Arnold Palmer versus Jack Nicklaus

You might say that Arnold Palmer  and Jack Nicklaus are BRFs, “best rivals forever.” Throughout the 1960s they dominated men’s professional golf and in the process built a deep lasting friendship. A decade or so older than Nicklaus, Palmer burst on the scene in the 1950s, and by the end of the decade he was the game’s best player—but only until Nicklaus came along. In the early 1960s the pair engaged in a series of hard-fought battles in major championships (most notably their dramatic duels at the 1960 and 1962 U.S. Opens), but by the mid-1960s Palmer’s game was beginning to fade, while the “Golden Bear” just got better and better. In the end Nicklaus would be revered by many as the greatest player in golf history (easy Tiger Woods’s fans, I said by “many”). Palmer had to settle for being the game’s most popular player (adored by “Arnie’s Army”) and having a drink named after him.