Florida Governor Ron DeSantis highlighted Barbara Nicklaus’ longtime support for children’s healthcare.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded Barbara Nicklaus the “highest honor in the State of Florida” on Friday in a special ceremony at the Honda Classic at PGA National.
Nicklaus, the wife of 18-time golf major champion Jack Nicklaus, was flanked by her husband as DeSantis presented her with the Florida Governor’s Medal of Freedom.
DeSantis highlighted Barbara Nicklaus’ longtime support for children’s healthcare, noting the more than $150 million raised by the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation to support projects in South Florida, the United States and more than 120 countries worldwide.
“When you’re talking about support for pediatric healthcare, I don’t think you can find somebody that has had more of a profound impact on this state than Barbara Nicklaus has,” DeSantis said. “…This has helped so many people and we’re proud of that.”
Nicklaus reflected on more than 60 years of marriage after receiving the award and credited her husband for motivating her philanthropic pursuits.
Jack Nicklaus applauds as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declares Barbara Nicklaus Day before awarding her the Governor’s Medal Of Freedom for her contributions and commitment to pediatric health care in the state at the 2022 Honda Classic on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo: Greg Lovett/The Palm Beach Post)
“I’ve always been so proud of him and I guess in turn I wanted him to be proud of me,” “Early in our marriage, we decided if we were in a position to help anyone, we wanted it to be children. We’ve been so blessed to live in Florida and give back to children and families in our state by providing the best medical care.
“What we do for ourselves, dies with us. What we do for others in the world, remains immortal.”
DeSantis gave the inaugural Florida Governor’s Medal of Freedom to longtime Florida State football head coach Bobby Bowden in 2021.
Other recipients include Felix I. Rodríguez-Mendigutía, a Cuban exile who served in the Vietnam War, participated in the Bay of Pigs Invasion and assisted with the capture of famed revolutionary Che Guevara in Bolivia.
The Governor’s Medal of Freedom is awarded to any person who has made an “especially meritorious contribution to the interests and citizens of the state, its culture, or other significant public or private endeavor.”
DeSantis toured the Champion course at PGA National prior to the ceremony, watching golf with patrons at the world-famous “Bear Trap” on the course’s back nine.
Barbara Nicklaus was inducted for her significant contributions to the citizens of Florida.
Jack is now not the only Hall of Famer in the Nicklaus household.
Barbara Nicklaus was inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame on Thursday for her significant contributions to the citizens of Florida. The ceremony was held at the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to be chosen to be inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame,” Barbara said. “It is truly special to be included with such an esteemed group of women. We feel blessed to live in the great State of Florida – and blessed to be able to ‘give back’ to children and families in need.”
Jack Nicklaus praised his wife of 61 years on social media.
“I could not be prouder to say that today my wife Barbara is being inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame!,” Jack posted Thursday. “I am amazed by all the great work she has done over her lifetime – and continues to do – for so many people, especially children.”
I could not be prouder to say that today my wife Barbara is being inducted into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame! I'm amazed by all the great work she's done over her lifetime—and continues to do—for so many people, especially children. pic.twitter.com/gx6sUpL8YF
Jack went on to call Barbara “the love of my life and my rock” and say she not only is the mother to their five children, 22 grandchildren, one great-grandchild but also an “adopted mom to countless people.”
“Barbara, you are and always have been the best,” he wrote.
Barbara is much more than ‘The First Lady of Golf.’ She has been called an “angel on earth” for her commitment to family, community and especially children. Her passion is helping children through the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, which they started in 2004 and has raised more than $150 million to enhance access to world-class health care for children and families in South Florida and beyond. Miami Children’s was renamed Nicklaus Children’s Health System in 2017.
Barbara earned the PGA of America’s Distinguished Service Award in 2019 and the USGA’s Bob Jones Award in 2015.
Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, who live in North Palm Beach, moved to Palm Beach County 55 years ago.
