The British Open was immensely important to Price and when he arrived at Turnberry in 1994, he was determined to make up for poor outings in the first two Majors of the year.

Price began the tournament with a first round of 69, and added a 66 that left him at 135, two behind leader Jesper Parnevik and Brad Faxon.

On Saturday, Price climbed from five under par when the round began, to nine under after 17 holes, but he misplayed the 18th, and missed the chance to tie Faxon and Zoeller for the lead. His 67 and three round total of 202 left him tied with Tom Watson.

On Sunday Price had birdied the 12th and together with Zoeller, stood at nine under par, just two behind Parnevik. Having gone out in even par 35 with two birdies written off by a pair of bogeys, Price holed from 15 foot for par at the tenth after missing the green. A routine par at the 11th and an eight iron to 15 feet on the 12th, set up his third birdie of the day. However he missed the green on the 13th and played a nerveless pitch to four feet and saved par but then played a five iron to the 14th green that streaked across it through the gallery and ran 25 feet beyond.

Then with everything at stake, Price showed the fierce determination that had built up through years of experience. He played a wonderful running seven iron that bounced and rolled along the bare, uneven ground, hopped onto the green and pulled up no more than four feet from the cup. He holed the putt and saved not only his round but the championship as well. Price would reflect on them later claiming that the pars on the 13th and 14th were the keys to his winning. Still, he lagged behind Parnevik who birdied 16 and 17 that took him to 12 under par. Against this backdrop Price had holed from 14 feet on the 16th for a birdie, putting him at ten under par.

He had bogeyed no 18 the previous two days and certainly couldn’t count on a birdie there. So he had to make an eagle he thought, to get in a play-off.

Having watched a video of the famous Nicklaus – Watson encounter in 1977 where Nicklaus had difficulty contending with the moguls that front the 17th green, Price hit a four-iron second shot instead of a five-iron that would take his ball past those mounds and get back pin high or past the pin. He hit it so solidly that the ball refused to cut and headed for the left edge of the green where it took a slight bounce to the right and ran to about fifty feet from the hole.

He picked a spot on the crest of a ridge between himself and the hole and ran his putt right over the spot. Knowing he had hit the spot and had the perfect speed, he got excited as he saw the putt breaking just as he had thought. Just three feet from the hole it hit a spike mark and for an instant Price thought it would knock it off line. It went in.

Running and jumping in the air, Price hugged his caddie, Squeeky Medlin. The crowd erupted and Price couldn’t hear himself think. But he did know he had to control his emotions because he still had to play the 18th. When Price came back to earth he looked at the scoreboard and saw that Parnevik had bogeyed 18. So instead of being tied he had a one-shot lead.

Things had changed from Troon in 1982. He had won fifteen tournaments around the world since 1991. He knew what it took to bring a score home in a major with his win in the1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive.

All the experience he had gained over those years he put into practice. Taking a three-iron to make sure he hit the fairway, he hit it perfectly. He had 157 yards to the flag and took aim at a big “D” in the grandstand beyond the green. Going through his same routine, he flew the shot right at the “D”, finishing twenty five feet right of the hole and just past pin high. Misreading the speed of his putt, it came up a couple of feet short. He took his time and holed the putt for par.

Clutching the gleaming silver claret Jug, Price said “In 1982 I had my left hand on this trophy. In 1988 I had my right hand on the trophy. Now I finally have it in both hands”.

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Price played later in the day, when the heat reached it’s worst, but it had no noticeable effect. He bogeyed the first hole and birdied the second to be at even. On the seventh, he hit a two-iron and a seven-iron to 15 feet and holed the putt for a birdie. He three putted the ninth but played flawless golf from there in. He birdied the 12th, 13th and 17th and led the first day with Colin Montgomerie on 67.

On Friday Price birdied the first hole from 20 feet. He kept playing the steadiest kind of golf through the seventh and went out in 34. He then picked up his second birdie of the day at the tenth from 15 feet. A sensational seven iron pulled up within three feet of the cup on the 12th and Price went to four under for the day and six under for the tournament. Birdies on the 13th and 16th gave Price a 65 and a comfortable five stroke lead with a total of 132. Corey Pavin, Ben Crenshaw and Jay Haas were next at 137 followed by Jose Maria Olazabal and Blain McCallister at 138.

Despite the searing heat and humidity under a blazing sun each day, the scores continued to run low. Saturday’s round began with Price making nothing but pars through the opening holes. He simply could not make anything happen through the first nine holes, although he had some opportunities. Price bogeyed the 12th and birdied the 13th, bogeyed the 15th, birdied the 17th and finished with 70 for a third round total of 202, three ahead of Jay Haas, four ahead of Corey Pavin and Phil Mickelson and five ahead of Ben Crenshaw, Greg Norman and John Cook.

