Jack Nicklaus is, by the most important statistical measure in golf, the greatest player who ever lived. His 18 major championship victories — across four decades, in all four major championships — is a record that has defined golf’s standard of greatness for 50 years.

Nicklaus arrived on Tour in 1962 and immediately beat Arnold Palmer — the most beloved player in the game — in a US Open playoff. Palmer’s fans were hostile. They booed Nicklaus. But he was unmoved.

Where Palmer was emotional and instinctive, Nicklaus was analytical and strategic. He planned each round like a chess match, identified the holes where mistakes were most costly, and protected leads with calculated precision. His focus was extraordinary.

Nicklaus’s last major was the 1986 Masters, won at age 46 — a victory many consider the greatest in the history of the sport. Playing in the final group on Sunday, he shot 65 to win from behind. The broadcast became one of the most watched moments in golf television history.