Ask Peter Jacobsen about the memory that stands apart from 46 years on tour, and he does not name a trophy. He does not name one of his seven PGA Tour titles or his two senior majors. He names Jack Nicklaus. After nearly five decades in the sport, nothing else compares to sharing the course with the Golden Bear.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“It was easily Jack [Nicklaus],” Jacobsen said when asked about who scared him the most on the ‘We Need a Fourth’ podcast. “Jack Nicklaus was an intimidating force… from a competitive standpoint. Whenever I played with Jack… Jack would suck the air out of the room when he got on the first tee. You’re out on a golf course, so that’s a pretty big room… When Jack got on the tee, he would walk there with a commanding presence.”
For Jacobsen, only one other golfer ever came close to matching Nicklaus’s presence: the 15-time major champion Tiger Woods. Both men had a rare gift for commanding attention without even trying. The veteran believes their magnetic presence came from the same source. On the course, both legends were intensely “serious,” carrying an aura that made them impossible to ignore.
“Jack was scary to play with because you wanted to hit every shot perfect,” he added. “You wanted to put the divot back perfectly. You wanted to do everything as you would think Jack would expect you to do. So Jack was that guy for me.”
That commanding presence extended beyond Nicklaus’ demeanour. Jacobsen also remembered the sheer power of the 18-time major champion’s game. No matter which club Nicklaus pulled from his bag, his swing was incredibly “powerful.”
It was a sight that could unsettle even the best players. Along with Woods, Nicklaus had a way of making opponents feel “intimidated” simply by being on the course.
This feeling was also shared by nine-time PGA Tour winner Matt Kuchar. On Nicklaus’ 80th birthday, Kuchar told Golf Week that he was “hugely intimidated by Jack” in his younger years. For Kuchar, it took a while to get comfortable around the golf legend. But one could argue that Nicklaus created this presence rather than being born with it.
This is reflected in the things both players have managed to achieve throughout their careers. Nicklaus holds the record with 18 professional major championships, six Masters titles, including a historic win at age 46 in 1986, five PGA Championships, four U.S. Opens, and three Open Championships.
Not to mention, he completed the career Grand Slam by age 26, amassed 73 PGA Tour victories, and won two U.S. Amateur titles before turning pro. And on top of that, he collected numerous other honors, including five PGA Player of the Year awards, induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Even the ‘Golden Bear’ has addressed what actually made him intimidating to others on the field. Roger Clemens (a former MLB pitcher who played as a low-handicap golfer), who has an intimidating factor about himself and is an 11-time MLB All-Star, recalled an annual interaction with the 18-time major champion, during which Nicklaus was repeatedly asked about his intimidating presence.
After four or five such questions, Nicklaus leaned over to Clemens and asked, “Rock, you know why we’re intimidating?” When Clemens replied, “No, sir,” Jack Nicklaus delivered a blunt answer: “Because we win.”
The same could be said of Tiger Woods, whose relentless winning in his prime helped build the legend he is today. But even the greatest champions cannot win against one opponent forever. Time eventually catches up with everyone. And for both Nicklaus and Woods, it proved to be the one rival they could never intimidate.