Jack Nicklaus revealed in a conversation with Jim Nantz on the CBS broadcast that both he and wife Barbara Nicklaus had contracted COVID-19 earlier in the spring. Jack, who said he suffered from a cough and sore throat, tested positive four times while Barbara, who was asymptomatic, had three positive tests. The Nicklauses tested positive for COVID-19 on March 13 and stayed in their southern Florida home until April 20. As of Sunday, both had taken antibody tests that showed they had the antibodies. Nicklaus had not publicly discussed his bout with COVID-19 until Sunday. Nicklaus and Barbara celebrated their 80th birthdays a month apart in January and February
Jack Nicklaus revealed in a conversation with Jim Nantz on the CBS broadcast that both he and wife Barbara Nicklaus had contracted COVID-19 earlier in the spring. Jack, who said he suffered from a cough and sore throat, tested positive four times while Barbara, who was asymptomatic, had three positive tests. The Nicklauses tested positive for COVID-19 on March 13 and stayed in their southern Florida home until April 20. As of Sunday, both had taken antibody tests that showed they had the antibodies. Nicklaus had not publicly discussed his bout with COVID-19 until Sunday. Nicklaus and Barbara celebrated their 80th birthdays a month apart in January and February
Yellow ribbons were seen pinned to some players hats at the Honda Classic over the weekend. Here’s what they mean.
Viewers of the Honda Classic might have noticed small, yellow ribbons pinned to the hats of a few players at PGA National over the weekend.
They were for a good cause.
The Honda Classic was the kickoff of the “Play Yellow” campaign, created by Jack and Barbara Nicklaus. “Play Yellow” benefits local children’s hospitals, working to impact the 10 million children treated annually at Florida children’s hospitals.
According to the “Play Yellow” website, donations from the Honda Classic went toward “advancing and enhancing the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of childhood diseases and disorders.”
But why yellow?
Sungjae Im during the final round of the 2020 Honda Classic at PGA National (Champion). (Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)
Before his retirement in 2005, Jack always wore yellow on Sundays in honor of Craig Smith, a young fan and the son of his former minister in Columbus, Ohio. In 1968 at the age of 11, Smith was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer.
The “Play Yellow” website states Craig would predict a victory for Jack if he wore his lucky yellow shirt on Sundays. Smith died at the age of 13 in 1971, but was never forgotten by Jack.
Players like Tommy Fleetwood, Luke Donald and Honda Classic winner Sungjae Im brought awareness to “Play Yellow” Sunday with yellow ribbons on their hats at PGA National. In his first PGA Tour victory, Im won at 6 under, one shot ahead Mackenzie Hughes.
Fans were also encouraged to wear yellow to Sunday’s final round and even purchase merchandise sold at the event.
Nicklaus remains active at designing golf courses, hosting PGA Tour events, passing on his wisdom to PGA Tour pro and philanthropic work.
In December, when Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus played with their grandsons in the PNC Bank Father-Son Challenge in Orlando, the 5-foot, 6-inch, 150-pound Player launched a drive at 18 that trickled past Big Jack, who in his prime would often blow tee shots half a football field past his longtime foe. This didn’t sit well with the Olden Bear.
“He said, ‘Will you stop out-driving me already?’ ” Player recalls. “I said, ‘You out-drove me for the first 40 years. Let me have the last decade.’ I never thought I’d out-drive Jack and I never thought I’d be taller than him either.”
Nicklaus may have shrunk in stature, but he remains a giant in the game as he celebrates his 80th birthday today. Whether it is designing golf courses, passing on his wisdom to the current crop of PGA Tour stars, hosting PGA Tour events or his philanthropic work, Nicklaus is as relevant in the game as ever.
Take the kids, as he calls them, including Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, and just last week Patrick Rodgers, who have come to The Bears Club, the club Nicklaus founded in Jupiter, Florida, in 1999, for lunch with the 18-time major champion or to his house to drink from his fountain of knowledge as if it were ambrosia. Charl Schwartzel and Trevor Immelman both parlayed advice before the Masters into being fitted for green jackets, and Patrick Cantlay asked for some tips on how to play Muirfield Village Golf Club before winning The Memorial at Jack’s Place in June.
“How many 22-year-olds come to an 80-year-old for advice? Not many. I say, ‘You never listened to your dad so why would you listen to your great grandfather?’ They happen to listen to me,” Nicklaus says. “I impart my experience that you have to play within yourself. The whole idea is don’t beat yourself.”
Jack Nicklaus presents the trophy to Patrick Cantlay after winning the 2019 Memorial at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Photo by Joe Maiorana/USA TODAY Sports
“He has been the best at giving advice on how to play golf. Not how to swing, but how to play the game. He’s talked to me about his strategy and how to play the golf course and how to play the game and what he thought,” says Rory McIlroy, who more than nine years ago was winless on the PGA Tour when he listened to Nicklaus preach patience. Soon after, McIlroy shot a final-round 62 at the Quail Hollow Championship to earn his first Tour title.
