When Jack Nicklaus won the first of his three Open Championships at Muirfield in 1966 he picked up a winner’s cheque for £2,100, or $5,880. When Brian Harman lifted the Claret Jug this year at Hoylake, he pocketed $3,000,000 – 510 times more than the Golden Bear had won 57 years earlier. If you consider that, just going by inflation, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, today’s prices are 9.48 times higher than in 1966, it’s clear that professional golf has changed considerably. If The R&A had raised prize money purely in line with inflation, Harman would have won $55,800 at Royal Liverpool this year.
Therefore, the amount of prizemoney Nicklaus won during his illustrious career was relatively low in comparison to today’s mega stars. He is considered by many to have been the greatest of all time, with 18 Major titles to his name, but his total professional winnings were just $9,108,642.
Jack picks up a decent cheque at La Costa in 1973
Between 1962 and 2005, Jack Nicklaus led the annual PGA Tour money list on eight occasions. He played in 44 PGA Tour seasons, won 73 tournaments, including his 18 Majors, and picked up total prizemoney of just $5,734,031. On the 2022-23 PGA Tour, Viktor Hovland claimed $32.11 million in winnings. In a single season, the Norwegian earned over five times what Nicklaus won in a 43-year PGA Tour career… And Hovland didn’t even win a Major.
Nicklaus played in, and won, tournaments all over the world, including on the European and Australasian Tours. He won a total of 117 competitions as a professional. As a senior, he won 10 times on what is now known as The Champions Tour, including eight Senior Majors. In fact, Jack’s earnings on the Senior (or Champions) Tour (in just 84 events) were $3,372,207. Not bad when you think he played 584 times on the PGA Tour.
Nicklaus receives the Green Jacket from Bernhard Langer in 1986
It may seem a touch unfair that Jack won such a relatively small amount of prizemoney through what was one of, if not the most brilliant careers in the history of men’s professional golf. But don’t worry too much. The Golden Bear has earned significant sums through other avenues. He has enjoyed a stellar career off the golf course with multiple business interests. He was one of the first to be taken on by Mark McCormack and IMG, meaning Nicklaus was in the right place at the right time to be an early beneficiary of the burgeoning business of sport.
He has profited from countless endorsements, he has written books, appeared on TV and in magazines over decades, his design company is responsible for the creation or alteration of over 400 golf courses around the world, he has developed equipment and his own clothing line and has made investments in companies and ventures that have grown his net worth. There are a range of estimates as to what Nicklaus’ net worth currently stands at, with the highest topping the $1 billion mark.
A proportion of his wealth now goes into the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, set up by Jack and his wife Barbara. Established in 2004, its aim is to help children and families around the world gain access to cutting-edge paediatric life care.
Jack Nicklaus may have only won $9,108,642 during his playing career, but in so doing he opened a world of opportunities to accrue and share a fortune.
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