DUBLIN, Ohio — The first time 2022 Memorial honoree Ben Crenshaw met tournament founder and host Jack Nicklaus included a bit of bathroom humor.
Crenshaw was a young and upcoming Texan who had grown up idolizing Nicklaus, 12 years his senior and already a golf legend, when the two PGA Tour players showed up at the 1971 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club near Philadelphia.
“I’m watching the Masters every year since I was a little kid,” Crenshaw said Wednesday during the honoree ceremony, which also recognized co-honoree Charlie Sifford. “Every kid idolized Jack. I really wanted to meet him, so here we are at a practice round (at the U.S. Open) and I go into the locker room and here he comes.”
