Jack Nicklaus Trivia
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49 free Jack Nicklaus trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This Jack Nicklaus trivia quiz covers the Golden Bear from Scioto Country Club to the Swilcan Bridge. The easy questions ask how many majors he won, what his nickname is, where he was born, which great rival he beat in his first professional win and how old he was when he won his last Masters. Then it works through the career: the U.S. Amateur titles, the 1960 U.S. Open as an amateur, the 1962 Oakmont playoff, the first back-to-back Masters, the career grand slam at 26 and the 1-iron at Pebble Beach. The hard end is for people who know their Baltusrol from their Turnberry: the mild polio at 13, the pre-pharmacy degree he never finished, the caddie Angelo Argea, the concession to Tony Jacklin, the record 271 at Augusta in 1965, the 63 that opened the 1980 U.S. Open, the seven-shot PGA win, the senior-tour Traditions, the Royal Bank of Scotland five-pound note, the museum at Ohio State and the design company with courses on every continent. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entry on Jack Nicklaus before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. Our golf, Masters and Arnold Palmer quizzes are natural next stops.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many major championships did Jack Nicklaus win?
18
18 major championships is still the record nobody has matched. Remarkably, he finished runner-up in majors even more often: 19 times.
Q 02What is Jack Nicklaus's famous nickname?
The Golden Bear
The Golden Bear was coined by an Australian sportswriter as the burly blond turned professional. By coincidence, his high school's teams were already called the Golden Bears.
Q 03In which city was Jack Nicklaus born?
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio, where he grew up in the suburb of Upper Arlington as an all-round athlete. He was good enough at basketball for college recruiters to come calling.
Q 04Whom did Nicklaus beat in a playoff to win the 1962 U.S. Open, his first professional victory?
Arnold Palmer
Arnold Palmer lost the playoff 71 to 74, and Nicklaus's first professional win came in front of galleries pulling hard for the local favourite.
Q 05Which golfer joined Nicklaus and one great rival in the 1960s trio marketed as 'The Big Three'?
Gary Player
Gary Player completed the trio; agent Mark McCormack managed all three and staged the televised Big Three Golf matches of the 1960s.
Q 06Which Masters first did Nicklaus achieve in 1966?
Back-to-back wins
Back-to-back wins had eluded every Masters champion for three decades, and Nicklaus needed a Monday playoff against Tommy Jacobs and Gay Brewer to get his.
Q 07Ten-year-old Nicklaus took up golf alongside his father, who was recovering from an injury suffered playing which sport?
Volleyball
Volleyball: Charlie Nicklaus went back to golf to help the injury heal and took his son along. The boy shot 51 for his first nine holes.
Q 08Which illness did Nicklaus overcome as a 13-year-old?
A mild case of polio
A mild case of polio struck Nicklaus at 13, yet that same year he broke 70 for the first time with a 69 at Scioto Country Club.
Q 09Who was Nicklaus's lifelong golf instructor, the Scioto club pro who coached him from age 10?
Jack Grout
Jack Grout, the Scioto Country Club professional, taught Nicklaus from boyhood and rebuilt his swing in early 1980 after the winless 1979 season.
Q 10Which title did Nicklaus win twice before turning professional, in 1959 and 1961?
The U.S. Amateur
He was 19 when he birdied the last hole of the final to take his first U.S. Amateur from the defending champion, and he won the 1961 final 8 and 6.
Q 11Who, playing alongside amateur Nicklaus, said he should have won the 1960 U.S. Open by ten?
Ben Hogan
Ben Hogan was paired with the 20-year-old amateur for the final 36 holes. Nicklaus led during the last round, then three-putted twice coming home and finished second, two shots back.
Q 12Which university did Nicklaus attend, later the site of the Jack Nicklaus Museum?
Ohio State
Ohio State's football coach, Woody Hayes, had watched the teenager play both sports. Asked which one the boy should pursue, he told his father: keep him away from my game.
Q 13Nicklaus's father played semi-pro football under an assumed name for which team, later the Detroit Lions?
Portsmouth Spartans
Q 21To which British golfer did Nicklaus concede a putt on the final green of the 1969 Ryder Cup, forcing a tie?
Tony Jacklin
Tony Jacklin had just holed a long eagle putt on the 17th to square their match. The gesture is now celebrated as great sportsmanship, but it infuriated Nicklaus's own captain, Sam Snead.
