Jack Nicklaus is the greatest golfer to have ever lived, if major championship wins are the barometer by which we are judging them.
Nicklaus achieved a record haul of 18 major victories, 12 more than Rory McIlroy’s current tally.
The Golden Bear has always been a huge admirer of the Northern Irishman and it goes without saying that the feeling is mutual.
Nicklaus has often given McIlroy great advice throughout the years.
Jack Nicklaus was full of praise for Rory McIlroy after his win at The Masters on Sunday.
In winning The Masters, McIlroy became only the fourth man to defend his title at Augusta National, after Nicklaus achieved the feat in 1966, Nick Faldo did it in 1990 and Tiger Woods managed it in 2002.
It seems like the 36-year-old from Holywood, Northern Ireland, has finally stumbled on a major championship system that works.
The advice Jack Nicklaus gave to Rory McIlroy that he really didn’t like
Brandel Chamblee has revealed a magnificent story pertaining to an interaction once shared between Nicklaus and McIlroy.
When speaking on his very own The Favorite Chamblee Podcast, the former PGA Tour player responded when asked what he believes is the best way for the best golfers in the world to prepare for major championships.
“I think it’s the best way to prepare for a major,“ Chamblee said.
“Jack, won 18 of them, and there was an earlier back and forth between Jack and Rory.
“This would have been, I don’t know, seven or eight, maybe 10 years ago, somewhere in there. Rory was still trying to figure out how to best prepare and get ready for majors, and he was saying that he would play the week before.
“And Jack was, you know, to whatever extent Jack could get incredulous, he did.
“He was like, ‘What are you talking about? Take the week off before’.
“This is because I think Rory had played the week before previously, en route to winning one or two or three or four of his previous majors.
“And Jack would say, ‘You should take the week off, prepare, go up and play, and then come home, and in the privacy of your own practice facilities, put all the thoughts and the shots together.“
Rory McIlroy ‘pushed back’ to Jack Nicklaus
McIlroy was apparently in complete disagreement with Nicklaus after receiving advice from the Golden Bear.
“Rory pushed back. You know, it wasn’t contentious, really,“ Chamblee claimed.
“It was just, like, an old man sitting on the porch, talking to a young man, trying to give him some advice, and the young man going, ‘I know better than you’. That kind of thing.
“And finally, Rory did it.“
Despite Chamblee’s claim, McIlroy plays the week before major championships more often than he doesn’t.
Last year, he played at The Truist Championship before the PGA Championship, the RBC Canadian Open before the U.S. Open, and the Genesis Scottish Open before the Open Championship.
It seems as though The Masters is now the one major championship where McIlroy almost exclusively takes the week off before the event.
