With three Claret Jugs to his name, Jack Nicklaus will be remembered as one of the greatest in The Open’s long history.
All the glory and more lay ahead of Nicklaus in 1962 as he embarked on his first outing at the championship.
However, the longest journeys start with a single step, and it’s fair to say it was an inauspicious start for a man who spent much of the following two decades finishing in the top three at The Open.
A 34th-place finish at Royal Troon was little to write home about but, given what followed, there’s no harm in looking back on Nicklaus’ first taste of links golf.
With his 80th birthday last week, we’ve taken a trip down memory lane to uncover the awkward first meeting between Nicklaus and a tournament he would grow to love.
Arriving at the tournament on the back of winning his maiden US Open a month earlier, a fresh-faced 22-year-old Nicklaus looked ready to prosper.
Any optimism surrounding the future 18-time major winner soon dissipated, though, as he carded a first-round 80.
A 10 at the 11th provided the lowlight of the round, and left Nicklaus facing a stern task to make the cut.
It speaks volumes of his ability that he continued into the business end of the contest and, of all the players who advanced to Friday's third round, Nicklaus was the only one to score a round in the 80s.
Read more at TheOpen.com.
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