David i dont consider myself a journalist. And nobody else would consider myself a journalist. I began to take on the life of being an interviewer even though i have a day job of running a private equity firm. How do you define leadership . What is it that makes somebody tick . So let me go back to the beginning of golf and so forth. I am not a golfer, i have to be honest with you. I took it up when i was nine, i quit when i was 10. Jack im not one anymore either. David but you were pretty famous in golf. It was too frustrating and here is what i cannot understand. Why is it some new people are addicted to something that is so humiliating and frustrating to so many people all the time . The ball never goes where it is supposed to go. Why are people addicted to it . Jack that is a pretty good question. Its a neverending pursuit of an unattainable goal. [laughter] david right. Jack you could try all you want. Nobody has ever mastered the game. Most athletes in all their sports love to play golf because its difficult. Its challenging for them. It challenges them at whatever level they play. And i think thats why they enjoy it. Thats why i enjoyed it. Because no matter how good i got, i could always be better. David when you grew up, you played many different sports. Jack yes. David you were recruited to play football at ohio state . Jack basketball. David you were a good Football Player as well . Jack decent, yep. David so, at the time, golf was not your most important sport . Or was it one of the three most important . Jack golf was another sport at the time. Once i started into college, i won a national trophy. It got me on the walker cup team. All of a sudden, i was one of the best 12 amateurs in the country. Later that year, i won the National Amateur and i was ranked number one. I thought, maybe im better at this than i thought i was. I almost won the u. S. Open the next year. Then i did win the u. S. Amateur again the next year. I said, maybe i need to play against the best. So it was a process. David your father got you into golf initially . Jack yes. David was he a good golfer himself . Jack he was a decent golfer as a kid. Then he quit for 15 years and was a pharmacist. He broke his ankle playing volleyball. He ended up having three operations and had it fused. The doctor said, charlie, he says, if you dont want to end up in a wheelchair, start walking again. We went to the suburbs. Upper arlington, he joined at a country club and took me along to carry the bag. He couldnt make a game because he couldnt walk very far. That particular year, a fellow named jack grout came that year. And the pga championship came that year. So i got all that in my first year of playing golf. And it just got me charged up to learn a sport. David jack grout became your coach for most of your career. Jack he was my coach until he passed in 1989. David so your father and jack grout were the people who mostly got you on the way in golf, you would say . Jack my dad was my best friend and my idol. I loved my dad. He just did everything with me. He just gave up everything for me. David in those days, it wasnt clear that you could make a big career financially as a professional golfer. So you were thinking of getting a degree as an accountant, or being a pharmacist . Jack i started college. I mean, most kids want to be what their dad was. My dad was a pharmacist. So i went through prepharmacy. I hated afternoon labs. [laughter] david right, so. Jack my dad talked me into doing something else. So i started selling insurance. David ok. Jack i just loved selling Life Insurance to my fraternity brothers. They really needed it. [laughter] jack so i did that for a while, and i did pretty well at it. I was making good money. I got married and had our first child. But i really wanted to play golf. So that is what i did. David you got married to barbara. Youve been married how many years . Jack 59 next month. David 59 years. [applause] david ok. The result is five children and 22 grandchildren . Jack thats right. David you never forget the name of a grandchild when they come along. You know their names . Jack i know their name. I know 95 of their birthdays. [laughter] david really . Ok. Thats pretty impressive. In those days you were thinking of becoming professional. You werent sure. You met with bob jones. Robert jones . David yep. Jack yep. David the most famous amateur golfer of them all. How did you actually come to meet him . Jack well, he was a speaker at the banquet of my first u. S. Amateur when i was 15 years old. At that time, he had gotten paralyzed as he went on, but he was still walking with canes at that time. And he saw me play. In the last practice round, he says, young man, i am going to come and watch you play tomorrow. Here i am, a 15yearold kid, playing in my first amateur, and the greatest player who ever lived, bob jones, is going to come out and watch me play. He came out in a merely bogey, bogey, double bogey. Lost my match, but it was a great experience. He became a good friend. He was great counsel. He was a really, really good man. David so you decided ultimately to turn professional in the year after you won the second amateur. You won the u. S. Amateur twice. Jack yeah. David you decided you would make a career out of it . Jack i didnt have any more goals to do in amateur golf. And i wanted to be the best i could be at playing golf. So i said, the only way that i could do that is to play against the best. The only way to do that is play against