After 25 years, Jack's last hurrah a memory like no other
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Nick Price won three major championships, has a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame and is a former PGA Tour Player of the Year. In other words, the guy's big-league bona fides are a foot thick and etched in a bronze bust.
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| The lasting image of Jack Nicklaus victory was this reaction to his birdie putt on No. 17. (Getty Images) |
OK, so it's not all you need to know.
Price was on the course for that ethereal day at Augusta National, paired alongside Greg Norman in the final group. At times, they felt like veritable pooper-scoopers, cleaning up after the herd following Jack Nicklaus' victory parade had wandered through.
Over and over, Price and the Shark heard spontaneous eruptions as the 46-year-old semi-retiree summoned the thunder once more, claiming the greatest title of his career, if not the most memorable victory in the annals of the game. Listening to Price retell the story 25 years later, sounding like a kid describing his first smooch, reaffirms its special place atop the pantheon.
Players can be fans, too.
Ask any golfer who's old enough what they were doing when Nicklaus won his sixth green jacket and the answers are invariably detailed and instantaneous. Price and Norman were on the back nine, surrounded and suffocated in roars, and they knew exactly what it all meant.
"Here comes Jack," Price laughed, "and he means business."
Even after a quarter century, the Nicklaus charge seems as preposterous as the plaid Sansabelt slacks he wore that day. Nicklaus hadn't won a major in six years and was more engulfed in his corporate dealings than golf. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had literally written him off as over the hill, and he started the back nine on Sunday still four shots back.
By the time it was over, the Golden Bear had claimed his record-extending 18th major while shooting 30 on the back nine -- with a bogey. After Price finished, he wandered into the Augusta National locker room and spotted future Masters champion Sandy Lyle, wrung out and seated on a bench.
For four hours, the Scotsman owned a front-row seat to history -- he'd played alongside Nicklaus and witnessed what amounted to divine intervention.
"I said, 'What was it like?'" Price laughed. "Sandy was not the best at describing things, but he was just absolutely speechless. I mean, it was so funny."
Lyle couldn't have done it justice, anyway. The Bear had beaten back future Hall of Famers Tom Kite, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson, Price and Norman in what is almost universally considered the most memorable Masters of them all. For all the chaos on the course, the mood outside the ropes was nearly as manic.
Fans stampeded between shots trying to catch a glimpse of Nicklaus, while millions watching on TV around the globe were awestruck, bolted to their sofas and telephoning their friends in a mood approaching outright incredulity. With Nicklaus' son Jackie serving as his caddie, sons called their fathers. Generational walls were being broken down as the middle-aged man taught those young kids a thing or two about how to seal the deal, one last time.
Are you watching this?
The mood was alternately sublime, surreal and ridiculous. After all, Nicklaus arrived in Augusta parked at No. 160 on the money list and winless for two years. Even as the final round began, with Nicklaus in the fifth-to-last group off the tee and locked in a seven-way tie for ninth, his fans were calling it a moral victory.
Nicklaus kept pouring in putts and pouring on the heat. He birdied three in a row starting at No. 9, then added another at the 13th. He eagled No. 15 and birdied the 16th from three feet. As he rolled in a birdie from 11 feet on the 17th for the lead, he stuck out his tongue and slowly raised his putter overhead as the ball fell, a moment that was captured in dozens of photographs and memorialized in a statue in Augusta.
That particular instant became frozen in the brainstem of an impressionable 10-year-old in Southern California named Tiger Woods, while simultaneously, a half a world away in South Africa, a teenager named Ernie Els realized he had plenty more to learn about the game he hoped to someday play as a pro.
That image on the 17th is hardly the only snapshot in time from that indescribable Sunday. Even after all these years, words don't come easily, but we'll let each of these folks try nonetheless.
| Nicklaus' Scorecard - Sunday, April 13, 1986 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | OUT | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | IN | TOT |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 35 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 65 |
| To Par | -2 | -3 | -3 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -3 | -3 | -4 | -5 | -4 | -5 | -5 | -7 | -8 | -9 | -9 | -9 | -9 |
Gary Nicklaus
Son, age 17
At home in West Palm Beach, Fla.
"I was watching on TV and not a lot was happening. I had my scuba tanks and scuba gear in the boat, and the boat was going down the lift. Then he birdied No. 9. I was kind of still watching, and he birdied 10. He birdies 11. I am thinking we should put the boat back up, and we did. I was sitting there with a buddy of mine, we watched the whole thing, and it was unbelievable, it was surreal.
"My first real memories are of him winning are the 1980 [majors], the U.S. Open and the PGA, when I was 11 years old at the time and I was starting to understand. In 1986, I was 17 years old. It was unbelievable, fun to watch. You see Tiger, the way over the last few years, how he would come up the leaderboard, and people would start going the other way. Well, when he [dad] started going up that leaderboard, people went the other way.
