Jack At 76: Hitting The Sweet Spot

Jaime Diaz reflects on the state of birthday boy Jack Nicklaus.

Thirty years (!) after his last major and far removed from hiccups in his business career, Diaz admires the combination of business empire and aging gracefully that is the Golden Bear.

In light of Tiger's recent decline and the reduction of career longevity for today's pros, I found this particularly profound:

The magic, multi-tiered word at the heart of Nicklaus’ feats has always been “management” -- of the golf course, of his psyche, of his life. Through his prime and beyond, he was criticized for not playing enough tournaments. His devotion to family was the main reason, but he also trusted an intuitive sense for marshaling his energy. No one else has won major championships over a 24-year span.

Update on 2016-01-25 04:00 by Geoff

**Mr. Nicklaus celebrated with his grandaughter, who shares the birthday with him.

No better way to spend my birthday than with friends and family, including grand-daughter Kelly O'Leary, who turned 17 today. Happy Birthday Kelly!

A photo posted by Jack Nicklaus (@jacknicklaus) on Jan 21, 2016 at 6:56pm PST

Update on 2016-01-22 05:19 by Geoff

**Bamberger on Nicklaus, including this:

For a half century or more now, players and officials and writers have gone to Nicklaus in search of insight. Dave Anderson, 86-year-old sportswriting legend, said recently, “Jack was the best. The best. Not just the best interview in golf but in all sports.” Listening to Nicklaus, Anderson said, you always learned something. You still do. His golf IQ is in the Mensa range. In the history of American golf, only Lee Trevino’s is higher.

Video: Jack Talking (Sincerely) About Today's Youth Movement

I'm always uncomfortable when Jack Nicklaus gets asked to talk about today's young players. Not because he's incapable of taking a question, but because it seems oddly disrespectful that someone who has won 18 majors championships is being asked to be excited about players who've won a handful of tour events or maybe a major.

Yet in announcing a Memorial Tournament sponsorship extension and huge purse increase, Nicklaus talked with Golf Central about a variety of topics, including the current crop of exciting young talent. Not only was there an obvious comfort level for him in answering the question, but it was fascinating to hear him essentially say the current wave is just a lot nicer, more accessible and more kind.

Go to the 9:23 mark to hear the comments and stay for the ensuing discussion from Savaricus, Rosaforte and Isenhour.

Jack Still Thinks Tiger Has "Good Chance" Of Breaking Majors Record Because Saying Otherwise Would Cause A Migraine

Paul Gittings of CNN talks to Jack Nicklaus after Tiger issued his fairly grim assessment at the Hero World Challenge and the 18-time major winner wisely holds the line on his past view.

Because to say otherwise would have spokesman Scott Tolley carrying Costco-sized bottles of Aspirin.

Woods, who is 40 at the end of December, gave a decidedly downbeat assessment of his future Tuesday, saying he had "nothing to look forward to." However, Nicklaus told CNN that his fellow American could still challenge in golf's top tournaments, including the four majors held each year -- of which he has won 14 since 1997.

"He has always been a very focused young man with a great work ethic, and is tremendously talented. To count him out of that (the majors record) would be foolish, he certainly has a very good chance of doing that," the 75-year-old said.

Nicklaus: "I think I underachieved all my life"

Jack Nicklaus held court today at The Memorial, launching the 40th edition of the tournament he founded by honoring Nick Faldo and journalism lifetime achievement honorree Doc Giffin. Before that ceremony, however, the Golden Bear took questions from the media.

Doug Ferguson kicks off his AP notes column with Nicklaus' view that he was a constant underachiever and how that shaped his approach to the game.

"I think that if you feel you're overachieving, or getting more out of what you should get, then you stop working," Nicklaus said. "I always feel like I'm never getting what I should be getting out of what I'm doing. So you've got to work harder to make sure you do that. I always wanted to climb a mountain. I always wanted to get better. ... So I just tried not to believe anything about what I would read or what I would hear or what I even thought.

"I still don't think I achieved what I could have achieved in my career."

Jack And Donald Open Ferry Point...Again

I feel like this is at least the third golden shovel event, but should be the last as Trump Ferry Point is off and running. And receiving favorable reviews.

And based on their comments Tuesday, as reported by Hank Gola in the New York Daily News, majors are still very much on their mind. However the calendar for U.S. Opens appears filled until 2024 and the PGA Championship through 2022. The course does host the Barclays in 2017.

"It's going to stand the test of time and you're going to have some great events here, whether it's a U.S. Open or PGA Championship," Nicklaus said. "You're going to have a lot of events through time. Donald and I will be in a wheelchair, but that's all right, we're going to look down at it and say we had a part in that, proud of it and we did something that is going to be enjoyed by people for a long, long time. I'm very proud of that and very pleased that we had the opportunity to be involved."

Nicklaus is in Far Hills today to open the new Nicklaus Room at Golf House.

Rich Chere with a list of items on loan for the opening, with this accompanying video featuring Mike Trostel discussing a painting anchoring the permanent exhibit hall: