Jack Nicklaus confirmed his status as a future golfing superstar by winning the US Amateur in 1959, with the event recognised as a major at that time.
Of course, most golf fans know that Jack Nicklaus has set the benchmark for major victories, with 18 to his name across his illustrious career. However, there is an argument that that tally should be even higher.
Nicklaus won the US Amateur in both 1959 and 1961, with his second triumph coming just one year before he won the US Open for the very first time.
Nicklaus made a statement in 1959 by beating defending champion Charles Coe 1 up in a 36-hole match at Broadmoor Golf Club. But one person who already knew plenty about the boy wonder was Bobby Jones.
Bobby Jones’ brilliant reaction to finding out his son was facing Jack Nicklaus at the 1959 US Amateur
Jones is regarded as one of the greatest players the game has ever seen, having won the Grand Slam in 1930. That Grand Slam was made up of the US Open, The Open Championship, the US Amateur and The Amateur Championship.
In fact, Jones won the US Amateur on five occasions – more than any other player. But by 1959, it was his son looking to get his hands on the trophy. Unfortunately for Bobby Jones III, he was set to face Nicklaus in the first round.
And, as Nicklaus once revealed in Jack Nicklaus: The Making of a Champion, Jones was not too optimistic about his son’s chances of advancing to the second round.
He said: “The first round of the Amateur, I drew Bobby Jones III. He called his father and he said, ‘dad, I qualified for the US Amateur’. And he says, ‘yeah, I’m playing some kid called Jack Nicklaus’. He said, ‘are you going to come out and watch?’
“Bobby says, ‘I’m not going to come out and watch you play 14 holes’. And that’s about what we played.”
Why Jack Nicklaus viewed Bobby Jones as his idol despite never seeing him hit a shot
Jones is certainly one of the most important figures the game of golf has ever had. And his legacy looks set to live on for an incredibly long time to come, particularly when you consider the role he played in founding The Masters.
Unsurprisingly, Nicklaus was one of those who took inspiration from Jones, despite the fact that he never actually saw him hit a shot during his playing career.
“Bob Jones was my dad’s hero. He was just a 12-year-old kid when Jones won the Open at Scioto in 1926. And when I grew up at Scioto, there were 50 members at Scioto who watched Bob Jones win the 1926 Open. And so they told me stories of Jones, how Jones did this, Jones did that. So through my father, through my members of the club; Bob Jones, although I never saw him hit a shot, he was always my hero,” he added in the same documentary.
“Jones was up here for me in terms of integrity and the way he led his life, the idol he was for my father. He was very, very special to us.”
Judging by how Jones reacted to finding out who his son was set to face at the 1959 US Amateur, the great man had an idea of just how special Nicklaus was also going to become over the course of his career.
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