjoyed playing against each other can never have parallels.
Both the players who now have been settled in different directions in their post-golf-career, still meet regularly and enjoy talking about their past. Their discussions, however, have never led to an admission from any side that they held professional jealousy
against each other during their career. It shows how they were close to each other as friends while falling apart as professionals.
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