18 days until golf: Nicklaus sets golf's gold standard
The PGA Tour plans to restart its season June 11 after halting due to the coronavirus pandemic. Each day until then, we'll highlight key moments, people, or facts relating to where we are in the countdown.
The number 18 holds a lot of weight in golf. Not only is it the number of holes in a full round, but it also represents the gold standard in today's professional game, set by the Golden Bear himself, Jack Nicklaus.
With 18 major championship victories, Nicklaus is the man all professional golfers are chasing, especially Tiger Woods.
After Nicklaus won his 12th major at the 1973 PGA Championship to pass Walter Hagen for the most all time, nobody came close or even looked poised to challenge Nicklaus for the record until Tiger came along. Even still, Woods would need a miraculous ending to his career to add three more majors to his total and pull even with Nicklaus.
Nicklaus' first major was actually his first PGA Tour win, which came at the 1962 U.S. Open. He added six more to his tally in the 1960s before going on a remarkable run from 1970-80.
During that 10-year stretch, Nicklaus played in 44 majors, winning 10 of them and finishing inside the top 10 an incredible 30 times.
Here are his win counts from each event:
| Major Championship | Number of wins (Year) |
|---|---|
| The Masters | 6 (1963/1965/1966/1972/1975/1986) |
| U.S. Open | 4 (1962/1967/1972/1980) |
| Open Championship | 3 (1966/1970/1978) |
| PGA Championship | 5 (1963/1971/1973/1975/1980) |
Nicklaus claimed his final major title in 1986 at the age of 46, winning the Masters for a record sixth time.
In addition to his 18 wins, Nicklaus also holds the record for most runner-up results in major championships with 19.