Jack Nicklaus' first Masters win included an Arnold Palmer impersonation

AUGUSTA, Ga. Let’s be honest, who among us hasn’t tried to act like Arnold Palmer?

Sixty years ago this week, Jack Nicklaus won his first Masters Tournament. Standing over the final four-foot putt to win his first green jacket in 1963, young Jack was more worried about how to react after he made it.

The 23-year-old wasn’t the emotional type, so Nicklaus started thinking about what sort of celebration he should do, knowing that nothing would come naturally.

“I had about a 4-footer I guess at the last hole to win the tournament,” Nicklaus said. “I didn’t have those kind of emotions in those days. I was pretty stoic about what I did. I said, ‘What do I do if I hole this putt? I think Arnold would have thrown his hat.’ I reached up, grabbed my hat, and I threw my hat and said, that was pretty false.”

A day earlier on Saturday, Nicklaus played through a torrential rain storm that nearly flooded Amen Corner.

“The 13th fairway had water from the top of the slope to the creek, and it was 100% casual water, but they wouldn’t let you drop because there was no place to drop,” Nicklaus said. “They said play on, and we kept playing on.”

As he eventually walked up the final fairway towards the 18th green, he looked at the leaderboard. The only problem was that Nicklaus is colour blind.

“I looked up on the leaderboard, and there was a set of 1s on the leaderboard, and I looked at my caddie, and I said, ‘Willy.’ and I’m colorblind. I said, ‘How many of those 1s up there are red?’ He said, ‘Just you, Boss.'”

Nicklaus would famously go on to win another five Masters, finishing with an all-time record of six. Sixty years later, he still vividly remembers his first.

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