Q 22Whom did Nicklaus beat in a playoff to win the 1970 Open Championship?
Doug Sanders
Doug Sanders had missed a three-foot putt for the title the day before. When Nicklaus holed the winner he flung his putter so high in joy that Sanders had to duck as it came down.
Q 23Nicklaus's 1971 PGA Championship win made him the first golfer to achieve what?
Charlie Nicklaus turned out for the Portsmouth Spartans on Sundays while still a college student. Playing under a false name was a common trick of the era for keeping amateur standing intact.
Q 14Nicklaus captained the United States four times between 1998 and 2007 in which team event?
The Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup gave him one of golf's strangest finishes in 2003: with the teams level and darkness falling on a sudden-death playoff, the two captains agreed to share the trophy.
Q 15Nicklaus won his first major, the 1962 U.S. Open, at which course famed for its Church Pews bunker?
Oakmont
Oakmont was won on the greens: across 90 holes, playoff included, the 22-year-old three-putted only once.
Q 16Whose 270 broke Nicklaus's 1965 Masters record of 271?
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods began that week with a 40 on his first nine holes. He was 21, and he still won by a record 12 strokes.
Q 17Which event, golf's so-called 'fifth major', did Nicklaus win in its first year, 1974?
Players Championship
The Players Championship roamed in its early years, so his three wins in five years came on three different courses, in Georgia and Florida.
Q 18At which Scottish course did Nicklaus win the 1966 Open, using his driver just 17 times?
Muirfield
He later named his own Ohio club Muirfield Village in its honour.
Q 19Nicklaus closed out his 1967 U.S. Open win with a famous 238-yard shot using which club?
1-iron
1-iron: from 238 yards on Baltusrol's par-five 18th he found the green and holed a 22-foot putt for birdie, a closing 65 and a then-record 275.
Q 20Who was Nicklaus's caddie for most of his professional career?
Angelo Argea
Angelo Argea first carried for him at Palm Springs in 1963. Nicklaus won that week and kept him on the bag for the next two decades.
Winning all four majors twice
Winning all four majors twice took an odd calendar: the 1971 PGA was played in Florida in February, making it the year's first major instead of its last.
Q 24What did Nicklaus's famous tee shot do at Pebble Beach's 17th in 1972?
Hit the flagstick and stopped inches away
Hit the flagstick and stopped inches away: leading the U.S. Open by three and needing only a safe par on a feared short hole, he fired straight through a stiff ocean wind and tapped in for birdie.
Q 25Whose record of 13 major championships did Nicklaus break at the 1973 PGA Championship?
Bobby Jones
Bobby Jones's 13 counted amateur championships, as did Nicklaus's new total of 14. Jones saw it coming: after the 1965 Masters he said Nicklaus played a game with which he was not familiar.
Q 26What name is given to Nicklaus's 1977 Open battle with Tom Watson at Turnberry?
The Duel in the Sun
The Duel in the Sun: paired for the last two rounds, Watson shot 65 and 65 to Nicklaus's 65 and 66 and won by a stroke. Third place finished eleven shots behind the winner.
Q 27Nicklaus's 1977 Ryder Cup proposal led to what change from 1979?
Continental Europeans joined the GB&I team
Continental Europeans joined the GB&I team: Nicklaus urged Lord Derby, the British PGA president, to widen selection, and Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido played at The Greenbrier in 1979.
Q 28Which rival tossed a rubber snake at Nicklaus before beating him in a playoff for the 1971 U.S. Open?
Lee Trevino
Lee Trevino found the toy in his bag on the first tee, and Nicklaus asked him to toss it over and laughed along with the gallery. The joker then won the playoff by three shots, 68 to 71.
Q 29Which playing partner did Nicklaus beat by two at the 1980 U.S. Open?
Isao Aoki
Isao Aoki matched him almost shot for shot over four days together, and both men birdied the last two holes. As the winning putt dropped, the crowd chanted 'Jack is back'.
Q 30Nicklaus's fifth PGA Championship, in 1980, tied the record held by which star of the 1920s?
Walter Hagen
Walter Hagen won all five of his when the PGA was decided by match play. He also managed to lose the trophy: by his own account he handed it to a taxi driver, and it vanished.