AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jack Nicklaus had already won 17 major championships, the most of all time, when he showed up here in 1986 to compete in the Masters.
Actually, the 46-year-old arrived to play in the Masters. Sure, he’d like to compete, but he’d gone into something of a semiretirement by then, playing only about 12-14 tournaments a year. It had been six years since his last major and he was not working on his game the way he once did.
There was a measure of fun baked in. His son Jackie would carry his bag. His mother and sister would come to the tournament for the first time since 1959.
“It looked like I was pretty much done playing golf,” Nicklaus said Thursday after he, Tom Watson and Gary Player kicked off the Masters with ceremonial tee shots. “I really wasn’t, you might say, expecting to win anymore.”
Nicklaus’ place in golfing history and among golfing royalty was secure, and always will be. He didn’t need to win.
Yet in its own way, his triumph 40 years ago had a significant impact on his career and legacy anyway.
Nicklaus was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1970s, but by the mid-1980s he had become something of a memory. New golf fans of that decade, and young fans just coming of age, had heard stories of Nicklaus’ greatness, but hadn’t seen much of it live.
That is until one of the most dramatic Sundays in the tournament’s history, with five different players holding at least a share of the lead at some point. Nicklaus had shot a third-round 69 to start the day tied for ninth, only to produce an astounding 65 to wind up with his sixth green jacket.
He capped it with an eagle on 15, a near hole-in-one turned birdie on 16 and then a final birdie on 17, courtesy of his famed downhill putt with the slight break to the left on the ever-challenging green with CBS’ Verne Lundquist delivering the perfect call — “yes, sir.”
For anyone who needed to see Nicklaus magic, or be reminded of Nicklaus magic, well, here it was.
“I think to a lot of people, it sort of verified my career, I suppose,” Nicklaus said. “It gained some career-ending respect for that, and for me too.”
It became the most famous of all his triumphs. It also extended his greatness, defeating some new champions, including Greg Norman, who had emerged as one of the stars of the 1980s, but finished second that day.
Augusta National still significantly limited broadcasts of the Masters then; permitting CBS to show only the second nine on Saturday and Sunday. Attendance appeared to be much lower, with photos showing Nicklaus teeing off on 18 in the final round with only a couple hundred patrons watching.
The sparsity of coverage made that memorable run even more impactful. It’s been considered by many to be one of, if not the, greatest tournaments in golf history.
That he needed one more Masters is absurd, yet the last turned out to be his best.
“Absolutely No. 1,” Nicklaus said. “… People ask me, what’s your favorite one? I loved them all but ’86 was one where I wasn’t expected to win, over the hill and all the routine. And I won. It had to be the most special to me.”
Nicklaus’ career accomplishments are almost cartoonish. It’s not just the 18 majors, (Tiger Woods is second with 15) but the 19 second-place finishes. From 1962-1980, 76 major championships were staged. Nicklaus finished in the top five in 47 of them, a ridiculous 61.8% of the time.
“I finished second 19 times in majors,” Nicklaus said. “To me, I just kicked myself for finishing [second] 19 times, I should have won some.”
“It was a good thing,” offered Watson, his longtime friend.
“Actually it was a good thing,” Nicklaus said. “But I didn’t like it.”
Thursday, at 86, Nicklaus was back at Augusta National, on the ceremonial first tee, soaking up the roars of the crowd as the sun began to rise over Georgia. He first came here 57 years prior, as a 19-year-old from Ohio State. He was of enough renown that he and his father were invited to Bobby Jones’ cabin on the grounds to personally meet with the Augusta National designer.
Forever intertwined with golf, he barely plays any longer, maybe once a year. He had surgery to treat carpal tunnel syndrome five weeks ago, so he was worried about holding onto the club on Thursday. He had Jackie tee the ball up and encouraged the galleries to spread out …”I don’t want to kill anybody,” he noted with a laugh.
He managed to avoid that, in part because he sprayed a drive left over the gallery. At least, he noted, no one got hit. He considered pulling his tee out of the ground, but fearing a loss of balance, just laughed and waved at it.
“I don’t know what was running through my mind other than not to hurt anyone,” Nicklaus joked. “It’s always a great privilege and great honor … I’ve been doing it for a few years now, it’s pretty special.”
Forty years ago, he managed one more charge, delivering a Masters that was not just memorable, but served to remind everyone of Jack Nicklaus’ genius.
“It was a nice way to finish a career, you might say,” he said.
