‘Who in the World Is That?’: Jack Nicklaus’ First Impression of His Great Rival Arnold Palmer Is a Tale for the Ages

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are considered each other’s biggest professional rivals. Even the new generation of golf lovers consider them the greatest to have ever developed such a rivalry. However, the fans, who have been following the sport for a long time, know that there are two other players whose love-hate relationship has been there way before the aforementioned legends. And the two players are none other than the veteran golfers Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. 

Palmer and Nicklaus shared a good friendship after both retired from professional golfing until the former’s demise. However, they had the greatest rivalry the golf world had ever seen when they were playing professionally. Unlike Woods and Mickelson, who started to become each other’s competitors after becoming professionals, Nicklaus and Palmer began their rivalry since they were amateurs. 

Jack Nicklaus had a unique impression of Arnold Palmer during their first meeting

According to Kyle Rowland of Toledo Blade, the 18-time major champion met his rival at the 1954 Ohio Amateur when he was only 14 years old. And Palmer was hitting balls at the range then. 

“I stopped and watched this fellow hitting balls,” the Golden Bear revealed his first impression of Palmer during a 2016 Masters press meet. “I said, ‘Boy, is this guy strong,'” he added. 

“He had these Popeye forearms,” he further explained. “And he was just hitting these 9-irons about 8 feet high.” According to the article, Nicklaus said that despite him watching the King for a long time, Palmer didn’t notice him. “He didn’t know I was there,” the current 82-year-old said. 

“I walked into the pro shop, and I said, ‘Who in the world is that on the driving range?’” Nicklaus revealed the question he had asked the people in the pro shop, to which they had answered, “‘Oh, that’s our defending champion, Arnold Palmer.'” 

Read more: Arnold Palmer Once Taught a 19-Year-Old Jack Nicklaus a Valuable Lesson About the Game of Golf

Notably, Palmer won his second consecutive title at the Ohio Amateur that week over Nicklaus. And it was just the start of the hundreds of other competitions they were destined to be a part of. 

When did their rivalry start? 

Nicklaus might have seen Palmer at the amateur event in 1954. However, according to Jack Nicklaus, their rivalry didn’t start until they met in a driving contest when he was 18. “I shot 63 and he shot 67,” he said in a golf.com interview. “So that was sort of the start of our rivalry.” 

Ever since then to their retirement, the two maintained a love-hate relationship with each other. Notably, Nicklaus always had the upper hand over Palmer throughout their career. While Palmer won 62 Tour titles, including 7 majors, Nicklaus had 73, including 18 majors.  

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