Most sports fans are aware of the professional golfing record of 18 major championships, held by Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus accumulated those victories from 1962 all the way into 1986. What a lot of people don’t know is that that number could have been much higher, as Jack Nicklaus was the runner-up at 19 other major championship events. To put that into perspective, Tiger Woods has 15 major victories, and has been the runner-up in only 7 other such contests. So, Nicklaus has 37 1st and 2nd place finishes, while Tiger Woods has 22. Not only did Jack Nicklaus win the most, but he was in contention the most. And they are fairly evenly distributed amongst the four events. Nicklaus was runner-up at the Masters four times, the U.S. Open four times, the PGA Championship four times and the British Open seven times. Nicklaus was a few putts here and there from having 25 majors, not just 18. During the late 60’s and through most of the 70’s, you could count on a pair of elite golfers competing for whatever the current major championship was. And more often than not, one of those two competitors was Jack Nicklaus. Whether it was Nicklaus and Palmer, Nicklaus and Trevino, Nicklaus and Watson, Nicklaus and Player… Nicklaus was involved. If somebody other than Nicklaus was playing their best golf, they might have a chance to beat him. If Nicklaus was playing his best golf, forget it.