Jack Nicklaus withdrew to Rory, Media in Lively Memorial Presser

Dublin, Ohio – Jack Nicklaus’s golf tournament turns 50 this week. How do you feel, knowing that you played hosts half a century of PGA Tour Golf?

“Old,” Nicklaus said on Tuesday afternoon.

He cried as he said it, addressing a value of a media room collected at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in front of his memorial tournament. He was the first time they played this event; He’s 85 now. Puree, he pointed out surprisingly, is $ 20 million, with $ 4 million going to the winner. In 1976? Winner Roger Maltbie earned $ 40,000, exactly one percent of the first place this year.

“Then Roger celebrated so much, he left his control – I don’t know what bar was in the city, but he left his control there. I think he returned it, though,” Nicklaus remembered. (The tournament of the tournament won in the year 2, by the way. Here are layers of good memories.)

The decimal points are not the only things that have been moved to the decades since. Muirfield village of Muirfield’s terrain has changed a lot. The tournament has also changed, even as it remains continuous. And on Tuesday he did not hold him back; During the best part of an hour he spoke freely about his memories, his guests, the state of the game, his likes and dislikes.

Nicklaus likes No. 14 at Muirfield Village – the best of all, in fact. Asked if there is a favorite hole, he initially withdrew. But as he spoke his way through the question he settled in the short par-4.

“I think 14 is a really challenging hole. It’s a light hole. It’s a dangerous hole. It’s a beautiful hole. There are all the elements there you might want.”

Nicklaus likes Rory Mcilroy, though it is clear that a call would have passed a long way. Mcilroy has been passing this week’s memorial for the first time since 2017. And while Nicklaus addressed the topic with perspective and grace, it was clear that the great 18-year-old champion who lives near Mcilroy in South Florida and met him before winning this year’s Masters is not quite disappointed.

“Yes, it surprised me,” he said. “But boys have schedules and things they do. And I haven’t talked to (Rory) for him to tell me why or why not. Just his call.

“I don’t keep anything against Rory for that. He did what he likes to play. I know he likes to play so much in a row. He likes to play a week before an open.

Nicklaus is right. Mcilroy likes to play a week before US Open, which means RBC Canadian Open of next week. But he does not like to play a lot of beginnings in a row, and he is playing the travelers a week after the Oakmont, which means something was to give, and here we are.

“I mean, I’m a big fan of Rory. I’ve always been. I’m sure I’ll stay that way. I just, I was surprised a little, yes,” he said.

Nicklaus likes a good message, no matter the source. This week the tournament is honoring his wife Barbara for her contributions in decades, and the middle middle he thought again in 1987 and a lost cut on a tour at Oklahoma City.

“Friday evening after I miss the cut, Barbara went to McDonald’s with my son Michael for dinner, and they came home and the next morning I had a small glass of orange juice in front of me in a soft cup she received from McDonald’s,” he said. “And she said,” There is no excuse not to be prepared properly. “She was right, absolutely right.

Nicklaus doesn’t like how far the golf ball goes. Idea of ​​driving no. 3 In Augusta National, for examples, strikes it as the wrong essentially.

“I mean, the golf ball goes a long way. It’s gone too far for a while. Then they continue to last. But for me, the extension does only a few things: one, it takes more time to play. It costs more money, costs more money. All thing, it just gets expensive.”

“We can’t continue to buy land. You can’t, you can’t just buy the golf course next door. Not many people can afford what Augusta did in Augusta Country Club, you just can’t do it.”

Nicklaus doesn’t like too long, and he is not afraid to say so. Asked why golf courses need them, he stressed that they may not.

“I don’t have any in my golf courses. But do you need them? Maybe no. I can’t answer your question because they don’t like them. How is that?” He said. “I always liked to have a par-3 in the 220 to 235 rank. I liked to have two of the right in the 190 to 210 range. And then one usually shorter, 170 or shorter.

This puts it in good company, by the way – Victor Hovland said something similar On the same podium just hours ago. But Par-3 tall are in the minds of players with a 300-boron coming to Oakmont in two weeks.

“But it’s up to the discount,” Nicklaus said with an Eyeroll.

Nicklaus doesn’t like all hullabaloo Regarding whether athletes should be sought to face reporters after the round-and he had no interest in dealing with a response to Mcilroy’s lack of media. It favors a simpler philosophy.

“I’ve always felt that you guys and gals have a job to do, and that you do your job you have to talk to me. And if I played well or if I played poorly, if you still want to talk to me, I’ll talk to you. And I always have.”

And in that spirit, Nicklaus left the press in a high note.

“Well, thanks for your questions,” he said. “I thought you guys. I thought you guys can do a nice job today.”

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