Jack Nicklaus Match Play Record
Jack Nicklaus match play record is sometimes up for debate given that he was the most dominate player of his era in stroke play. However in professional team match play and individual match play golf his record varies across singles, foursomes and four-ball match play formats.
The Match Play World Golf Rankings include every match play tour event ever played plus every Ryder Cup Rankings and here is how Jack Nicklaus performed by event and format.
Jack Nicklaus Career Record
Played: 41 (W26 L12 H3), Points: 27.5, Points Per Match: 0.671
Jack Nicklaus match play career record is exceptional and his win ratio of 0.671 places him in the top-5 all time of men golfers who have played 40 games or more.
A specialist at pairs golf, his exceptional record in foursomes shows what a great team player the greatest player of all time is.
Jack Nicklaus Ryder Cup Record
Played: 28 (W17 L8 H3), Points: 18.5, Points Per Match: 0.661
Jack Nicklaus played in 6 Ryder Cups from 1969 to 1981 and tied the first match and won the next five. His first appearance at Royal Birkdale was remembered for Nicklaus’ concession to Tony Jacklin on the final green.
Within this his four-ball record is 0.611 from 9 games, but the key to his success was foursomes where he had an outstanding rating of 0.889 from 9 matches. Hence why his place is assured on the Greatest Ryder Cup team.
Usually by the time the matches reached the singles the result was a foregone conclusion, so maybe that is why Jack’s Ryder Cup singles record is only 0.500 from 10 games. Having famously lost to Brian Barnes in the morning singles in 1975, he asked to play him again in the afternoon and the result was the same!
Jack Nicklaus Singles Record
Played: 23 (W13 L8 H2), Points: 14, Points Per Match: 0.609
Jack’s individual singles rating of 0.500 from the Ryder Cup is improved thanks to his record in the World Match Play Championship.
He played in 13 matches and won the event in 1970 and was runner-up in 1966 and 1971. He won 9 matches and lost 4 giving him a rating of 0.611 for that event.
Jack Nicklaus Foursomes Record
Played: 9 (W8 L1), Points: 8, Points Per Match: 0.889
Jack has one of the best foursomes records in the Ryder Cup losing only 1 of 9 matches. When you have partners such as Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Tom Weiskopf then the opposition are right up against it!
Jack Nicklaus Four-Ball Record
Played: 9 (W5 L3 H1), Points: 5.5, Points Per Match: 0.611
Again all of Jack Nicklaus four-ball matches come in the Ryder Cup. With two opponents playing their own ball, Jack still managed an very good rating of 0.611. Again playing with the three players above and also Raymond Floyd would have sent shivers down the spine of the opposing team.
Jack Nicklaus Walker Cup Record
Played: 4 (W4 L0), Points: 4, Points Per Match: 1.000
Jack Nicklaus played twice for the USA in the Walker Cup. Firstly in 1959 at Muirfield, Scotland and then in 1961 at Seattle GC in the USA. In those days the matches comprised one round of foursomes and one round of singles and Jack won all his games.
Jack Nicklaus US Amateur Record
Jack Nicklaus first played in the US Amateur as a 15 year-old in 1955 and continued to play in it for the next 6 years. He won the match play event in 1959 and 1961 to add to the US Junior Amateur that he also won in 1953. He also made the quarter-finals of the British Amateur on his only appearance in the event in 1959.
