More on Jack from USA today. Why would Nicklaus take such a stance about such a man? He did allow women to join his Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio, but he, like almost every top male golfer for generations, has lived life in a bubble so different from the world around it.
In July 1994, while touring one of his golf courses near Vancouver, Nicklaus was asked by a Vancouver Province reporter about the lack of Black people in golf. Nicklaus, then 54, responded by saying, “Blacks have different muscles that react in different ways,” according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Aug. 21, 1994. Nicklaus also said he didn’t “buy” that he and other players could have taken stronger action in helping end discrimination in golf, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
At the time, Nicklaus did not deny the comments but said they were taken out of context. When asked Thursday afternoon about Nicklaus’ 1994 remarks, Scott Tolley, Nicklaus’ manager and executive vice president of the Nicklaus family office, declined comment and said Nicklaus was unavailable.
The great Jack Nicklaus should find some time to make himself available for comment sooner rather than later. He has endorsed a racist, sexist man to be re-elected president of the United States. His sport, and his country, deserve to be able to ask him why.