Master of the domain

I've been a bit of a golf nut for a while now.

I went to the Augusta Masters in 1995 and took a photo of Jack Nicklaus walking off the sixth hole, which I later had blown up to 12 x 10. I later happened to visit Greg Norman - who is a friend - and we started talking about our heroes. I said that mine was Jack Nicklaus, and mentioned that I had taken a picture of him, which I happened to have in my bag at the time. He said, "Leave it with me, I'll get him to sign it for you." Within a week I had the photo back. Written on it was, "Deano, well done on a fantastic career. You've been one of the greats," signed "Jack Nicklaus".

It was funny - I never played golf when I was young. I was more interested in footy - more than cricket even. Probably the attraction came from reading his name constantly in the sports headlines. For some reason, I just liked his attitude, his flair - he came across as carefree to me. Of course, now that I've read heaps of books about him, I know that he was very meticulous about his game.

I have always liked players who have imposed themselves on the field. I liked Jack's body language. He made it look like he owned the course. He had the self-belief necessary to overcome all fears. It was amazing and inspiring to watch him play.