It would be easy for some to forget that Gary Player actually completed the Career Grand Slam before Jack Nicklaus.

By the start of the 1964 season, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player were all one major victory away from becoming the third male golfer to ever complete the Career Grand Slam. Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan had previously won all four of the events now recognised as the major championships.

Remarkably, the iconic trio were each missing a different major from their collections. Player had won The Open Championship, The Masters, and the PGA Championship between 1959 and 1962.

There was good reason to think that it was just a matter of time before the South African won the US Open. He finished second in his first appearance at the event in 1958, while he had three more top-10s over the next five years.

How Jack Nicklaus helped Gary Player complete the Career Grand Slam

Player had finished second at The Masters in the first major of 1965. However, he had not won that year ahead of the US Open at Bellerive.

But that wait for a victory ended at the second major of the season. And, as Player told WorldSportTV in 2009, it was Nicklaus who played an important part in his victory.

“You must appreciate I wanted to try and be the first modern day Grand Slam player, in other words beat Jack Nicklaus, who at that time was the big competition, and Arnold Palmer, looking at who might win the Grand Slam first. We were competitive. I wanted to be the first to do it. So you win The Open Championship, which is the most important tournament in my eyes, and then I go along and I’m the first foreigner to win The Masters. And then we have the PGA Championship, and I win that. Now I have not won the US Open,” he said.

“Jack Nicklaus played a vital role. He said, ‘come and practice with me instead of going to the regular tour event’. I said, ‘no, I need the money. I’ve got to go and practice’. He said, ‘you come with me, you’ve got to get used to and you’ve got to get settled down and play the course continuously in St. Louis’. Anyway I went with him and I managed to win the championship there, and that was the nail in the coffin. I had now won the Grand Slam, and I thought it was very sporting of Jack Nicklaus knowing that we were both vying to be the first to do it that he would encourage me to do that.”

The story of Gary Player’s US Open victory in 1965

There was good reason for Nicklaus’ desire to learn more about the course, as Bellerive had only been open for a handful of years by the time it hosted the US Open in 1965. Player found himself tied for fourth after an opening round of 70, two shots adrift of Ken Nagle.

Player went to the top of the leaderboard after remaining at even par on Friday. By the time he reached the 16th hole on Sunday, the Black Knight was three shots clear of his closest rival and seemingly on the verge of making history.

However, a double bogey for Player on 16, as well as a birdie for Nagle on the 17th, left the two men tied. Player left a birdie putt for the win on the 72nd hole in the jaws of the cup, which meant that a playoff was required.

The playoff was much more straightforward for Player. He was five shots ahead by the time they reached the ninth tee, and was able to win by three despite making bogey on 17 and 18.

Nicklaus actually finished outside the top 30 that week. But he would join Player as a Career Grand Slam winner the following year by clinching The Open Championship.