Jack Nicklaus, one of golf's most influential forces on and off the course, has been selected to receive the 2005 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA). The award will be presented at the GCSAA Opening Session, Thursday, Feb. 10, held in conjunction with the 2005 Golf Industry Show, Feb. 7-12, in Orlando.

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 four-time winner of the British Open (1861, '62, '64 and '67); and ranked as one of the top links designers of the 19th century.

Nicklaus will be recognized for his lifetime contribution to the game.

"Jack Nicklaus truly embodies the spirit of the award," said GCSAA President Mark J. Woodward, CGCS. "Few, if any, rival his lifetime contributions to the game. He has touched nearly every aspect of the game, and has done so with the utmost class, integrity and excellence."

Nicklaus has been named "Golfer of the Century" or "Golfer of the Millennium" by almost every major golf medium in the world. He was also named the Individual Male Athlete of the Century by Sports Illustrated, and one of the 10 Greatest Athletes of the Century by ESPN. In 2001, he was honored with the first-ever ESPY Lifetime Achievement Award and became the first golfer - and only the third athlete - to receive the Vince Lombardi Award of Excellence. In 2003, he was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Legend Award.

Nicklaus' illustrious competitive career has spanned five decades, and includes 105 professional tournament victories worldwide and a record 18 professional major-championship titles. He is the only player to have won each of the game's majors at least twice (six Masters, five PGA Championships, four U.S. Opens, and three British Opens) and is a two-time U.S. Amateur champion. He is the only player to have completed the career "Grand Slam" on both the regular and champion tours.

A five-time winner of the PGA Player of the Year Award, Nicklaus has been the PGA Tour's leading money-winner eight times and runner-up six times. He has played on six Ryder Cup teams, captained two others, and served as U.S. Captain for the 1998 and 2003 Presidents Cup competitions. He will serve in that role again next year.

Considered one of the world's leading golf course designers, Nicklaus was named GolfWorld Architect of the Year in 1993, and in 1999, Golf Digest named him the world's leading active designer. In 2001, he was named recipient of both the Donald Ross Award (American Society of Golf Course Architects) and the Donald Rossi Award (Golf Course Builders Association of America). Nicklaus has been involved in the design of close to 230 golf courses around the world, while Nicklaus Design, the privately owned golf course design firm led by Jack and the Nicklaus family, has nearly 275 to its credit. More than 400 professional golf tournaments have been staged on as many as 75 Nicklaus-designed courses, including 18 current PGA TOUR and Champions Tour events, as well as the Ryder Cup, the PGA Championship and World Golf Championships.

He and his wife, Barbara, reside in North Palm Beach, Fla., and have five children.

Nicklaus joins a list of highly respected past honorees, including Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Tom Fazio, Gerald Ford, Bob Hope, Byron Nelson, Ken Venturi, Ben Crenshaw, Jaime Ortiz-Patino, Nancy Lopez, Tim Finchem, Walter Woods, Pete Dye and Rees Jones.

The Golf Industry Show debuts Feb. 10-12, 2005 in Orlando. Representing the merged trade shows of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and the National Golf Course Owners Association, it is the premier business-to-business golf trade show focusing on solutions to achieve success for each participant. Both organizations will continue to host their respective educational conferences, which will run concurrently with the trade show, but separate from each other. Networking, innovation and education converge to create an interactive trade show with on-floor programming to direct all audiences to the best solutions, whether it's for professional improvement or a better bottom line.

Since 1926, GCSAA has been the leading 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 21,000 individual members in more than 65 countries. GCSAA's mission is to serve its members, advance their profession and enhance the enjoyment, growth and vitality of the game of golf. Visit GCSAA at www.gcsaa.org.

For additional information about Nicklaus or Nicklaus Design, visit www.nicklaus.com.

Previous Old Tom Morris Award Winners:

[Note: The title "CGCS," after a superintendent's name, stands for Certified Golf Course Superintendent, which recognizes the achievement of high standards of professionalism through education and experience.]

Quoting Previous Old Tom Morris Award Winners

Rees Jones (2004)
"The superintendent has become such a force within the framework of golf. They're so adept at dealing with different situations every day in their work -- temperatures, climates, droughts, floods -- and GCSAA has done a very good job of educating the public how important these people are to the industry. We can never say enough about that."

Ken Venturi (1998)
"I won the PGA player of the year, rookie of the year, comeback player of the year, but this is the most important because I want people to have respect for this game. This is tradition."

Ben Crenshaw (1997)
"I'm just so honored. The Old Tom Morris Award and the Bobby Jones Award will always mean the most to me. I've always thought superintendents were underappreciated as a body. They do such a good job, and many times they are just taken for granted. Without a doubt, the most important person on the course is the person who takes care of it."

Byron Nelson (1994)
"I think the job the superintendents have done is the biggest improvement in golf today. The demands have caused it, yes, but also the education that the superintendents have now in agronomy and such (is critical). What I like is that golf course management has become so good universally."

Tom Watson (1991)
"In this day and age, a golf course superintendent must be an educator, scientist, agronomist, economist and a good people manager. If you put all this together with a love for a piece of earth, then you've got a good golf course superintendent."

Robert Trent Jones Sr. (1987)
"To golf course superintendents around the world I owe a great debt, and every architect owes a great debt. We can only continue to provide these great golf facilities with well-educated professionals to maintain them."

Patty Berg (1986)
"Personally, I am fascinated to watch the progress that has been made by golf course superintendents in general. I will never stop being amazed at some of the things the superintendents are doing to continually upgrade their product. Just like doctors and lawyers, golf course superintendents are professionals in every sense of the word."

Arnold Palmer (1983)
"It's all very different (than the days of when his father was superintendent at Latrobe Country Club). Today, I see the superintendent as a much more visible, important person -- one who is pointed at more often. He's under constant pressure to keep the course in top condition. It's tough, because you can't please everyone."