“The common denominator for him and Tiger is they are the best thinkers in the game. Just to pick Jack’s brain about that, and about preparation, and how he got himself around a golf course, that’s the best advice you can get. He was a master at playing the game.”
Most people retire so they can play golf; Nicklaus retired as a competitor in 2005 and then ramped up his work building golf courses around the globe. Nicklaus is the first to concede that without his playing career, none of his design business happens.
“Nobody would have listened to me. Golf has allowed me to actually discover something I didn’t even know I had. It’s allowed me to leave something beyond my game and my life,” he says. “Fifty years from now, no one’s going to see me play golf. But they’ll see several hundred golf courses, and they’ll understand that they were expressions of how I felt.”
Age has also mellowed Nicklaus the designer, who used to be criticized for making courses that only he could play.
“As you get older and don’t play as much, you realize what a humbling game it is,” Nicklaus says. “I design a lot more for the members’ tee. People of all walks of life and all skill levels want to play, and as an architect, you want them to enjoy it.”
Nicklaus says he has nine or 10 golf courses he’s working on right now in some stage of development. Chris Cochran, one of Nicklaus Design’s longtime associates, tells a story of a course in Greece that is on the drawing board that shows Nicklaus’ passion for design is alive and well. Unhappy with the routing and with a sudden burst of inspiration, Nicklaus pushed away his dinner plate, had flood lights turned on, and toured the site again in a golf cart until he arrived at a solution.
“It was driving him crazy,” Cochran says.
You might have figured that Nicklaus was slowing down when he announced in February 2018 that he was stepping away from day-to-day operations of his companies. You’d have thought wrong. To hear Nicklaus tell it, he basically got rid of all the parts of the job he was tired of doing and maintained the public speaking engagements, occasional golf exhibitions, course design work and fundraising he enjoys.
“I think everybody would like to do that,” he muses.
Indeed, his calendar sure doesn’t look like that of a man who’s taking it easy. Nicklaus struck the opening tee shot at the Masters in April and teamed with Player in the Legends of Golf; hosted the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament the month after that; and opened more golf courses, including one in Russia and his first in Latvia. He has attached his name to products ranging from golf balls, wine, beverages and restaurants to lifestyle items such as apparel and footwear.
Player calls retirement a death warrant, and Nicklaus still only operates at two speeds, says his longtime PR man Scott Tolley: “go and giddy-up.”
“I certainly don’t have any reason to want to go curl up in a corner someplace,” Nicklaus says.
Most of his efforts are geared to raising money with wife, Barbara, chair and co-founder of the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, which was established in 2004 to support numerous pediatric healthcare services in South Florida and across the U.S.
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“We’re just getting started,” Nicklaus says. “She’s supported me for 50 years; now it’s my turn and that’s what I’m doing and frankly I really enjoy it and it’s been eye opening to me. We’re getting ready to start a legacy fund – something that will last well beyond Barbara and I are gone.”
Nicklaus lives in North Palm Beach, Florida, these days, but his signature tournament has another central purpose, and that is to enrich the community of his youth. The Memorial has generated more than $36 million for central Ohio charities since 1976, with more than $20 million given to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
“It’s the greatest second act maybe in terms of a meaningfulness, what you do with your life to affect others,” says CBS Sports commentator Jim Nantz. “What Jack has done after arguably the greatest golf career of all time to now go to a stage in life, thanks to Barbara’s leadership, all these children they are helping, all these hospitals that have popped up; it’s an amazing thing. I’m in awe of them.”
Nicklaus may be officially an octogenarian, but he won’t let a bad back and a bum shoulder from tennis slow him down. He’s far from done with his second act. Giddy-up.
See what PGA Tour stars past and present say about Jack Nicklaus as a friend, a mentor, a father figure and a sportsman.
As Jack Nicklaus turns 80, we asked some of those who know him well to give us a sense of what The Golden Bear has meant to them. Here are the responses of PGA Tour stars past and present who view Jack as a friend, a mentor, a father figure and a sportsman.
Greg Norman, Under Jack’s wing
Two-time major champion
“Jack’s books, Golf My Way and My 55 Ways to Lower Your Golf Score, were my instruction bibles. Without those books I’d probably be flying a jet somewhere. I’d have been a fighter pilot for the Royal Australian Air Force and then gone into commercial and private flying. Instead, I learned from his techniques and went from a 27 handicap to scratch and won my first professional tournament within five years of taking up the game.
