Gary Nicklaus

The fourth of Jack and Barbara Nicklaus's five children, Gary was viewed from a young age as the most likely heir to his father's golfing legacy. He beat his father for the first time when he was fifteen and won many junior tournaments. Like his father, the younger Nicklaus attended Ohio State University and was an All-American on the golf team. He finished his college career in 1991 and won the Porter Cup and qualified to play in the U.S. Amateur. He then turned professional.
He tried several times without success the make it through PGA Tour Q-School. Between 1992 and 1999 he played in 26 PGA Tour events including playing alongside his father at the 1997 U.S. Open. He only made two cuts, T-58th at the 1993 Honda Classic and T-61st at the 1993 Doral Ryder Open. He played on the Web.Com Tour and was able to play full time in 1999, playing in 23 events and had two top-10s, T-3rd at the Wichita Open and T-7th at the Omaha Classic. He won $37,700 to finish 70th on the money list. Later that year he finished T-12th to earn a PGA Tour card for 2000.
2000 Notes: Played in 30 PGA Tour starts making 11 cuts with one top-10. After a slow start to the year, in April he put together three strong rounds at the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta and found himself tied for the 54-hole lead with Phil Mickelson. When torrential rains struck on Sunday, leaving much of the course unplayable, Tour officials canceled the final round and called for a sudden-death playoff to determine a champion. On the first hole, a par-three, Mickelson hit the green while Nicklaus left his shot just short in a bunker. It took Nicklaus two more shots to get on the green, while Mickelson sank his birdie putt to win the tournament. Gary went on to win $403,982 to finish 119th on the money list.
2001 Notes: Played in 34 PGA Tour events making 12 cuts. His best finish was T-15th at the Memorial. He won $209,893 which placed him 169th on the money list forcing him back to Q-School. He finished T-13th to retain his PGA Tour card.
2002 Notes: Played in 26 PGA Tour events making only six cuts. His best finish was T-52nd at the Reno-Tahoe Open. He only won $41,969 which placed 218 on the money list.
2003 Notes: He played in only six events on the PGA Tour and eight times on the Web.Com Tour. His best finish was T-10th at the LaSalle Bank Open. After that Nicklaus stopped playing not only professional golf but all golf. He asked to reinstate his amateur status (which he got in 2007) and focused his time in the family business. He didn't play at all for four years but when he got his amateur status back he began to play again
Nicklaus made one more attempt to qualify for the PGA Tour in 2009 at the age of 40 but came up short. He continued to play in amateur events and managed to qualify for the U.S. Amateur in 2012 when the tournament was held at Cherry Hills. He shot 4-over-par in the stroke-play portion of the event and failed to advance to the match play. He qualified to play the Amateur at Pebble Beach, the course his father won the Amateur in 1961 and the U.S. Open in 1972. He didn't make it out of match play.
With his two children getting older, he decided to turn professional again and play on the PGA Tour Champions. He didn't make it through PGA Tour Champions Q-School but since he was a PGA Tour member he automatically is an associate member of the PGA Tour Champions, allowing him unlimited sponsor's exemptions for a year.
2019 Notes: Played in nine PGA Tour Champions event. Two weeks after turning professional he won his first event, shooting a 66 in a Minor League Golf Tour event in Lake Worth, Florida. He made his first start at the Oasis Championship, shot an opening-round 67 but with rounds of 77-73 finished T-51st. Best finish was T-29th at the Dick's Sporting Goods Open.
2020 & 2021 Notes: Best finish of the season, T-45th at the Ally Challenge.