the pros. David in those days, the compensation was good but not compared to today. Compared to today. Jack i was making as much money selling insurance as playing golf. David but you did jack i surpassed it. David so, as you went on, you had a rivalry with Arnold Palmer a bit. He was the leading golfer when you came into the pros. And then you surpassed him in many ways. What was it like in the early days when you were rising and he was at the top . Jack well, i wasnt real popular, because i started beating arnold. I wasnt popular myself because i was an Arnold Palmer fan. And arnold was a good guy. We got to be really close friends, our wives got to be very close friends. But he was, and he never really seemed to mind that i beat him more than he beat me. Im sure he probably did inside. But he never let me know it. He took me under his wing. Hes 10 years older than i was. He was great to me. So i have nothing but love for Arnold Palmer. David in your career, you won 18 majors, which is the most of anybody. Jack yeah. David and tiger woods has now won with the most recent masters win, 15. But many people think trying to beat your record is impossible. Jack i dont know. Tiger is pretty good. [laughter] pretty good. David so lets see, you won the masters six times. Jack yeah. David is that your favorite tournament, the masters . Jack probably so. David in the course of your career, youve won more than 100 tournaments. Is that right . Jack yeah. David and 18 majors, and you were the leading money winner 7 times. The leading lowest shot for a tournament for a year seven times. There is no record in golf you havent achieved. Is that right . Was there anything left for you . Jack i dont know if theres any record i havent achieved, but my record is good. But you know, you can always be better. That is the neat thing about the game of golf. No matter how good you get at something, you can be better. David in terms of being better, its hard to know how you can do much better than you have done. Lets ask you a couple of things. What is the key to make somebody a great golfer . Is it concentration . Is it physical ability . Is it just a combination of those things . Jack i think your mind is a big part about it. I think you have got to believe in what you can do. I think you have got to learn to play within yourself. I think anybody, in all walks of life, i dont care what business you are in, you need to work within yourself. And then you need to do what you can do, not what somebody else can do. You start believing in that. And i think winning breeds winning. So, i was lucky, my first year i won the u. S. Open. I won the biggest tournament in golf my first year out. And i believed that i could play. So all of a sudden, they started coming in a little easier for me. David so in the first year that you won the u. S. Open, was that in a playoff with Arnold Palmer . Jack i had to fight arnolds gallery a lot, but i never had to fight arnold. He always treated me with respect. He treated me like a fellow competitor. And so i didnt have those issues. David one of the most enjoyable tournaments people say to ever have watched, anybody could have ever watched, was the 1986 masters. You were an old, old man of 46. Jack 46, yeah, i was a really old man. Its very young today. David people no one had ever won a major over the age of 42. Tiger won the masters now at 43. Jack yeah. David 46 was considered ready for a golf cart or wheelchair, or something. Jack close. David you were not leading that tournament until near the end. You were four shots behind with the final nine holes to go. Is that right . Jack yeah, the first time i led the tournament was after 71 holes. Going to the last hole. David you were four shots behind at the final nine, did you think you could win . Jack i birdied 9, 10, 11. I messed up 12 little bit. But then i birdied 13. And then when i eagled 15, and birdied 16 and 17, yeah, i thought i could win. [laughter] because i was in the lead. David was that the most emotional win you have ever had . Jack well, you know, it is kind of funny. I had really finished playing golf by then. I had won two majors when i was 40 years old. And i really just enjoyed playing golf and i wanted to be part of the game. I just struck lightning in a bottle a little bit that week. And all of a sudden, i got around to the last nine or 10 holes and i remembered how to play. I mean, you get yourself in contention, and all of a sudden, much like what happened to tiger at the masters this year, when i saw the fellow start to fill up the creek at the 12th hole, he took this pretty little shot out, cut it in the middle of the green, i said, tournament is over. He will remember how to play. I remembered how to play. And i remembered how to finish. That was really fun, being able to do that. David you have also played a lot of president s of the united states. Jack i have played with a few. David which one is the best at playing golf . Jack the ones i have played with, actually, trump is. David really . Jack trump plays pretty well. He plays a little bit like i do. David you, early in your career, decided that you wanted to be involved in golf course design. And as i now understand it, you have personally designed about 310 courses. And your company has designed over 400 or so. Jack over 400, yeah. David and about 1000 tournaments have been held on courses, and they are in 46 Different Countries and 40 different states. So its pretty impressive. Jack i got into it by