I still remember the first time we met like it was yesterday. It was the Australian Open in 1976 and I’d just won my very first golf tournament the week before in Adelaide. Lo and behold I got paired with Jack and I was as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof. I cold-topped my first tee shot. I’d never done that before. I’ll never forget he came up to me in the locker room afterwards and put his hand on my left knee and said I had the game to play in America.
Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus at the 2001 Masters (Eileen Blass, USA TODAY)
From there, I kind of invited myself under his wing. He’s a humble man. He set the standard for all of us on how to be a professional and to never put yourself ahead of the game. Originally, I was living in Orlando, but I grew up near the ocean and missed the water and moved down by Jack and Barbara to Jupiter Island in 1988. One day, Jack called me up and said his friend was putting his home on the Intercoastal on the market and that I should take a look at it. I went and checked it out, bought it and I still live there today. So, it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that Jack’s been one of the most influential people in my life.”
Justin Thomas: ‘Almost like he’s a father to you’
12-time PGA Tour winner, including 2017 PGA Championship
“The first time I met him was in 2000 at the PGA Championship. I was 7 years old. I remember he did a clinic. I was fortunate to go to the clinic because my dad was working for the PGA of America. I remember (Nicklaus) was talking to someone and I was standing there listening to him talk and I held my hat up. And I remember Mr. Nicklaus signed my hat and I was bragging in school the next day how I got the greatest golfer of all time’s signature. And everyone was like, ‘Oh, you got Tiger Woods?’ And I was like, ‘No, Mr. Nicklaus.’ Of course, no kid in my class knew who the hell Jack Nicklaus was and Tiger was the best at that time. I’ll always remember that.
“And now I have a relationship with him. It almost doesn’t make sense, almost doesn’t seem real. First off, he doesn’t need to take time to sit down with me or answer a phone call. But he genuinely wants to and it’s really cool. I reached out to him a lot more my first couple of years on Tour, when I was searching a little bit more and trying to figure out my way around. And I have a lot better feel about what’s going on now because of a lot of talks we’ve had. It’s almost like he’s a father to you. When I see him, the first thing he always says is he’s happy for me. And like my grandpa, he always goes, ‘Hey, great playing in Hawaii,’ or wherever, and then he’ll go, ‘Boy, you tried to give it away, but you really got it done.’ He always keep me humble, which I like.”
Rory McIlroy, The best thinker
Four-time major champion
“I always remember the first time I met Jack was in the Gardens Mall parking lot (in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida). It was 2009, I had just been put out of the match play by Geoff Ogilvy, and my dad and I flew to Florida early for the Honda Classic the next week. And we were in the parking lot and a gold Lexus pulls up beside us, and Jack gets out of the car and I obviously I recognize him and I introduce myself. ‘Hello, Mr. Nicklaus,’ and my dad calls him Jack. And I’m thinking, dad, this is Mr. Nicklaus. Not Jack.
“Jack has meant so much to me. That week we had lunch at the Bear’s Club and he gave me some advice then. Over the years, I live at his golf course, I practice at the Bear’s Club, I’ve lived there for nine years, and I see him a lot. And I’ve met Barbara and his children, as well. They are such a nice family. I think more so than anything else, they’ve kept who Jack Nicklaus is and all the stuff he’s done on the golf course and they’ve kept this normalcy about them. It’s endearing. They take an interest in other people, they do so much for charity, they are the epitome of being a class act and how you want to be. Jack and Barbara are great role models for me and Erica (McIlroy’s wife) in what they do for the community and charity. They are such a wonderful family.
“He has been the best at giving advice on how to play golf. Not how to swing, but how to play the game. He’s talked to me about his strategy and how to play the golf course and how to play the game and what he thought. The common denominator for him and Tiger is they are the best thinkers in the game. Just to pick Jack’s brain about that, and about preparation, and how he got himself around a golf course, that’s the best advice you can get. He was a master at playing the game.”
Annika Sorenstam, ‘Just normal and cool’
10-time major champion
Jack and Barbara both mean a lot to our family. They have been so generous and supportive to us. They have become genuine friends rather than just professional acquaintances. You can just feel the love they share and they always make us feel so welcome. One fond memory was when they had us to their house and the kids swam with Mike while I played tennis with Jack and his friends. I love how active he stays and his quick wit. He’s just normal and cool.
