Golfer Jack Nicklaus is worth nearly $300 mn, but owns only one precious timepiece

Jack Nicklaus is considered by many as the world’s greatest golfer. The Golden Bear, as he is called, won a record 18 majors. There was a time when Tiger Woods was racing towards the mark. But he is stuck at 14. The current Tiger is more likely to collect drunk driving fines than golf trophies.

The 77-year-old Nicklaus, among the early superbrands in sports, has a net worth of nearly $300 million. Yet, he has used only one watch his entire life. And what a watch it is — a Rolex President Day-Date in gold, which he received as a gift from the watchmaker in 1967.

“First watch, and the only watch I have ever owned,” Nicklaus said recently in an interview with watch website Hodinkee. “I have worn it every day of my life. I would wear it to the course, take it off before playing and then, walking off the 18th hole, put my wallet back in my pocket and my watch back on my wrist.”

Nicklaus — an accomplished fisherman and hunter — also wore the watch during his greatest fishing achievement, when he reeled in what is still considered the biggest black marlin ever caught by man. In 1978, the golfer outlasted a 15-and-a-half foot, 1,358-pound black marlin in Australia after a Hemingway-type struggle of over six hours with the creature. “I hooked it at quarter to five in the evening, and landed it at ten past eleven,” Nicklaus said. “Six hours and 25 minutes, I fought that fish. And my watch was on my wrist.”

Nicklaus plans to sell the watch and donate the money to one of his charities for children’s health care. He said, “I’m not going to be around forever, there’s a good chance the watch might.”