By Travis Puterbaugh, World Golf Hall of Fame Curator
“He plays a game with which I am not familiar.” –Bobby Jones, 1965
Those words were spoken by one of the game’s all-time greats following the 1965 Masters, in which Jack Nicklaus set a then-tournament record with a dominating 17-under 271 to capture the second Green Jacket of his career. That weekend he tied Lloyd Mangrum’s course record with an eight-under 64 in the third round, and broke Ben Hogan’s 72-hole tournament record of 274.
How dominating was his performance that weekend in Augusta? His score over 72 holes would not be matched again until 1976 by Raymond Floyd, and not eclipsed until Tiger Woods set the current mark of 270 in 1997 (Jordan Spieth tied that mark in 2015). Need even more perspective? Nicklaus finished an incredible nine strokes ahead of both Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, who finished tied for second place at eight-under par, a number which would have been good enough to win at Augusta in all but two other years during the 1960s.
In his 1997 autobiography “Jack Nicklaus: My Story,” Nicklaus claims that he had “never before and has not since played quite as fine a complete round of golf in major championships,” as he did when he shot 64 that Saturday. Tellingly, Nicklaus cites the 1965 Masters as a turning point in his career due to the enthusiastic fan support he received from the galleries, something he did not always receive especially when compared to Arnold Palmer’s rabid “Arnie’s Army” contingent. Even with Palmer in contention, at last Nicklaus felt the love from the fans and used their support to propel his historic performance that weekend.
His MacGregor golf bag from that historic round at Augusta National is currently on display at the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum courtesy of collector Jack Lucas.
“A heavily used golf bag like this one displays all of the scars from practice and tournament use,” Lucas said. “Looking at all of the scars transports you back in time because you can easily visualize the hours of practice with the bag and the miles the bag was carried on some of the world’s greatest courses.”
Lucas thought it was important for the bag to ultimately find its way to the World Golf Hall of Fame and be available for visitors to appreciate and enjoy.
“Nicklaus is the greatest golfer of all time,” Lucas said, “and when I had a chance to own a piece of history uniquely tied to him, I jumped at the chance. I want golf fans all over the world to be able to see a unique piece of history associated with Nicklaus from his most dominating win at a Major.”