following pete dye. Pete dye was the premier golf course designer over the last 30 years or so. And pete one day called me. This was mid 1960s. He said, jack, i would like to have you come out and review a course. I want you to come out and see what it is. I said, what do you want me to see . He says, i want you to critique it for me. I said, pete, i dont know anything about design. He says, you know more than you think you know. I looked through the golf course, he asked me a couple things. I said i dont know anything about that. He says, yeah, you do. Just tell me what you would like to see. And he did it. It pete my interest. And i got a call from Charles Frazier from the pines plantation from arbor town, hilton head island. He said, jack, i would like to have you do our golf course design. I said i dont know anything about that, but i have a young guy i am working with called pete dye, who i think i would like to work with. I did that. I did that with pete. And about six months before the tournament we were going to have the heritage golf classic there, which has been there every year since 1959. Arnold won the first tournament. I loved it. I had a ball. It was just tremendous. David talking about golf, your favorite course to play of any, other than the ones you might have designed, i assume you like those the most jack absolutely. Its like, who is your favorite child, the same thing. David take the ones you didnt design. Which ones would you say were your favorites to play . Jack well, if i had one round to play, i would probably go to pebble beach. We just left the u. S. Open last week i love pebble beach. The scene out there, i love the i won the u. S. Amateur there. I won the u. S. Open, three others out there. I just love the place. My two Favorite Places in the game are probably Augusta National and st. Andrews. David when you finished your professional career, it was in 2005. Your last tournament was the british open. Was that pretty emotional . Jack yeah. Yeah. David you had your family there. Jack i had my family there. They were all there. My son, steve, caddied for me. We stopped by the bridge that crosses the 18th fairway. We didnt get a decent picture of steve. Steve was crying too much. Tom watson was crying. They are all emotional. Im trying to figure out how to finish the golf tournament. They are out there crying on me. [laughter] so, we had a great time, though. It was fun. I loved it. I did not want to finish on friday, but i did finish on friday. David so you, your last shot was a birdie . Jack you know, it is kind of funny because i wanted to make the cut that day. After i threeputted from the front edge of 17 trying to make birdie, i got to the 18 pole and hit the ball about 14 feet behind the hole. The ball had not gotten anywhere near the hole all day. And i knew that that putt, the tournament was over. No matter where i hit it, the hole was going to move in front of it. I started my career in major championships in 1957 with a birdie on the first hole i played. And i finished it on st. Andrews with a 14foot putt, a birdie. David you didnt think, maybe i should stay longer . Jack i stayed long enough. [laughter] david ok. So you have played with many prominent individuals over the years and prominent golfers. If you could pick any golfer to be your partner in a twosome, who would you want to have as your partner . Jack i think i would have to pick tiger today. But through the years, i never got to play with bobby jones. I knew him and really loved the man. I would have loved to play with jones. I would have loved i played quite a bit of golf with hogan. Hogan was fantastic. David you have also played with a lot of president s of the united states. Jack ive played with a few. David which one is the best . At playing golf . Jack well, the ones i have played with, actually, trump is probably the best player. David really . Jack trump plays a little bit like i do. He doesnt really ever finish any holes, but he can hit the ball. He goes out and plays and enjoys it. But he has won several club championships. He can play. Gerald ford, i played 50 rounds with ford. I used to play with him at the at t every year. Ford was about a 13 handicap. But he played to a 13 handicap. Clinton, i never knew what he might do. Clinton, he might play to a 10 or play to a 30. But he had a nice golf swing. All these guys enjoyed playing golf. I dont think any one of them really were very serious about the game, but they all enjoyed playing. Its good for the game of golf to have a president of the united states, this is my game. David when you are playing in those kinds of matches, and the ball is 10 feet away from the hole, why do people not say putt it out as opposed to you can have it . Why is that done so much . Jack i think that is a little bit of politics. David courtesy, or . Jack i think that is a little bit of politics, too. [laughter] you give me mine and ill give you yours. That kind of routine, which is not golf. David you have a grandson who recently, at a masters par 3 tournament, got a hole in one. Is that a fairly emotional thing, to see your grandson get a hole in one . Jack thats pretty good. Its kind of a funny story. His name is gt. Gary thomas, after his father. He is a junior. We went out to play nine holes. I always ask the kids i have a different one caddy for me every year. The masters tournament, i said, do you want to hit a ball . He says, well, none of my cousins have gotten it on the green. I said, ok. He says, i