Jack Nicklaus won 20 major championships — if you include his two U.S. Amateur titles — in a career that many still consider the best in golf history.
The tournament that started to put him on the national and international golf map was held in Colorado — the Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, to be precise.
It was there that the Golden Bear won the first of those 20 majors as he defeated Charlie Coe 1 up in 36 holes to claim the U.S. Amateur title. That’s one of three U.S. Amateurs contested in Colorado to this point, and a fourth is on the way this year as Cherry Hills Country Club hosts the championship Aug. 13-19, with CommonGround Golf Course serving as the second stroke-play course.
Recently, Nicklaus discussed his stellar USGA career at a USGA Member Education Series event in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. His victory at the Broadmoor marked the first of his eight USGA titles, a number surpassed only by Bobby Jones and Tiger Woods.
In fact, the first and last of those eight USGA wins came in Colorado as Nicklaus also claimed the 1993 U.S. Senior Open at Cherry Hills, where he placed second to Arnold Palmer as an amateur in the 1960 U.S. Open.
With it being his breakthrough event, the 1959 U.S. Amateur at the Broadmoor figured very prominently in Nicklaus’ recollections during the USGA Member Education Series event. Looking back, he definitely views that championship as a launching point for his outstanding career.
“It was 1959 at the Broadmoor, the 36th hole (of the final match),” Nicklaus said. “Charlie Coe had just chipped up for a conceded par, and I had an 8-foot putt for birdie to win the U.S. Amateur. My career basically started right there. That 8-foot putt gave me the opportunity to believe that I could win a championship, that I was good enough to play and I was good enough to win.”
Of course, Nicklaus drained the putt to overcome Coe, a two-time U.S. Amateur winner and the defending champion that year.
Nicklaus would go on to win another U.S. Amateur in 1961, and later added four U.S. Open titles and a couple of U.S. Senior Open championships.
Even though Nicklaus’ first U.S. Amateur victory came more than 52 years ago, there are several moments that remain ingrained in his memory from that week in mid-September. One of them is a conversation the then-19-year-old had one evening with his dad, Charlie. They were discussing Nicklaus’ round that day, and Charlie questioned whether Jack had made the correct choice in opting to chip a particular shot.
“Before my father even finished the question, I stopped him and said, ‘Whoops. Time out.’ I told him, ‘Dad, you’re my best friend, I love having you with me and I always want you there. But I’ve got to do this myself; this is my deal.’ He looked at me and said, ‘You know, you’re right.’ From then on, he was my greatest supporter, my greatest fan and my best friend. But never again did he try to tell me how to play golf.”
