‘I Wish I Had Another Chance…’: Jack Nicklaus, Who Was Left Devastated by Arnold Palmer’s Passing, Penned an Emotional Tribute to His Greatest Friend

Arnold Palmer aka ‘The King’, was a professional golfer and widely known as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. In 1955, he won many events on both the PGA Tour. He was friends with Jack Nicklaus, nicknamed ‘The Golden Bear’. He won 117 professional tournaments in his golf career.

In 2016, Palmer passed away. This left Nicklaus in shock. He expressed his pain on Twitter after losing his friend. He wrote a heartfelt letter.

The History of their friendship

Jack Nicklaus was a 14-year-old when he qualified to play at the Ohio State Amateur Championship in 1954. During his practice at the Sylvania Country Club in Toledo, someone caught his attention. Surrounded by heavy rain, a golfer was beating balls with a short iron.

He watched him for an hour. All the swings went a great distance, even though they did not fly high. He later found out the golfer’s name was Arnold Palmer, a defending champion from western Pennsylvania.

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They both met later that week and that is where their friendship started. Despite a 10-year age gap, Palmer impressed Nicklaus. He said that he was still a kid in short pants but he was friendly and natural.

Two years later, they met again. Nicklaus was almost the last amateur to win the U.S. Open. He shot 71 to finish runner-up, whereas Palmer shot 65, which became the most famous 18 holes of his entire career. Their friendship continued.

Heartfelt Message by Jack Nicklaus

When Nicklaus learned of his dear friend Palmer’s death, he was taken aback. He took his Twitter handle and expressed his pain in words. Nicklaus regretted he did not have enough opportunities to talk to Palmer, but was glad about their last conversation on his birthday. He wrote, “I wish I had another chance to talk to him, but I am glad we talked a couple weeks ago on his birthday (Sept. 10), when he sounded great.”

With pain in his heart, he said that he didn’t know what happened, and that it was not important. The important fact was that the golf world lost a great player, and he lost a great friend. Commemorating buried memories, Nicklaus said that Palmer has always tried to improve himself and he remembers the time in Pittsburgh when Palmer was trying to find out how he could make himself better.

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Nicklaus considered Palmer the pioneer of the sport and believed that he transcended the world of golf.