Jack Nicklaus speaks about "no closers" except Tiger
Jaime Diaz has a timely interview with Jack Nicklaus in Golf Digest. There’s so much to discuss, but we’ll start today with Jack’s insightful comments about the lack of closers on the PGA tour (except, of course, Tiger). Here’s a flavor of what Jack said:
“Closers …”
“It’s hard for me to watch golf on television and see guys falter coming down the stretch. It happens to too many players today. It’s the biggest difference between Tiger and his challengers. He comes down the stretch and knows how to finish a tournament.
“During my career there were many times on the final nine when I knew I just had to play safe golf because the guys in contention probably would make mistakes and not finish. But I had a lot of challengers like Watson and Trevino who I knew were going to finish and not give the tournament to me. I think I had more guys like that than Tiger does.”
Allcarry’s reaction: This interview occurred before yesterday’s finish at Riviera, but the words could not have been more true about what happened to Phil Mickelson. How many true closers are there on tour? One. Back in Jack’s day, you had Player, Palmer, Trevino, Watson, not to mention Miller and Weiskopf.