With Norman off to a fast start on Sunday, Price held his ground and birdied both the third and the fourth. Norman cooled off and no-one else made a serious run as Price demolished the competition. Price ripped a three iron into the eighth and birdied from a little more than 20 feet. With a par four at the ninth, Price had played the first nine in 32 and another glorious wedge to four feet on the tenth and a birdie took him to twelve under par. He bogeyed 11, made par at 12, birdied 13 and bogeyed 15. Price picked up his last birdie on the 16th hole, hitting a six iron to within eight feet of the hole. He was now seven ahead of Pavin and eight ahead of Mickelson.

He made his par the 17th and bogeyed the last and his 67, played under telling pressure, was at least two strokes better than any of his closest challengers could put together.

This was an immensely satisfying victory for Price. As he said, “To get my name on this trophy two out of three years, is something very special”.

By winning in Tulsa he jumped to the top of the Sony Ranking. He had won 3 majors – two PGA Championships and a British Open over three years which no-one had done since Nicklaus in 1978-80, Palmer 60-62 (5) and Hogan 51-53 (5).

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He has been a professional golfer since 1977 and has ranked among the sport’s top 50 leading money leaders for the last 18 seasons. He has published books on the golf swing, built golf courses and learned to fly his own helicopter and recently started his own golf apparel company. He also is the only golfer to be ranked among the top 50 of the world rankings since its inception in 1986.

More noticeable, however, is the way Price has shown his personal qualities in his daily routine, with a manner befitting the phrase, “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”

“To receive this award is a great honor for me,” said Price. “I have always respected and admired Bob Jones, not only for the way he played golf, but also because of the way he conducted himself both on and off the golf course. Throughout my career, I have strived to achieve the etiquette and sportsmanship that Bob Jones exemplified.”

In 2002, Price was the first winner of the ASAP Sports/Jim Murray Award from the Golf Writers Association of America for his consistent and thoughtful cooperation and accommodation to the media. Later that year, he received the annual Payne Stewart Award from the Tour for his respect for the game, his professional conduct and his commitment to charities.

“He is as decent and nice to the little old ladies in the parking lot when the TV cameras are nowhere near as he is when he’s attempting to close the deal late on a Sunday afternoon before thick galleries,” wrote veteran golf writer Bob Verdi on the eve of Price’s 2003 induction in to the World Golf Hall of Fame.

“I think the players recognize what a great guy he is,” says Davis Love III of his fellow Tour player. “People always ask who’s the nicest guy on tour, and Nick Price’s name always comes up.

“He stood by his long-time friend and caddie, Jeff “Squeeky” Medlin, while he fought a losing battle with leukemia that came to an end in 1997. He shared the spotlight in happier days with Medlin at the 1994 British Open at Turnberry, Scotland, when the two walked arm-in-arm on to the final green to a thunderous ovation before two-putting for par and the win.

He supports charities that benefit children within Palm Beach County and his native homelands of South Africa and Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia. In addition, he formed the Nick Price Junior Golf Foundation in 1997 to support junior golf development in Zimbabwe, a land of 12 million people that is torn with strife and under a strict one-party rule.

He is committed to bettering the life for those around him, particularly his family.

Just last summer when the family – wife, Sue; Gregory (13), Robyn Frances (11) and Kimberly Rae (8) – was having a well-earned vacation, Price surprisingly extended the vacation by opting out of the PGA Championship several days before the event.

“Nick is one of those people who has a firm grasp on what’s important,” says Sue. “In his soul, he thinks about others. I rarely have seen him become abrupt with anybody. He just wants to give the best of himself in whatever he does.”

A resident in the U.S. since the early 1980s, he lives comfortably in Hobe Sound, Fla., but his roots are in Africa.

Born in Durban, South Africa, to English parents, Nick was raised by his mother in Zimbabwe. His father died when he was 10 before getting a chance to introduce him to the game of golf. His older brother, Tim, showed him the game, giving him a left-handed 5-iron for his first club.

The two spent countless hours chipping golf balls through their mother’s backyard garden while pretending they were on the best golf layouts and playing for major titles.

On his first trip to the United States, as a 17-year-old, Price won the Junior World Championship in San Diego. He turned professional three years later, in 1977, but in between he learned never to take his good fortune for granted.

During that time, he served 18 months in Rhodesia’s Air Force, fighting in a civil war that would end in 1980. “The service taught me that golf is not the be-all and end-all in life and that I am fortunate to do something I love,” Price says.

