AUGUSTA, Ga. -- While Jack Nicklaus isn't sure where he'll
be when the Masters starts, he knows he doesn't have the heart to
be a spectator.
"I'm not going to sit around and watch a golf tournament," he
said. "I have never done it. Why would I do it now? I think I'm
going fishing or something."
So the 59-year-old Nicklaus will miss the Masters for the first
time in his career, although he will attend the Champions Dinner on
Wednesday. He has entered 40 times, won six green jackets and
finished 22 times in the top 10.
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| Jack Nicklaus will miss The Masters for the first time in his professional career. |
A Masters without Nicklaus is like the NBA Finals without
Michael Jordan or the NFL without John Elway.
"We'll miss him," said Tom Watson, a two-time Masters winner.
"But his presence will be there."
Battling hip problems, Nicklaus became the oldest player to
finish in the top 10 at the Masters last year, with a final round
4-under-par 68 to tie for sixth. He shot an amazing 7 under for the
final 10 holes.
Nicklaus had hip replacement surgery on Jan. 27. Since then he
has danced at a son's wedding and tied his own shoes. He hopes to
play later this year, perhaps in his Memorial Tournament in June,
and plans to be back at the Masters in 2000.
Nicklaus first played at Augusta National in 1959 as the U.S.
Amateur Champion but missed the cut with rounds of 76-74. He became
the youngest winner of the tournament at 23 in 1963. (Tiger Woods
now holds that record, winning at 21 in 1997).
Nicklaus also won the Masters in 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and
1986. The last championship came when he was 46, outlasting Seve
Ballesteros, Greg Norman and Tom Kite to become the oldest winner.
It was Nicklaus' last major triumph.
Four-time Masters winner Arnold Palmer, locked in many back-nine
duels with Nicklaus, will miss his old nemesis.
"For the last 10 years, he and I played a practice round each
year prior to the tournament," Palmer said. "When we first
started it we played with Norman and Gary Player. Then I started
inviting amateurs to join Jack and I. We had fun doing it. We made
up a game. No big deal. Jack never paid off."
It won't be the same without Nicklaus coming around Amen Corner
on championship Sunday, making every critical putt along the way.
Who can forget the Sunday in 1986 when Nicklaus rammed home a
20-foot birdie putt then raised his putter skyward as CBS TV
broadcaster Verne Lundquist said simply, "Yes, sir!"
The ensuing roar echoed across the course.
"You could always hear Jack's progress on Sunday at Augusta
National. You didn't need to see scoreboard," two-time winner Ben
Crenshaw said.
Added Woods: "I played right in front of him last year. We heard every single roar."
Nicklaus sometimes tries to hide his sentimentality about the
Masters, although he was moved to tears when a bronze plaque in his
honor was dedicated last year. It's affixed to a drinking fountain
between Nos. 16 and 17.
In 1965, Nicklaus wrote a letter to Bobby Jones and Clifford
Roberts, the founders of Augusta National, after winning his second
Masters title. Nicklaus had won by nine strokes, causing Jones to
remark that the power hitter "played a game with which I'm not
familiar."
Nicklaus told Jones in the letter, "The words you said at the
presentation are words I will cherish all my life."
Maybe that's why Nicklaus won't stay as a spectator. The
memories of past Masters would overwhelm him. The Golden Bear just
couldn't bear to watch.
