An Emotional Jack Nicklaus Nearly Breaks Down for ‘First Lady of Golf’ Barbara Leaving Fans Happy & Excited

This year it was Juli Inkster and Tom Weiskopf. Next, year, it will be Barbara Nicklaus! Yes, you read that right. The ‘First Lady of Golf’ has been selected as the 2025 Memorial Tournament honoree and will be presented with the annual Captains Club award the following year. As she was selected to be the first non-golfer among the previous 83 recipients, her husband, Jack Nicklaus couldn’t help but get emotional at the special moment.

He was spotted in an interview on the CBS Broadcast following the end of the event trying to fight back his tears but inevitably failing. “Barbara has been so much to this tournament,” said the Golden Bear before adding, “Everybody’s honored Jack Nicklaus but Barbara Nicklaus has been right there.”

This wasn’t just an opinion shared by the 84-year-old who was honored at the 25th edition of the event but the whole of the Captains Club as well; “And the Captains felt like that the 50th running of the Memorial… that was fit that Barbara be the honoree. I broke down and cried the other night, I’m crying again now… It was a very emotional choice for me.”

Meanwhile, this is not the first honor that the 18-time major champ’s wife has received, interestingly so. She has been able to accept the 2015 Bob Jones Award that was presented by the United States Golf Association, not to mention the PGA of America Distinguished Service Award in 2019, among others.

Even Barbara Nicklaus was extremely grateful for the recognition as she admitted, “This honor is so incredibly special to me, and I can’t thank the Captains Club enough for thinking of me. When… our longtime friend Charlie Mechem called in to relay the news, I was overcome with emotion and, honestly, speechless.” She also expressed her humility as well for the award when she said, ” Looking back at the list of those who have been honored since 1976, I can’t express how humbled I am to join this elite group that I have looked up to and respected for so long.”

The community, meanwhile, couldn’t help but express their happiness at the ex-pro’s wife receiving the honors. They went ahead to dish out many comments under the tweet on X that was shared by the official handle of the Jay Monahan-led circuit.