Golf Hall of Fame treasures: Warhol painting of Nicklaus

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Jun. 1, 2009
By Mark Cubbedge, Special to PGATOUR.COM

The World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla., honors the game's greatest players with exhibits and museum-type artifacts, including an impressive collection of Jack Nicklaus memorabilia. With the PGA TOUR in Dublin, Ohio, this week for Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament, PGATOUR.COM asked Mark Cubbedge, the Manager of Research and Collections at the Hall of Fame, to pick out a few Nicklaus mementos.
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Renowned art collector Richard Weisman convinced his friend Andy Warhol to break from his "normal" artistic work and do a commission for him where top sports stars would pose for what he envisioned to be the "Athlete Series."

Ten elite athletes from the 1970s were chosen from a variety of sports -- including boxing (Muhammad Ali), baseball (Tom Seaver), ice skating (Dorothy Hamill), basketball (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and, of course, golf (Jack Nicklaus).

The "Athlete Series" was completed over the years 1977 and 1978, and when Weisman and Warhol traveled to Ohio to do the portrait of Nicklaus, it became evident Warhol wasn't a "sports guy."

According to Weisman, Warhol asked Nicklaus to move his "stick" to the left during the sitting.

"Jack glared and said, 'Excuse me, this is not a stick, this is a club,' " Weisman recalled. "Then he looked at me and said, 'Does this guy know what he is doing?' "

The original Warhol portrait of Nicklaus is a silkscreen on canvas and was donated to the World Golf Hall of Fame by Weisman.

Nicklaus and the Hall of Fame