Tom Weiskopf Was So Close, but Jack Nicklaus Holds the Record
By Fred Altvater
Ohio golfers have had a profound affect at the Masters, with two of the Buckeye state’s very best Tom Weiskopf and Jack Nicklaus playing very different roles at the annual spring classic at Augusta National.
Tom Weiskopf, the pride of Benedictine High School at Massillon, Ohio, won 16 PGA Tour titles and came so close at the Masters, posting four runner-up finishes, while former Buckeye Golf 
Teammate, Jack Nicklaus won six Green Jackets.
In the 1970’s, Weiskopf posted 18 top-10 finishes in 40 starts in the four major championships. His lone major championship victory came at the 1973 Open Championship. Two of his defeats at the Masters came at the hands of the Golden Bear in 1972 and 1975.
Weiskopf possessed one of the most beautiful swings in the history of golf. His height and long swing allowed him to launch prodigious woods and irons into the stratosphere. A few untimely missed putts and an episode at Rae’s Creek on Number 12 in ‘Amen Corner’ ultimately kept him from ever donning a Green Jacket.
With the four runner-up finishes, 1969, 1972, 1974 and 1975, Weiskopf does share a dubious record with two Masters champions. He along with Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus are the only three golfers to have finished runner-up four times.
After his playing days were over, Weiskopf went on to become a highly-regarded golf course designer. Although he has not been a prodigious designer, his list of accomplishments and high-profile courses is impressive. His renovations and new designs always draw raves from golf aficionados. A few of his more famous efforts include, Olympic Club, Torrey Pines, Double Eagle, near Columbus, Troon North in Arizona, and Loch Lomond in Scotland.
While Weiskopf could only muster runner-up finishes at Augusta, Jack Nicklaus holds the record with six Green Jackets. The Golden Bear and Augusta National are synonymous with the greats of golfing history.
His win over Weiskopf and Johnny Miller in the 1975 Masters is ranked as one of the most exciting in Masters’ history.
After opening with rounds of 68-67, Nicklaus held the 36-hole lead and the leaderboard was littered with the games very best, Billy Caspar, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson.
On the strength of a brilliant 66 in the third round, Weiskopf moved one stroke ahead of Nicklaus and four shots ahead of Johnny Miller, who had fired an impressive 65 on Saturday. Unfortunately, they don’t award Green Jackets for 54-hole leads.
On Sunday, Weiskopf could only manage a two-under-par 70, while Miller fired a 66. Both men would come up a single stroke short as the Golden Bear fashioned a masterful 68 to win his fifth Masters and 13th career major championship.
Not only did Nicklaus amass six wins at the Masters, he also holds the record with 18 major championships. Those 18 majors is the carrot at the end of the stick, that still drives Tiger Woods today, after several knee and four back surgeries.
In the 80 major tournaments during the most productive years of his career, 1962 to 1982, Nicklaus finished inside the top 10 on 64 occasions. In addition to his 18 major titles, Jack also finished runner-up in 19 majors.
It is at the Masters, however, that Jack Nicklaus is most remembered. Nicklaus won his second major championship at the 1963 Masters and followed up with a second win at Augusta by 9-strokes in 1965, which prompted Augusta National Golf Club Founder and holder of the ‘Grand Slam,’ Bobby Jones Jr to remark,
“He plays a game with which I am unfamiliar.”
Not to worry Bobby, from the age of 12, Jack Nicklaus played a game unlike even the best golfers of his time.
Growing up at Scioto Country Club in Columbus under the watchful eye of Jack Grout, young Jackie learned to hit a high cut to avoid the O.B. markers that consistently border the left side of the golf course. That same high cut would serve him well, when coming down the stretch at six Masters, 18 major championships and countless other golf tournaments, to produce one of the greatest golf careers ever.
Two former Buckeye greats, Tom Weiskopf and Jack Nicklaus will forever be linked in golfing lore and are just two more examples of the rich golf history in Ohio.