would love to hit a ball. I said, you might as well hit a hole in one. He says, ok. He says, peepaw, im peepaw, peepaw thinks i will make a hole in one. He says, really . Darn it if the next day he knocks it right in the hole. Gary was jumping all over the place. Tom watson was jumping all over the place. David id like to talk about how you and your wife have decided to focus your philanthropy on Childrens Hospitals. Jack to see what has happened with these kids, im going to tell you one thing, it is far more important than a fourfoot putt. David so, when players are playing golf in a tournament, say you are paired with somebody, do you actually talk during when youre walking down the fairway . Jack sure. David i thought they didnt even talk to each other. Jack the guys are good friends. Arnold and i had a fierce rivalry. And we blew more tournaments ourselves trying to beat each other than worrying about the field. But we would get off the golf course, and we would look at it and say, we did it again. We both shot 75 while everybody else shot 65. But just the two of us tried to beat each other. We would shake hands and ask, where are you going to dinner tonight . I love the golf kids today. I love watching when Gary Woodland finished. I dont know if you saw on television, but you saw four or five of the other players congratulated him after. When Justin Thomas won the pga two years ago, ricky fowler and Jordan Spieth were waiting for him when he finished. The guys really support each other. And theyve got enough money. They are not worried about the money. They know its a game. Those guys are their friends and they enjoy it. David in recent years, tiger woods has struggled a bit. He went 10 years between winning a major tournament. Do you think today that your record of 18 majors can be broken by tiger . Or by anybody . Jack i think so. The way Brooks Koepka is going, he could do it before tiger. I remember, the last one that tiger won before this was torrey pines in san diego. Tiger hit it all over the place and won the tournament. He had not had a back fusion. His swing is much better now than it was then. He has learned not to hit it hard, because he doesnt want to hurt himself. And tigers short game is fantastic. Tiger is going to win a lot more tournaments. Whether he is going to win three or four more major tournaments, i dont know, but tigers 43, and in the game of golf today, that is not really old. David lets talk about philanthropy. Id like to talk about how how you and your wife focused your philanthropy on Childrens Hospitals. Jack well, we started, david, back in 1966. Our daughter was 11 months old. And she started choking. And we couldnt understand why. We thought we would get her to the doctor and she would be fine. Finally the doctor says, we need to get her down to the Childrens Hospital. We went down to columbus Childrens Hospital, now nationwide Childrens Hospital. They found a crayon in her windpipe. And they didnt have how in the world, but they did not have a pediatric broncoscope. They had an adult broncoscope. Broke the crayon, dropped it into her lungs. She got pneumonia. For about six days she was touch and go. And as barbara and i were sitting, waiting for whatever was going to happen, we just said, if we ever are in a position to help others, we want it to be children. And then 15 years ago, the honda tournament moved up from Fort Lauderdale to the palm beach area. A fellow named Fred Millsaps came to me, he ran charities, and he said, jack, what do you think of this area for Childrens Charities . I looked at barbara and said, do you want to go for it . She said, go for it. So we started our foundation. We have been the main beneficiary, honda, several other events. And we havent really done anything large. But we have raised a little over 100 million in the last 15 years. David that is pretty impressive. [applause] david the miami city Childrens Hospital has been renamed in your honor. Jack miami was miami childrens, and we made in association with miami childrens. After a couple years, they said, we would like to be a global hospital. So we would like to use the nicklaus name. And its fantastic. To see what has happened with these kids, i want to tell you one thing, it is far more important than a fourfoot putt. And i enjoy it a lot more. David you enjoy it in other words, the satisfaction of winning the masters. Jack its fantastic. David but the satisfaction of saving a childs life is jack its unbelievable. David its been a great life and a great inspiration for so Many Americans and for those around the world. Thank you for everything youve done for the golf world and for our country, and for philanthropy. Thank you. Jack well, david, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. [applause] david thank you very much. Jack thanks. David over the last 30 years i have seen a lot of crises and managed through some myself, but nothing i have seen before is like the crisis we have. It is a health crisis, energy crisis, financial crisis. The combination has made the job of being a ceo extraordinarily difficult. I want to talk to ceos and see how they are getting to this crisis, how they are dealing with customers, how they are dealing with employees, how they are dealing with the government, how they will rise to the occasion, but will make these ceos great . That is what i want to know. This is leadership live. We are fortunate to have larry bacow, the president of harvard from his home near the harvard campus