Jack Nicklaus
Resurgence (1971–1977)

With his victory in the 1971 PGA Championship, Nicklaus became the first golfer to win all four majors twice. In this championship, Nicklaus was the only player to break 70 consecutively in the first two rounds under windy conditions; he finished at seven-under-par 281. Nicklaus finished second twice and fifth in the remaining three major championships for the year. While he finished tied for second in the Masters with Johnny Miller, Nicklaus made a big enough impression on a young Nick Faldo (watching on TV in England) in order for Faldo to take up the game seriously.

By the end of 1971, Nicklaus had won four additional PGA tournaments including the Tournament of Champions by eight shots and the National Team Championship with Arnold Palmer by six shots. With $244,490 in official PGA Tour earnings, Nicklaus established a new single-season money record during the year. Nicklaus also claimed his third World Cup individual title in 1971, with help from a 63 in the third round. He also won the team competition with partner Lee Trevino by 12 shots. The year 1971 brought Nicklaus a victory in the Australian Dunlop International as well, punctuated by a course record 62 (his career-low score in competition; one of three) in the second round. For the record, Nicklaus played in 23 official worldwide events in 1971, won eight, had 17 top-5 finishes, 20 top-10 finishes, and compiled a 5–1–0 record in that year's Ryder Cup competition.

Nicklaus won the first two major championships of 1972 by three shots each in wire-to-wire fashion. He won the Masters and the U.S. Open, creating talk of a calendar-year Grand Slam. Nicklaus opened with a four-under-par 68 at Augusta National and never looked back. He was the only player under par for the week as he and the field battled difficult scoring conditions. In the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach again under severe scoring conditions, Nicklaus struck a one-iron on the 218-yard par-three 17th hole during the final round into a stiff, gusty ocean breeze that hit the flagstick and ended up three inches from the cup. The U.S. Open was Nicklaus's 13th career major and tied him with Bobby Jones for career majors (although a different group of tournaments had been considered majors in Jones's time). This victory was also Nicklaus's 11th professional major, tying him with Walter Hagen, and made him the first player to win the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open championships on the same golf course.

During the 1972 PGA Tour season, Nicklaus won seven tournaments and was runner-up in three events. However, Nicklaus did not win the Grand Slam that year, as Lee Trevino repeated as the Open Championship winner (Nicklaus finished second, one shot behind), and Gary Player prevailed in the PGA Championship. Nicklaus closed out this remarkable year with a second of three consecutive Walt Disney World Golf Classic victories by shooting a 21-under-par 267 to win by nine shots. He concluded 1972 by competing in 20 official worldwide events winning seven, placing second in four, and compiling 15 top-10 finishes.

Bobby Jones's record of majors was soon broken when Nicklaus won the PGA Championship in August 1973 by four shots over Bruce Crampton for his 12th professional major (surpassing Hagen's mark of 11) and 14th overall when using the old-style configuration of Jones's day. In that year he won another six tournaments. When he won the 1973 Ohio Kings Island Open, he became the first PGA Tour player to win a Tour event on a course that he designed himself. The PGA Player of the Year was awarded to Nicklaus for the third time, and the second year in a row. Nicklaus was also the first player to win over $300,000.00 in official money for a single season in 1972 at $320,542; he eclipsed that threshold again the following year with $308,362. The former total was $106,137 more than runner-up Lee Trevino. The latter total for the year 1973 catapulted Nicklaus over the $2 million career PGA Tour earnings mark, making him the first player to reach that milestone. Nicklaus teamed with Johnny Miller for another team title in the World Cup of Golf, held in Spain. For the year, Nicklaus competed in 20 official worldwide events and claimed seven victories, 14 top-five finishes, 17 top-10s, and compiled a 4–1–1 record in that year's Ryder Cup competition.

Nicklaus's failure to win a major in 1974 was somewhat offset when he won the inaugural Tournament Players Championship and was named one of the 13 original inductees into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Nicklaus said this honor was a "nice memento" after a "disappointing season". Although he had no major championship victories in 1974, Nicklaus still achieved four top-10 finishes in the four events, three of which were in the top four, and placed second on the official money list behind Johnny Miller. While less than a stellar year, Nicklaus was able to claim two victories and 13 top-10 finishes in 20 official worldwide events.

Nicklaus started off well in 1975: he won the Doral-Eastern Open, the Sea Pines Heritage Classic, and the Masters in consecutive starts. His Masters win was his fifth, a record he was to break eleven years later. In this tournament, Nicklaus's 40-foot (12 m) birdie putt on the 16th hole of the final round was a key in his victory over Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller in a riveting final-round battle. He also won the PGA Championship in August at Firestone Country Club by two shots over Bruce Crampton for his fourth win. Having won the Masters and PGA Championship, Nicklaus missed a playoff for the U.S. Open by two shots and a playoff for Open Championship by one shot. His performance in 1975 resulted in his being named PGA Player of the Year for the fourth time, tying Ben Hogan, and he was also named ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year. Nicklaus also captured his fourth Australian Open during the year. The year 1975 yielded Nicklaus six wins, 12 top-5 finishes, and 16 top-10 finishes in 18 official worldwide events.

Nicklaus placed first on the PGA Tour money list again in 1976, despite competing in only 16 events, winning just two (Tournament Players Championship and World Series of Golf) – neither of them majors – and playing what he called "hang-back-and-hope golf". The 1976 Tournament Players Championship saw Nicklaus set a championship record of 19-under-par 269 for his second win in this event which remained in place until Greg Norman 's 24-under-par 264 assault in 1994. He also won the PGA Player of the Year award for a record fifth time. Between 1972 and 1976 the only time he failed to win this award was 1974. The year 1976 also concluded an official streak of 105 consecutive cuts made on the PGA Tour (ending at the World Open), which began for Nicklaus in 1970. At the time this streak was second only to Byron Nelson 's record of 113.

The following year, 1977, was also majorless for Nicklaus, but he did achieve four top-10 finishes in the four events inclusive of two second and one third-place finish – this being one shot out of the PGA Championship playoff between Lanny Wadkins and Gene Littler. Despite a brilliant final round 66 at the Masters, he finished second by two shots to Tom Watson. But his subsequent second-place finish behind Watson at the Open Championship at Turnberry created headlines around the world. In a one-on-one battle dubbed the "Duel in the Sun", Nicklaus shot 65–66 in the final two rounds, only to be beaten by Watson, who scored 65-65. This event marked the first time 270 was broken in a major championship, and the third-place finisher Hubert Green scored 279. Nicklaus would later say:

There are those in golf who would argue into next month that the final two rounds of the 1977 British Open were the greatest head-to-head golf match ever played. Not having been around for the first five hundred or so years of the game, I'm not qualified to speak on such matters. What's for sure, however, is that it was the most thrilling one-on-one battle of my career.

In 1977, Nicklaus won his 63rd tour event, passing Ben Hogan to take second place on the career wins list, behind only Sam Snead (subsequently Hogan's official career PGA Tour victory total was put at 64, including his 1953 Open Championship which was retroactively deemed an official PGA Tour event). He also became the first player to amass over $3 million in official PGA Tour earnings. The year also saw Nicklaus win for the first time his own Memorial Tournament, where he described the victory as the most emotional moment of his entire career, and nearly decided to retire from competitive golf.
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