"I actually had a putter I was holding when we watched, one I used to use, and I put it down on the 12th hole and he bogeyed. So, a little superstition, I held it the rest of the way."
Barbara Nicklaus
Wife
Watching at Augusta National with friends
"The week started out with Tom McCollister's piece [in the Journal-Constitution] -- he's over the hill, he's done, he can't win -- and we had a lot of fun with that. It was on the refrigerator and of course, he pretended he didn't see it.
"I think when he made the putt on No. 9, there was an entirely different reaction from the crowd, and after Seve [Ballesteros] made that eagle on No. 8, there was that reaction, and Jack said to Jackie, 'Let's see if we can make some noise up here.' Then he sank that putt for birdie. I think that's when the gallery had a little turnaround and thought something exciting could happen."
Nick Price
PGA Tour professional
In last pairing with Norman
"Greg and I were in the last group, and got back on the 13th tee there and normally you look down the 13th fairway and there's just a swath of people. And there were, like, 30 people watching us. It was like a Monday practice round. In fact, there's more people on Monday."
When Nicklaus eagled the 15th, all vestiges of civility were gone.
"We saw the putter go up and we knew it was going in and the loudest roar I have ever heard on a golf course was right then and there. And of course, it said on the back of the patrons badges, 'Do not run.'
"Well, people were running everywhere. You saw all of the guys just running trying to find a spot because they knew it was something magical that was happening. ... But an incredible atmosphere and just, I don't know how to say it. Even when I won my majors, it didn't feel anything like that atmosphere."
Ernie Els
Age 16
Watching from South Africa at 1 a.m.
"I was really coming into my own as a junior player, an amateur player in South Africa. That year, I won the South African Amateur as a 16-year-old, so I thought I knew what I was doing. So that was played in March.
"In April, I watched Jack win the Masters. It was basically a miracle happening in front of our eyes and it was really exciting to watch with my dad. It just gave me even more of an inspiration to play the game, knowing that a 46-year-old won. It was quite amazing.
"It was late. I had to ask my mom for permission to stay up."
Jim Furyk
Age 15
Watching from his home course in Pennsylvania
"We were just starting to get into our golf season. So as soon as the telecast came on, I was with two other juniors that day. We went to the 19th hole, grabbed a Coke and hot dog, whatever, sat down in front of a television.
"There was no one in the place. And as the day went on, the 19th hole filled up, as word got out that Nicklaus was leading. It really filled up. So about mid- to two-thirds of the way through the telecast, it was the three of us sitting at the first table in front of the television, and when I turned around it filled with a bunch of guys having a beer and the place was packed.
"It was kind of cool. They let the three of us stay at the very front table. I love Jack, and to see him make the charge, and Seve was in there and Norman was there. Probably the very first tournament that I can remember shots being hit and where I was. It is the very first one."
Gary Koch
PGA Tour professional
Playing one group ahead of Nicklaus with Bob Tway
"It was funny, but the first nine holes, there wasn't much going on. On 13, he makes a putt and the place erupts. Then we had to start timing our shots to when he wasn't playing, because the crowd was so loud.
"That was back when the noise really reverberated. We half-jogged to the 16th green hoping we could finish before he putted [for eagle] on the 15th. At the time, it was the loudest roars I had ever heard, and so loud, it made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. We were just trying to get out of the way."
Mark McCumber
PGA Tour professional
Paired two groups in front of Nicklaus with Corey Pavin
"We walked to the 16th and hear this deafening roar -- he had made the eagle putt on 15, and everybody went crazy. Then they posted the score, and everybody goes crazy all over again.
"We had to time our shots the whole rest of the way to where he wasn't hitting, and they weren't putting up the new numbers on the scoreboards. We did that all the way in. It's the only time at Augusta where I ever waited around to see anybody finish. No way I was missing it."
Lee Trevino
PGA Tour professional
Watching from airport watering hole in Atlanta
"When I finished, Jack hadn't teed off," Trevino said at the Toshiba Classic this spring. "There was a bar across from the gate at the airport and I am drinking double scotches. 'Hold the plane, hold the plane!' We are screaming at this guy to hold the plane. Everybody is watching and the airport is going nuts."
Curtis Strange
PGA Tour professional
Had finished round and was watching TV in clubhouse
"Usually we are trying to escape as quickly as possible. But that afternoon, I, along with alot of my colleagues, sat in that player dining area with a lot of press, riveted to the TV. It was truly amazing.
"One lasting impression I have in my mind is Jackie and Jack walking off the last green together, arm in arm, and as a father, I think we can all relate to that.
"At 46, that was unheard of back then. I don't care who you were, Jack Nicklaus, or anybody. Back then, 46 was like 56 today. It was truly phenomenal what he did. It didn't surprise anybody, I don't think, but it truly was phenomenal."
