It has been 30 years since Jack Nicklaus became the oldest golfer ever to win the Masters, and he is missing one important piece of memorabilia from that milestone in his career — the putter.
In an interview with “The Dan Patrick Show” on Wednesday, Nicklaus explained that the only sentimental golf club he hasn’t kept is the putter he used to win the 1986 Masters at age 46. Why? One of his five children gave it away.
“I’ve obviously got the memories and I’ve got the trophy that comes with it,” the 18-time major champion said. “One thing that I don’t have — and it’s the only golf club that I don’t have of all the major championships and tournaments I’ve won — is the putter. I think one of my kids, it was in the golf room, and one of the kids said, ‘Oh, dad doesn’t use this anymore, you can have this.'”
Nicklaus said his son Steve did the same with another putter, but he eventually got it back. The putter from 1986, however, remains missing.
This isn’t the first time Nicklaus has told that story. He mentioned about 10 years ago how one of his kids gave the putter away when he was talking about the MacGregor Response ZT 615, which was extremely oversized and untraditional by 1986 standards. It obviously served Jack well like many other clubs throughout his career and into the present day, as we saw when he sank this incredible hole-in-one just last year.
You can listen to the entire Nicklaus interview below, with the relevant portion starting at around the 1:50 mark.
