Sunday has been associated with red for the better part of this century. But Tiger Woods wasn’t the only one in the history of Golf to don a special color during the final round. Years before, his idol, Jack Nicklaus, sported yellow on Sundays, most famously during his record-breaking sixth Masters victory. 

Unlike Woods, it wasn’t his power color, per se. Rather, Nicklaus wore yellow to honor a special friendship with an 11-year-old boy who passed away too soon. Since then, it has been expanded into a charity campaign. Ahead of the Memorial, the 18-time Major winner detailed the circumstances that led to the genesis of ‘Play Yellow’. 

Jack Nicklaus remembers a special friendship

The Nicklaus and Smith family go back in years. Rev. Dr. William E. Smith was the senior pastor at the Broadway United Methodist Church in Ohio, which the 18-time major winner attended. Jack Nicklaus was introduced to Craig, their son, there. The 11-year-old, with a penchant for Golf, developed a rare bone cancer, Ewing sarcoma. 

Doctors gave him six months to live. Nicklaus recounted, “[H]is mother asked Barbara if I would call him. So I called him and talked to him and developed a relationship. And I talked to him quite frequently.” One day after winning a tournament, the veteran golfer called up his young fan. “Craig said to me, he says, Jack, Jack he says, do you know why you won today? And I said, Why is that, Craig? He says, I wore my lucky yellow shirt. So that’s where it started.”

“When Craig would see Jack on TV in a yellow shirt, he’d say, ‘Hello to you, Jack.’” His father, Smith, told Golf World in 2011. Craig lived longer than the doctors predicted. However, on June 7, 1971, a few months after the Golden Bear’s PGA Championship triumph, Craig passed away at the age of 13. 

15 years later, his wife, Barbara’s mother breathed her last, and Rev. Smith presided at the funeral. Nicklaus said, “I was rummaging through my suitcase in 1986 and I found this yellow shirt. And I said, What do you think, Barbara? And she says, Craig would love it. Go for it. So I wore a yellow shirt on Sunday in ’86, and then I won and ended up having to tell the story.”

The partnership with Children’s Miracle Network came later. Before that, Nicklaus and his wife decided to honor the young fan with yellow ribbons at the golf tournaments. But Children’s Miracle Network wanted to expand it, and Nicklaus suggested doing it through the PGA Tour. 

The yellow shirt will live on

The Children’s Miracle Network, which raises funds for 170 children’s hospitals across the U.S. and Canada, sat with the PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan. The plan was to raise $100 million in five years. Thus the birth of ‘Play Yellow’. Peter Malnati and Chris Gotterup have served as the ambassadors of Play Yellow before. Jack Nicklaus revealed they surpassed the mark in 2023, their third year of the partnership. 

“So we started on this program and we passed, after about three and a half years, we passed about 130 million. And so I don’t know what level we’re at now, we’re 130 million plus.” Jack Nicklaus said in the Memorial press conference. The 84-year-old affirmed that the campaign wouldn’t stop just yet. Nicklaus and the PGA Tour want to raise more money. It’s his way of honoring a little friend and fan he lost too soon.