I suspect the irony wasn't lost on Jack, but arguably the world's best golfer (for the time being, anyway) arrived at the British Open on his private jet, and then proceeded to wax nostalgic about the days when golf was a way for the lucky few to make a hard-earned living.
In speaking of the impressive first-round performances of Greg Norman, Tom Watson and Tom Lehman, Nicklaus offered this:
"If they don't win, they still walk home with a big check ... They don't have to do some of the things the Watsons had to do, the Normans, the Lehmans, and that's to gut it out. It doesn't mean the young guys will be out of it. It just makes it appear as though the guys who have had that experience are coming to the top."And the golfing world thanks you, Jack. But more than Nicklaus, Palmer and Player doing their parts to make the tour what it is, Jack is more concerned that today's player is, well, soft.
"When I started on tour, maybe one or two guys might have made enough money to make a living ... Now there's a couple of hundred guys who make a living playing golf. We had to really play well and scratch it out to be in a position to get endorsements. But we worked to try to build the tour so they didn't have to do that."
"Is that producing better golfers?" Nicklaus said, pausing and shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know. The question was asked because you see all the older guys, all guys who have had to gut it out in tough conditions. The kids today play perfect conditions every week. If they don't like what's going on, they're finishing 10th or 15th and still make a check.Thing is, I can't disagree with Nicklaus. Sure, he might sound like a crotchety old guy stuck in the past, but it's hard to argue that today's players aren't soft when compared to the characters on tour 30 and 40 years ago.
"I don't think it makes them as tough."
Nicklaus is forever lamenting that Tiger Woods has no real challengers (unlike all the golfers that stepped up to challenge him -- which, of course, could be more a function of Jack being less dominant than Tiger, but whatever), but maybe that has something to do with players today being able to finish in the top-20 and still make a nice little payday. Or maybe Tiger's just that good. Definitely one or the other, though.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shut up, Jack.
Shut up, bilko. Those of experience have the best view.
This is garbage. Salaries have increased astronomically in every sport. Guys in other sports had to work jobs in the offseason in order to make ends meet. The REAL reason why guys are making money is because of television and internet and the ability for the tour (and other sports) to easily generate far more publicity than they ever could have in the 60's and 70's. And quite frankly, these guys owe more to TW for these monster paydays than they do to Jack, Arnie and others.
Say what you want about Jack and the other great competitors of his era, but to be a tour player is more difficult than ever with all of the mini tours that are out there and the talent that they bring to the table. You have guys playing little regional tours who are banging the ball 330 yards and putting up an occasional 65, never mind all of the talented players on the Nationwide Tour. To think that guys don't have to be tough to be on tour and earn a paycheck is a joke.
Jack hit 300 yard drives with a terrible McGregor golf ball, a wooden head driver with a 43" heavy, stiff, steel shaft. I'd love to see how far Jack, in his prime, would have hit a Titleist ProV1, with one of these new, high tech 45" drivers. He'd easily have averaged 350 yards. Then we'd find out who was the greatest of all time.
Amen Rb,Jack will always be the man,had more heart than Woods,Els,and Singh all put together and he is right about Eldrick,the boy has no competetion,his huge ego keeps him going but he has the personality of a lampshade. Jack did it with much inferior equipment.
Def. Amen to that RB.
Jack is right.
inthedrink had WAAAAAAAAAAY much to drink himself. You don't have to be tough with all the new technology out in clubs and balls. Golfers of now have it a billion times more easy than in the past. All they have to do is golf and if they golf shitty, they still can afford their luxury cars and easy living.
All Jack was saying is that in order to live and pay the bills you had to be good and play with everything in your heart. If you didn't play well, you wouldn't get that big check like they do now and would worry about paying the bills. Enduring this was more mental toughness than anything else and players now don't have that weighing on their minds.
This can be said for all American sports.
With all due respect to Jack, not everything he says is gospel. Think about inflation, please. It is also difficult to compare eras. Are golf fans saying that only in golf that things have not improved. That would be living in the past. I do not know about the other golfers, but because Tiger believes in applying himself, he would have thrived even in Jack's era. Besides Tiger was one of the slower ones to embrace the new technology and there is evidence to back this up. So do not use this opportunity to bash Tiger. Afterall Jack is his golfing role model.
MT
the pga tour lost it's competitiveness when it went to an 'exempt' 125 . in palmer , players , and nichlaus' day , if you didn't make the cut on friday you were at the tour's next stop on monday trying to qualify for the field . tiger , like watson before him , owes a good portion of their millions to palmer , player , and nichlaus .
Jack is right on with this. You see so many players on tour who lack the mental toughness and can't close and others who win early in their career and shut it down and coast. Tiger dominates because too many players on tour are pussies. That makes it much easier to handicap tournaments.