"Golden Bear" Nicklaus still on course after reaching 70

MIAMI (Reuters)MIAMI, Jan 2X (Reuters) - Jack Nicklaus will celebrate his 70th birthday this week fishing on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean, but the man regarded by many as golf''s greatest player will not have his feet up for too long.

The business is how Nicklaus, who won six U.S. Masters titles, four U.S. Opens, three British Opens and five PGA Championships, has kept his competitive juices flowing in the years since he began to fade from the top level of the game in the mid-eighties.

"When you lose (your) ability to play the game, you lose your vehicle to compete. Competition is my big deal. Competition is what I love," he said in a teleconference ahead of his birthday Thursday.

"My expectations of my game were very high most of my life. And as my club head speed went down, as my ball-striking ability went down, as my ability to dominate a golf course went down, that vehicle left me. So I had to find other vehicles.

"I''m a very fortunate guy in that golf course design is something that kept me in the game of golf. I had my competition with a piece of land and the ground I was working with."

Many in the game would have preferred Nicklaus, who recorded 73 wins on the PGA Tour, to have competed more regularly on the over-50 Champions Tour and in other big events.

But it was hard for the ''Golden Bear'' to play at a lower level than in his prime and Nicklaus Designs, the company he runs with his four sons and his son-in-law, filled the gap.

"In golf, my expectations were major championships," he added.

"In golf course design, my expectation is to be able to produce the best golf course that can go on that piece of ground which competes against the best players in the world, and I guess competes against other designers.

"It''s a lasting thing that will remain long after my golf game and lifetime," he said.

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