Jack Nicklaus II Planning to Follow in His Dad’s Footsteps, Join the Tour

The oldest son of golfing great Jack Nicklaus says he will follow his father onto the PGA Tour in the fall and hopes to be a full-time tour player by this time next year.

Jack Nicklaus II, 24, said Tuesday he will turn pro after the U.S. Amateur Aug. 26-31 and play as many tour events as he can.

“This is what I’ve been working toward; it’s what I want to do,” the younger Nicklaus said. “From about May until the National Amateur, I’ll play in as many amateur tournaments as I can and then I’ll turn pro and play in five tour events after that and see what happens.”

Non-tour players can play in five tournaments if they can get that many sponsor’s exemptions. Nicklaus hopes he can win enough money in those events to get into the top 125 money winners, exempting him from having to go through the tour qualifying school in November.

“That would be the ideal,” he said. “But if that doesn’t happen, I’ll still be getting the kind of experience I need to compete at the tour school.”

Nicklaus said he has made great strides in improving his game in the last year. As a member of the North Carolina golf team, his stroke average was an ordinary-at-best 77 during his first three years. As a senior, he brought it down to 73 and last May he won the prestigious North and South Amateur at Pinehurst, N.C., beating Tom McKnight, 2 and 1, in the final.