Having achieved success on both the European and South African Tours between 1978 and 1982, earning his first four wins, he ventured to America where he earned his PGA Tour card for the 1983 season. Later that summer, he edged out Jack Nicklaus to win the World Series of Golf event. Along with the win, came a 10-year exemption on Tour. But there were lean years ahead and a time when he came within a week of running out of money to stay on Tour. Somehow he held on, believing that his rebuilt swing would pay dividends. It did, beginning with a win at the 1991 GTE Byron Nelson Classic. He won the 1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, and then won it again in 1994 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.

His last win was at the 2002 MasterCard Colonial, a year in which he topped $2 million in earnings for the first time and finished fifth in scoring average.

He sees himself playing into his 50s, and would like to add to his win total and accomplishments in the game. He has Tour wins in each of the last three decades, and he is one of only seven players since 1945 to capture consecutive majors.

No matter what the next few years bring, Price has left his mark on the game he loves. “Like Ben Crenshaw (the 1991 Jones Award winner), he’s a role model that a lot of the players out here need to pay attention to,” says Love.

“When I see a young guy who has shot 78 giving a signed ball to a kid who is there with his dad, that’s huge,” says Price. “That’s what golf is all about.”

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Tonight, the media will thank Price for his helpfulness since he joined the PGA Tour in 1983. At the annual GolfWriters Association of America banquet, at Radisson Riverfront Hotel Augusta, Price will receive the inaugural ASAP Sports/ Jim Murray Award. According to the award’s ballot it goes to a professional for his “cooperation, quoteability and accommodation to the media.” The other players on the ballot were Ben Crenshaw, Tom Lehman and Paul Azinger.

Price’s response to winning the award is typical Price. “I pay off a lot of people, didn’t you know that?” he said, then added, “It’s really special.”

“We thought it was important to have this award,” saidMelanie Hauser, the secretary treasurer of the GolfWriters Association of America. “It’s a great opportunity to recognize a player who is willing to cooperate even when he’s busy. If he doesn’t have the time at the moment, he’ll try to find the time for you later in the day.”

Price fits that bill. One time a reporter, whom Price had never met, asked Price whether he had 10 minutes to spare for an interview. Price asked the writer what he was doing for dinner. That’s when the interview was conducted.

“I’ve had some good friends in the media over the years,” Price said.

He was born in South Africa, then moved to Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe, at an early age.

A little-known fact about Price is that he served a tour of duty in the Zimbabwean army before becoming a touring pro. Maybe that’s where he learned compassion for others and being grateful for what he has.

He downplays that notion, saying he had those qualities before he put on a uniform and served his country.

“More of it comes from your family and your parents, that’s probably the biggest thing” Price said. “My mom used to always say to me, ‘Treat other people the way you want to be treated.’ It’s not that easy to do, but if you can adopt that attitude, it certainly makes life a lot more pleasant.”

It isn’t just the media who sing praises about the 45-year old Price, who has won nearly $15 million in his PGA Tour Career. He gets it from everybody.

“I think players recognize what a great guy he is,” Davis Love III said. “People always ask who’s the nicest guy on tour, and Nick Price’s name always comes up in the top two or three. It’s just the difference between some guys who walk through the locker room before a round or after a round and you can tell what they’re thinking or how they played.

“Nice Price is the same every day,” Love said. “He says hello to everyone-he speaks to the locker room attendant, he speaks to the marshals on every tee. He’s just a genuinely nice, friendly guy who goes out of his way. It’s natural for him to be nice to them.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in the media or the marshal on No.14 or you’re Greg Norman or some rookie on tour, he’s just nice to everybody,” Love said. “Like Ben Crenshaw, he’s a role model that a lot of players out here need to pay attention to.” Since joining the PGA Tour in 1988 Billy Andrade has witnessed just how consistent a person Price is.

At the time when Andrade arrived on the scene, Price had been on the tour for five years and had won a single tournament, the 1983World Series of Golf. From 1991 to 1994, Price won 13 tournaments, including three major championships, and was the No. 1-ranked player in the world.

“When I got out here, he wasn’t winning” Andrade said. “Then he went on that incredible roll. Nice Price is the same person today that he was in 1988 when I met him when he was a one-time winner on the tour.”

“I think that’s the ultimate compliment you can have. A lot of things happen to people when they get success, some for the good and maybe some not for the good. He’s a person who has never changed. He’s someone I respect quite a bit.” Brad Faxon agrees.

