Jack Nicklaus boldly refutes Wyndham Clark, golfers’ approach to The Masters

Jack Nicklaus is arguably the greatest golfer who has ever lived. Much of that perception was created by Nicklaus winning a record 18 major championships during his illustrious career.

That includes six Green Jackets, his last coming at the age of 46.

During Thursday’s opening round of The 88th Masters Tournament, Nicklaus joined the set of Live from the Masters on the Golf Channel.

He tackled a number of topics including his sole criticism of Rory McIlroy, the golf ball rollback and a birds eye view of what Scottie Scheffler is accomplishing.

Maybe his most compelling comment came when he addressed his preparation for major championships.

A number of players including reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark have talked about how they try to approach The Masters as just another tournament.

Nicklaus vehemently disagrees with that sentiment.

“If you treat The Masters like another event, then I don’t think you are going to want to win The Masters. The U.S. Open, the Open Championship, the PGA, you treat those tournaments like special events and prepare like they are special events,” Nicklaus said.

“You can only prepare so many times per year and have that kind of concentration. I think when you get to The Masters, it’s a special event, prepare for it like you really want to win it.”

Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Across the sporting landscape, treating a specific game or tournament similarly is common among athletes. You hear it all the time. The ‘I’m going to treat this like any other game and go about my same routine’ type mentality.

But the vast majority of sports are team sports. An individual athlete only has so much influence on the outcome.

Whereas golf is an individual sport with a mental aspect to it not seen in any other arena. You can do more. You can go the extra mile, change your approach to go above and beyond and really put yourself in a better position for success.

That’s what Nicklaus is getting at.

“I used to come in ahead of time and fully prepare. Then I went home for the weekend to calm down so all I had to do was show up and play golf. I did that at all of the majors.”

“I didn’t treat it like it was just another event because it’s not just another event.”

Everyone obviously has their own routine and preparation. But it behooves me to think that taking Nicklaus’ advice could only prove prudent.

Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.