Should his 70th birthday find Jack Nicklaus in reflective mood come Thursday, he will undoubtedly choose to enjoy some private time mentally fast-forwarding through his remarkable life-story: it is easy to imagine him pausing at the 1986 Masters at Augusta, the scene of his unlikely triumph at the age of 46. Nicklaus entered the final round on two-under-par 214, only four strokes off the lead but confronted by, in the words of his playing partner Sandy Lyle, "what might have been the strongest last day leaderboard ever assembled in a major championship". Between the Golden Bear and the Green Jacket lurked Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Tommy Nakajima (-4), Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer and Nick Price (-5), and the tournament leader Greg Norman (-6).
When asked what he would need to shoot to claim his 18th major, Nicklaus had replied: "66 will tie it, 65 will win it." It was a prophecy that looked beyond him and Lyle throughout the first eight holes. "I was happy to be part of what I thought of as our two-man supporting-cast," recalled the Scot, who would win the Masters two years later. "And I think Jack - who had been dismissed as 'done, washed-up and through' in one newspaper - was simply content to be playing in the one of the last pairings in a major again after several barren years."
Despite drilling home birdie putts from 11 feet on the ninth and 25 feet at the 10th, Nicklaus was still four shots adrift of Ballesteros, who had moved to eight- under after holing out from 40 yards for an eagle on the eighth. "All this time I was playing well if not spectacularly," said Lyle, who would eventually be round in 71 to finish joint 11th. "But as the excited roars and sympathetic sighs went up from different parts of the course, I felt privileged to have the best seat in the house throughout the unfolding drama."
Ballesteros bogeyed the ninth while Nicklaus claimed his third successive birdie on the 11th to reduce the deficit to two, only for the advantage to swing Ballesteros's way again when the Golden Bear dropped a shot on the short 12th. Although he birdied the par-five 13th following an imperious three-iron to 30 feet, Ballesteros, the 1980 and 1983 Masters champion, struck a sumptuous six-iron to eight feet for his second eagle of the round on the same hole to move into a seemingly unassailable four-stroke lead.
"Then on the par-five 15th, Jack launched a humongous drive of 298 yards, leaving him 202 yards to the green," recalled Lyle. "Do you think this would be a good time for an eagle, son?" Nicklaus asked Jack Jr, who was caddying, before unleashing a mighty three iron to eight feet from the hole to reduce the deficit to two as the crowds whooped and hollered. The noise each and every one of Nicklaus's shots generated was deafening, particularly on the par-three 16th where his five-iron split the pin, coming to a rest six feet behind the hole before rolling ever so slowly to within three feet. Whether he was unnerved by the cacophony of cheers which greeted Jack's latest birdie, back on the 15th Ballesteros dumped his approach into the water while his playing partner Tom Kite made his move with a birdie.
"On the 17th, Jack drove into the rough on the left and was swallowed up by the swarm of spectators," said Lyle. "If I could not see him, I certainly had a clear sight of his ball as it emerged from the throng to land 11 feet from the hole. "He was still faced with a wicked double-borrow putt, the type of putt that if you attempted it 30 times, then you might - with luck - hole it once. After racking his brains trying to gauge the right line, Jack appeared to know that it was going nowhere but straight into the middle of the hole as he stalked the ball every inch of the way with the eye of a tiger.
"Cue new outbreak of pandemonium; the Golden Bear was now in sole possession of the lead, and the impossible dream had become a distinct possibility. "Poor Seve, it was somehow inevitable that minutes later he would three-putt the same green but Kite, still only one shot back on eight-under-par, had been joined by Greg Norman after the Australian's back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th. "Not surprisingly, we - well, Jack to be strictly accurate - were cheered every step of the 405-yard 18th, which, disappointingly perhaps, Jack failed to birdie, tapping in for a par four and the 65 that he had predicted would 'win it'. Now, all he had to do was wait.
"Kite had a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th to force a play-off but the ball lipped the hole, then Norman, having birdied the 17th, arrived on the 72nd and last hole of the 50th Masters requiring a birdie to snatch the Green Jacket from the Golden Bear's hungry claws. "The Australian sliced his approach into the gallery, chipped on to 16 feet, missed the putt and at the venerable age of 46, Jack Nicklaus had won his 18th 'Major' championship.
"For the record, from the ninth tee that climactic afternoon at Augusta, Jack scored birdie, birdie, birdie, bogey, birdie, par, eagle, birdie, birdie, par. Seven-under-par through 10 of the toughest holes in golf - the stuff of a true master." Happy 70th, Jack ... @Email:sports@thenational.ae
