The ‘unfair’ problem Jack Nicklaus had to deal with throughout his career which would have destroyed most other golfers

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There is certainly a strong case to be made that Jack Nicklaus is the greatest golfer of all-time.

No-one won more majors than Jack Nicklaus, while he also finished second in majors on 19 occasions. It is hard to imagine that anyone will get closer than Tiger Woods is now to Nicklaus’ tally of 18 major wins.

What makes Nicklaus’ record all the more impressive is the fact that he had so many unbelievable rivals to contend with.

Ben Hogan was coming towards the end of his career as Nicklaus’ began, while Arnold Palmer and Gary Player played their part in golf’s golden era. Later on, the likes of Lee Trevino and Tom Watson were amongst those who were capable of competing with Nicklaus.

The issue Jack Nicklaus had throughout his career up against Arnold Palmer

But unquestionably, it is Palmer and Player who were most closely associated with Nicklaus. And it seems that it was his rivalry with one of the two in particular, which had the potential to do Nicklaus a lot of damage.

Golf has perhaps never had someone more charismatic than Palmer. He was known as The King for a reason. But his popularity did not exactly do Nicklaus many favours.

In fact, speaking on 5 Clubs, Jaime Diaz noted that it was remarkable how the affection for Palmer impacted how Nicklaus was viewed.

“Jack, he was an antihero in that regard [against Arnold Palmer] and it was unfair. It made him tougher. You wonder in the modern era if somebody was sort of treated that way if it would be considered debilitating. He just powered through it, because he was that good but he had the mind to do it too,” he said.

“And Arnold respected him tremendously, they became friends, rivals but friends because they’d been through the wars like that. So it actually became something that was forged in real fire and had, to this day, a lasting effect, the greatest rivalry ever perhaps. And they didn’t even play that many times against each other, but it was just so memorable when they did. Arnold’s the most important golfer, and Jack’s the best golfer. And Arnold probably still remains the most important golfer.”

The truth about what Jack Nicklaus thought about Arnold Palmer when his career started

As Diaz notes, Nicklaus and Palmer seemed to benefit massively from each other. Nicklaus was the one who showed what was really possible with a set of golf clubs, while Palmer did more than anyone to ensure that there was the largest audience possible to see it.

It turns out that their relationship started out long before Nicklaus had reached the top of the game – as Palmer told Bunkered back in 2011.

“Well, let me tell you, before Jack even turned professional he came to me and asked my advice and I helped him as much as I could in those early days. So, we were friends before he even turned pro and that didn’t change. That said, we were also very competitive and that’s something that hasn’t changed over time. We’re still competitive, we still compete. Does that affect our friendship? Not at all,” he said.

Some players thrive when they feel like they are the pantomime villain and have the fans rooting for someone else. Perhaps Nicklaus relished that role knowing that there was little chance that he was ever going to be quite as beloved as Mr Palmer.