The King, The Golden Bear, And A Rivalry For The Ages

books:


	• Arnie & Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf's Greatest Rivalry Ian O'Connor Houghton Mifflin, 2008 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The King, The Golden Bear, And A Rivalry For The Ages

I grew up a member of Jack's Pack, having been born a little too late to be a soldier in Arnie's Army. It's funny how sports moments can stay with you. As I watched the Masters this year, in my mind's eye, I could see the Golden Bear prowling those greens. Ghosts of Augusta.

This book tells the tale of two of Golf's titans, both their individual stories, and the story of their complicated relationship, from the first time they met, to the present day. Arnold Palmer, muscular arms bulging out of his short-sleeved shirts, cigarette hanging from his lips, going for every pin, with that wild looking swing of his. Jack Nicklaus: once Fat Jack, before he transformed himself. Picture perfect on the course, but not with the galleries, never getting the love that they showered on Palmer, the King. To say it was love/hate would be an understatement. They competed to the death in everything, but cared about each other much more than they would let on. Ironically, each wanted to be the other. Arnie wanted all those Majors, and the title of Greatest Golfer ever. Jack wanted the popularity and love that Arnie always had. But as Arnie said, "You can only be so many things in life."

The book is wonderfully written. You almost feel like you were there, as the author describes so many memorable Arnie/Jack duels. There is also a fascinating look at their wives. Winnie Palmer & Barbara Nicklaus were fast friends from the moment they met, even as their husbands were trying to beat each other's brains out. When I finished this book, I remember thinking, "I really enjoyed that." I think you will,too.

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Fantastic Read!

Fantastic read. It's the first book I've read from Ian O'Connor and I was not disappointed. Both Arnie and Jack are two genuine sportsmen and gentlemen. I've met both as a volunteer at PGA events and both were class acts. I know there was a fierce rivalry between them and this book chronicles it all.

This book is a great run through history and every member on the PGA Tour should a. read it and b. write a thank you letter to these two gentlemen as their rivalry put golf on the map. The money they are making today is a result of these two.

In the end, it doesn't matter who won what. Both golfers are universally loved, respected businessmen and class acts. A lot of professional athletes today should read this and take note of their actions both on the course and off.

Both are legends and masters of their sport.

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Arnie & Jack

For anyone that has followed professional golf for the past 50 years, reading about these two greats was very rewarding. I remember almost everyone of their thrilling victories, especially in the Masters and US Opens. I personally saw them in the Ryder Cup in St. Louis at Old Warson CC. They shot a best ball of 29 on the back nine to pull out a one up victory for the USA.

Jack and Arnie

An excellent book - well written and very insightful. It was fun getting an inside look at these two legends. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

reviews: page 1, 2

Surprisingly, one of sport's most contentious, complex, and defining clashes played out not in the boxing ring or at the line of scrimmage but on the genteel green fairways of the world's finest golf courses. Arnie and Jack. Palmer and Nicklaus. Their fifty-year duel, in both the clubhouse and the boardroom, propelled each to the status of American icon and pushed modern golf to the heights and popularity it enjoys today.

Yet for all the ink that has been spilled on these two essential golf figures individually, no one has ever examined their relationship in this way. Arnie was the cowboy, with rugged good looks, Popeye-like forearms, a flailing swing, and charm enough to win fans worldwide. Jack was scientific, precise, conservative, aloof, even fat and awkward. Ultimately, Nicklaus got the better of Palmer on the course, beating him in major victories, 18-7. But Palmer bested Nicklaus almost everywhere else, especially in the hearts of the public and in endorsement dollars -- Palmer was the top-grossing athlete for thirty years, until Michael Jordan surpassed him.

With dogged reporting and crisp, colorful storytelling, the award-winning sports columnist Ian O'Connor explores this heated professional and personal battle in fascinating, intimate, and revelatory detail. Drawing on unique and exclusive access to Palmer and Nicklaus, and informed by some two hundred new interviews, O'Connor illuminates the two men's extreme differences and sprawling influence through mini-dramas, such as their little-known first meeting on the course at the topsy-turvy U.S. Open in 1962, their early involvement with marketing and a small agency called IMG, and their intense competition for golf-course designs in their later years.

By the end of this page-turning narrative, which spans five remarkable decades, we see that each man wanted what the other had: Arnold had the adoring fans but wanted the trophies. Jack had the trophies but wanted the love.

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