No one knows what it’s like to win a major championship better than Jack Nicklaus.
But no one knows what it’s like to just miss out better than the Golden Bear either. He holds the record both for the most major championship victories of all time, with 18, and for the most major championship runner-up finishes with 19.
Those aren’t experiences he really shares with his competitor for the title of greatest of all time, Tiger Woods. When he was at the peak of his powers, Woods would very rarely give up wins from the lead, and if he was in the mix, the majority of the time he won.
There was one glaring exception to that rule, however, and Nicklaus remembers the majors where Woods was left shellshocked when something happened to him for the very first time.
Jack Nicklaus says Tiger Woods was ‘shocked’ by Y.E. Yang
Before the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, Nicklaus was asked if he has any regrets about his 19 runner-up finishes at major championships. He explained that those near misses shaped his entire career.
Nicklaus said, “No, I never worried about any of the seconds. The seconds to me, as long as I prepared myself and gave it my best effort, and I got beat, that was okay. Somebody just played better than I did. And I never really had a big problem with that.
“Early in my career, I gave away the U.S. Open in 1960. I gave away the British Open in 1963. But those are learning experiences. I think you have to have learning experiences — and I sort of gave away the U.S. Open in ’61 also.
“But learning experiences help sort of mold your thinking of how you go about what you do in the future. It’s part of how you prepare yourself, how you’re ready to play, how you’re ready to go into it.
“And as I said, as long as I’ve done that and been there and prepared properly. You know, there’s 144 guys usually out there, or maybe not anymore, maybe 70 guys now, 72 guys here, that can beat you, and you just got to be just a little bit better than they are and a little bit better prepared.
At the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National, Woods failed to win a major for the first time in his career after holding the 54-hole lead. Y.E. Yang chased him down the stretch to win his one and only major championship.
Nicklaus said that it was a common experience for him, but one that shocked Woods.
He continued, “I think it’s always easier to come from a little bit behind. I was in the lead, I think, in 12 majors going to the last round, and I won 10 of ’em. I don’t know which ones I choked on. I can’t remember. But I didn’t win two of them, I guess.
“But, you know, Tiger won every one of his from being in front except for the last one when Y.E. Yang beat him up at Hazeltine. And I think that sort of shocked Tiger that somebody could do that. But, you know, that happens. If you look at a record book, it may be a little harder on you to be leading, but it’s probably — historically, it gives you a better chance to win.”
2009 PGA Championship was the beginning of the end for Tiger Woods
After he won the 2008 US Open on one leg at Torrey Pines, Woods would not win another major championship for over a decade. And it felt like the 2009 PGA Championship was a key sign that he would not be the same player again.
He’d played in the three previous majors that year after recovering from his injuries sustained at the 2008 US Open, and finished T6 at The Masters and US Open. But his near miss at Hazeltine ripped down the aura that he’d carried for years.
Until that moment, if Woods led a major championship late, he won it. He had a commanding four-shot lead after 36 holes, and led by two going into the final day.
But when Yang chased him down on Sunday, he proved Woods wasn’t invincible any longer. He could be beaten, and beaten in the clutch.
That was the first glaring sign that the Woods everyone knew so well was simply not the same player any longer.
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