Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), also known as "The Golden Bear",[1] is regarded by many as the greatest professional golfer of all time. With the most victories in major championships (18), he was continuously ranked as the world's number one golfer on McCormack's World Golf Rankings from its inception in 1968 to 1977. Having won seven professional major titles between 1962 and 1967, he would likely have been considered number one in some of those years as well (a period when he, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player vied for that status in public acclaim as The Big Three). After 1978, while much younger players such as Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros came to be ranked higher than him, Nicklaus continued to regularly challenge for and indeed win many major titles until 1986, making a full quarter-century in which he competed at the very highest level of his sport. Indeed, over the course of this 25-year period of 100 major championships as a professional, Nicklaus finished either first or second 36 times, in the top three 45 times, the top five 54 times, and the top 10 67 times. Nicklaus and the other 45 major champions during this period combined for a total of 18 major championship victories, 74 official PGA Tour wins, and over 82 additional individual professional victories (excludes Champions Tour events, etc.). While other marquee players such as Nick Faldo, Tom Kite, Nick Price, Payne Stewart, and Curtis Strange were winning numerous tournaments worldwide, they had yet to break through with major wins prior to 1987, but proved to be on the verge of doing so. These facts make this period arguably the most competitive in the history of professional golf and illustrate Nicklaus' ability and durability over time.