“You can get rid of that notion that nice guys finish last,” said Faxon, who has known Price since the early 1980s. “In the early 1990s, Nick had the best record of anybody.”

Another reason for Price’s popularity is simply that he’s fun to be around. In a poll of his peers by a national magazine, he ranked as one of their favorite player partners.

“He’s always upbeat and happy,” Kenny Perry said. “His enthusiasm and love of the game seem to rub off on you.”

Andrade tells the story of how in the early 1990s the PGA Tour chartered a plan for players and their families from a tour stop in Las Vegas to the next event, in Orlando, Fla., which is where Price lived at the time.

“We were having a few beers and fun on the plane, and we basically told Nick, ‘You’re going to have a party tomorrow night at your house,” Andrade said. “Sure enough, we went over to his house the next night and had a big cookout. The Faxons were there, the (Ian Baker-) Finches were there;Wayne Grady was there. It was just a lot of fun. Guys are flying their private jets now, and everybody does their own thing. You don’t get the chance to do that stuff anymore. How we enjoyed it…” Jogging his memory, Price recalls he had no problem with being told he was going to throw a party on such short notice.

“I said, ‘Sure.’We had a good one, too,” Price said. “Everyone brought something and helped us wash up, which was nice. In those days, impromptu parties always were the best ones. Billy Andrade and Brad Faxon drank a few of my beers that day, I’ll tell you that.”

“I probably did drink a lot of his beer,” Faxon said. “That’s probably why I don’t remember it.”

Don’t get the idea Price is a pushover. He rarely shows it, but there is a stern side. Once, when a fan was stepping over the bounds of decorum, Price told him, “You’re taking advantage of my good nature.”

“I always know when they’re doing that, when people ask for too much,” Price said. “That’s really hard sometimes. I can be short and I can turn around and tell people what I think of them if they try to abuse the genuineness or sincerity that I might give them.When they do that, boy, that really makes me angry.”

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GCSAA’s most prestigious honor, the Old Tom Morris Award, is presented each year to an individual who “through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris.” Morris (1821-1908) was greenkeeper and golf professional at the St. Andrews Links Trust Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland; a fourtime winner of the British Open (1861, ’62, ’64 and ’67); and ranked as one of the top links designers of the 19th century. Price, who is from Zimbabwe and lives in Hobe Sound, Fla., has won three majors and finished second in two others. Two victories on the Champions Tour this year brings his total to three, to go with 18 PGA Tour wins and 24 international wins. Between 1992 and 1994, Price won 16 of the 54 tournaments he played in worldwide, the victories including the 1992 PGA Championship, 1993 Players Championship, and both the British Open and PGA Championship in 1994.

Price was named Player of the Year twice each by the PGA Tour and PGA of America. He earned two Vardon Trophies from the PGA of America and one Byron Nelson Award from the PGA Tour for the lowest scoring average of the season. Price was the PGA Tour’s leading money winner two times. He is a five-time member of the Presidents Cup international team and won the Junior World Championship at Torrey Pines as a 17-year-old.

Price spent 43 weeks atop the World Golf Rankings and won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in 1983. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003 and received the Bob Jones Award from the USGA in 2005. Price shares the course record at Augusta National with Greg Norman after a third round 63 in the 1986 Masters.

In 2002, Price was the first winner of the ASAP Sports/Jim Murray Award from the Golf Writers Association of America for his consistent and thoughtful cooperation and accommodation to the media. Later that year, he received the annual Payne Stewart Award from the PGA Tour for his respect for the game, his professional conduct and his commitment to charities.

Price’s charitable foundation supports charities that benefit children within Palm Beach County (Fla.) and his native homeland of Zimbabwe. Price has been the major supporter of the Harare Shelter, a program for children in Zimbabwe and he also supports a variety of charitable programs in Palm Beach County. In addition, he formed the Nick Price Junior Golf Foundation in 1997 to support junior golf development in Zimbabwe.

Price published an instructional book, The Swing, in 1997. He has designed golf courses in the U.S., Europe, South Africa and the Caribbean, with two courses currently under construction in Cancun, Mexico.

GCSAA is a leading golf organization and has as its focus golf course management. Since 1926, GCSAA has been the top professional association for the men and women who manage golf courses in the United States and worldwide. From its headquarters in Lawrence, Kan., the association provides education, information and representation to more than 20,000 members in more than 72 countries. GCSAA’s mission is to serve its members, advance their profession and enhance the enjoyment, growth and vitality of the game of golf. The association’s philanthropic organization, The Environmental Institute for Golf, works to strengthen the compatibility of golf with the natural environment through research grants, support for education programs and outreach efforts.

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