Tim Finchem
PGA Tour commissioner
"I was living in Washington, D.C., where I had a lobbyist business and the PGA Tour was a client of ours," Finchem said on the 20th anniversary of the win. "I'll never forget it. I had three or four friends over, and we had an office pool. I took Nicklaus with the first pick. It was riveting. It was vintage Jack Nicklaus -- he was what the back nine at Augusta is all about."
George O'Grady
European Tour commissioner
"It was my first Masters, and I watched the ending from inside the men's grill room in the clubhouse," said O'Grady, a deputy tour official at the time. "I had been out on the course and left after Seve had hit a wonderful shot into the 13th. At the time I was thinking that Seve had won the Masters and what a wonderful thing it would be for our tour.
"Then Mr. Nicklaus started his charge. I will tell you that the noise in the men's grill that day almost took the roof off the place."
Note: It's a three-story building, too.
Jack Nicklaus
PGA Tour professional
Paired in fifth-to-last group
"The fans there were fantastic, no question about that. And what's happened since, it seems as though I don't care where I go, I always run into somebody that says, 'You know, I was in an airport in '86 and I canceled my airplane and sat there and watched it because I couldn't leave.'
"It was a neat win and I guess nobody really expected me to be in contention at that point in my career, particularly even me. I had not really prepared all that great for it that spring. But once I got myself in contention, muscle memory and knowing how to play golf came back."
Arnold Palmer
PGA Tour professional
Watching from Orlando, Fla.
"I was sitting in my apartment watching on television," Palmer recalled on the 20th anniversary. "Of course, the difference between me and all the people in the room was that I knew he could win it, because I'd been there with him.
"He was determined. I'd seen that look before."
Peter Kostis
CBS Sports analyst and swing coach
Walking the Augusta National grounds
At the time, Kostis was on the ground serving as a swing coach for guys like Koch and hadn't yet begun his broadcasting career.
"The two biggest memories of that Sunday were of the putt at No. 17 for Jack, and the shot that Seve hit at No. 15 into the water. Even by Seve standards, that was a horrific shot.
"I remember being as sad for Seve as I was happy for Jack, because Seve felt he was never a fan favorite there, right or wrong, and that he never got his fair share of acclaim."
Phil Mickelson Age 15
Watching with parents at home
"I do remember watching that tournament at home and just couldn't believe what was happening, telling my mom, 'Look at what Jack is doing,' when he birdied No. 11," Mickelson said on the event's 20th anniversary. "When he bogeyed 12, I thought, 'Oh, goodness, come on, Jack.' And we were all pulling for it to happen.
"And still, Jack needed a little bit of help because Seve could easily have run away with it, as well as he was playing, and Kite was knocking on the door. It was exciting. I still think that was the greatest Masters ever.''
Tiger Woods
Age 10
Watching from home with his dad
"First of all, I truly didn't understand what the Masters was all about. So as far as impact, seriously, the only memory I really have of that tournament was the putt at 17. Just how [Nicklaus'] putter went up, and how basically he walked it in. I had not recalled anyone else doing that prior to that.
"That's what kind of stuck in my head. But after that, I've seen that thing thousands of times, just the whole round, the whole tournament. But just that one time, that's the only thing I can really recall from it."
Geoff Shackelford
Book author, GeoffShackelford.com
Son of former UCLA basketball great Lynn Shackelford
Shackelford, then 14, and his dad watched the par-3 tournament and the first three rounds, but headed home to Los Angeles midway through the final day, driving to the airport in Atlanta to catch the flight. Lynn didn't want his son to miss school Monday. You can see where this is headed, right?
Geoff, armed with a Sony Watchman, recalls pulling into metro Atlanta and finally being able to discern fuzzy images on the tiny TV screen, and trying to figure out what had happened in the two hours since they'd left the Augusta grounds. The conversation in the rental car went something like this as Geoff fiddled with the antenna in an attempt to catch the signal from the local broadcast affiliate.
Lynn: "Can you see anything?"
Geoff: "Well, it looks like they are in the Butler Cabin. Hmmm. And that sort of looks like Jack Nicklaus."
Lynn: "That can't be right. They must have invited him in to answer some questions."
Geoff: "Uh, he's standing up, and it looks like Bernhard Langer is slipping the green jacket over his shoulders."
Lynn: "Oh, no."
Jim Nantz
CBS Sports broadcaster
Stationed in 16th tower at Augusta National
"It was my second golf tournament, ever. When it ended, I climbed down and was walking back to the CBS compound when Ken Venturi pulled up in a cart and asked me to hop in. I was flattered that he knew my name.
"Then he asks, 'Jimmy, how old are you?' I said I was 26. He said, 'I am going to make a prediction. You are going to be the first guy ever to broadcast 50 of these one day, but I will tell you one thing. You will never live to see another day greater than this around Augusta National.'"
Once Nantz finished blushing over the flattery, the second part of Venturi's spot-on declaration hit home. How can the greatest golf story ever told be topped?
Twenty-five years later, Venturi was never more right.
