Nick Faldo’s Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Getting Into Jack Nicklaus’ Pockets
Rob Schumacher, USA Today Sports. Pictured: Nick Faldo
The Action Network spoke with several of golf's biggest legends find out their favorite personal golf betting stories. In a previous series, we spoke with several of today's biggest stars about their favorite betting stories. You can find those here.
- Who: Nick Faldo
- When: 1990 Open Championship
- Where: Muirfield
Prior to The Open being contested at St. Andrews, four major champions arranged an off-site practice round at Muirfield. Faldo would use the momentum earned with this bet to later win The Open for a second time – after getting into the pocket of a fellow legendary competitor.
“I asked Jack Nicklaus to play a practice round with me.
“It ended up being with Andy North and Tom Watson and they always go at each other, so I partnered North against those two and beat Jack for twenty quid.
“On a side bet, Watson beat North out of forty quid. So North went down to the bank and got 40 pounds in 1p coins, so it weighed about 10 pounds in copper. He stuck it in his locker that week. Two giant bags of 1p coins.
“Then [Jack and I] played in The Open together and in the first round, he walked onto the tee and gave me my twenty quid.
“Like an idiot, I should’ve gotten him to sign it, shouldn’t I?
“I would’ve put that up on my wall, mate.”
Other golf gambling stories from legends of the game
- Mark O’Meara’s Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Tiger Takes Him for a Ride
- Nick Price's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: A Longshot to Remember
- Gary Player's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Arnold Palmer and a South African Goldmine
- Davis Love III's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: No-Bogey Betting at the Open Championship
- Jack Nicklaus' Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Betting on Himself at Cherry Hills
- Bernhard Langer's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Shaking Down Seve Ballasteros
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