Paul Azinger, A great sportsman
Won 1993 Memorial Tournament
“Jack’s impact on the game of golf will live forever. He set many records we wanted to achieve. He has shown us all how we should behave. He’s shown the world what sportsmanship looks like many times over. Happy birthday to the Golden Daddy.”
Curtis Strange: A legacy for the ages
Won the 1988 Memorial Tournament
“All of us who followed Jack, both amateurs and professionals, have been inspired and motivated by the golfer and the man. His legacy will last for generations to come. Happy B’Day, Jack.”
Matt Kuchar: The intimidation factor
Won the 2013 Memorial Tournament
“I was hugely intimidated by Jack in my younger days. Took me a while to get comfortable around him. Great memory is having won the tournament and watching the replay and watching my kids high-fiving Mr. and Mrs. Nicklaus. Something I’ll have forever. To look back and see my kids at such young ages jumping up and giving Jack and Barbara high-fives. But he was one that I was nervous around. I mean, to the point he was the greatest ever, and what can I say to this guy that he’s not already done, accomplished? If you caught a fish this big, felt like he caught bigger fish. I was nervous around him. Fortunately have spent enough time, and Barbara is so great, so easy to be around, that our relationship has become one that’s much more comfortable from my standpoint.”
Rickie Fowler, The start of a friendship
Five-time PGA Tour winner
“I had seen Jack and been around him a handful of times, but I think the real start to the friendship, roughly eight or nine years ago, was when Barbara reached out to me about playing The Jake, which they host every year for the foundation. So Barbara had called and left me a message and I know exactly where I was when I called her back. I was playing in the Match Play when we used to play it at Dove Mountain and I was on the putting green and Jack answered the phone. So I said hi. We chatted briefly but kind of kept it short. And that was our first real conversation. I was like, sorry, Jack, I need to speak with Barbara. It’s a funny way to tell him that Barbara is the boss. She runs the show. Jack would say he wouldn’t be where he is without her. It’s an amazing thing to have a relationship with both of them. It’s pretty special.
“To be able to sit down and have lunch and give each other a hard time, to talk to him as a friend, is pretty cool. We all watched the highlights of him playing his best golf. You pinch yourself every once in a while, knowing you can talk to him about all things golf and so many other things.”
Gary Player: The greatest gentleman
Nine-time major champion
“He’s my best friend in the game. We played together probably as much if not more than anybody and all around the world. We competed fiercely not only in America but Great Britain, in Australia, South Africa and Japan. Everyone talks about what a great player he was, we all concede that, but I’d have to say Jack Nicklaus is the greatest gentleman I’ve ever played against. The way he accepted defeat was absolutely incredible. His father taught him a lot while he was growing up, including that he had to be a gentleman in defeat too. And he was a very good father. He’d go to watch them compete the day ahead of a tournament. I cherish the times that I have spent with him. Barbara has been an absolute angel, supporting to the hilt. Our wives made our lives.”
Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus walk to the first tee during the first round of the 2019 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
David Graham, A friend for life
Two-time major champion
“One of the unknown things about Nicklaus is how much travel around the world he did. I first met him at the Australian Open, which he won six times. I remember sitting on the end of his golf bag and watching him hit golf balls. I remember distinctly getting a phone call from him later that day asking me to get dinner with him and that was the start of a beautiful friendship.
“He had a set of clubs that were made for him by Slazenger that were a duplicate of his MacGregor set because he had an overseas contract with Slazenger. He wasn’t going to take them back to America. I asked if I could try them. He said, ‘Yeah, have them, please.’ Later on, Jack hired me as his chief designer at MacGregor. We co-designed the VIP irons, which I used in winning the 1979 PGA Championship and also created the Jack Nicklaus Limited Edition irons, which Jack won the 1980 U.S. Open and PGA with prototypes and I used to win the 1981 U.S. Open.
He was extremely instrumental in convincing me to play in America, and a big help to me once I moved here from my native Australia. As a matter of fact, he had a share in a golf course facility in Delray Beach, Florida, called The Hamlet, and he persuaded the owner of the facility to build (my wife) Maureen and me a house. I represented that particular club for a couple of years. We’d have dinner with Jack and Barbara at Lost Tree Village all the time. He and Barbara enrolled our children into school. That’s the type of friend he’s always been to me.”
Contributing: Steve DiMeglio, Adam Schupak, Beth Ann Nichols,
