What to know about Jack Nicklaus, who has a big fish tale to tell

Jack Nicklaus finished runner-up in 19 major championships, so the Golden Bear let a few big ones get away, but the Memorial Tournament founder and host avoided letting one of the biggest prizes slip the hook.

Nicklaus regaled the media June 2 with a fish story that earned him one of the most precious trophies of his career. Days before playing in the 1978 Australian Open, Nicklaus went fishing along the Great Barrier Reef with fellow golfers Ben Crenshaw , Bruce Lietzke and Jerry Pate and friends Pandel Savic and Bob Hoag.

"We fished three or four days, got a few fish," Nicklaus said. "The last day I got over a big fish."

Big? More like massive. Nicklaus, an avid fisherman, hooked a black marlin that weighed 1,358 pounds and took 6.5 hours to land. The fish measured longer and larger in girth than the existing world record of 1,560 pounds caught off Peru in 1953, but because the fish was out of water for 10 hours before getting weighed, it lost body weight due to dehydration.

Nicklaus recalls almost every detail of the catch, including the bait (14-pound Bonita) and 130-pound test line.

"My left knee went out in the first hour. It gave out and and I had to fight it stiff-legged," he said.

The man vs. fish marathon took a lot out of Nicklaus (and even more out of the marlin), so much that he was a bit of a physical mess when he showed up at the golf course on Tuesday of tournament week.

"I topped my first tee shot into the bushes right in front of the tee," he said. "And shot 74 the first round."