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Nicklaus recalls missing his shot at third-straight Masters victory
Posted: Saturday April 05, 2003 8:55 PM
Updated: Tuesday April 08, 2003 12:20 AM
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Jack Nicklaus hits a shot from the rough during the 1967 Masters. The first golfer to win two straight Masters, Nicklaus was not on his game and failed to make the cut in '67. File/AugustaChronicle |
By Scott Michaux
The Augusta Chronicle
Knowing what we know now, 35 years later, it sounds a little ridiculous. But with 30 years of tournament evidence to review, it seemed a reasonable enough statement to make.
"Nicklaus ... is trying to do what no man ever again may have the opportunity to do - win three straight Masters," Augusta Chronicle Sports Editor Robert Eubanks wrote of Jack Nicklaus on the morning of April 6, 1967.
Nicklaus didn't think in those terms.
"I was the first one to ever win two in a row," Nicklaus said. "I never worried about winning three in a row. I just didn't play well that year. The hardest is to win once, easier to win twice. It's got to be easier to win three."
Thirty-five years later, Barbara Nicklaus remembers most having to stay in Augusta for two extra days so her husband could present the green jacket to the man he beat in a playoff the year before - Gay Brewer.
"I'm not sure I stayed in Augusta. I might have left town and come back," Nicklaus said. "As a matter of fact, I did stay. Cliff Roberts took me around the golf course the next day, and I watched a little bit of golf."
Nicklaus recalls most the outcome.
"I remember I missed the cut," he said. "I shot 72 the first day. I shot 79, I think, the second. I remember missing a ton of putts."
Nicklaus arrived at Augusta in 1967 with concerns about his game. He played a heavy early schedule to prepare, but his iron play was spotty. He saw signs of it coming around, but he said on the tournament's eve that his game wasn't as sharp as he would have liked.
Still, Nicklaus was the odds-on favorite to duel with Arnold Palmer for the title. Nicklaus dominated in 1965 with a nine-stroke victory and a 15-under total of 271 that established records not broken until Tiger Woods and his runaway victory in 1997.
His victory in 1966 wasn't so smashing. He won in an 18-hole playoff over Tommy Jacobs and Brewer, but his performance didn't meet his high standards.
"I don't think I'll ever play that badly in the Masters again," he said before the 1967 tournament, "and if I do, I don't think I would have any kind of chance to win."
The hype wasn't as exhaustive as it is today for Woods, but it was certainly the most talked about topic heading into the event. Still, Nicklaus says that's no excuse and never should be.
"I had a lot of pressure on me, but I think it's a hell of a lot easier to win a tournament three times in a row than to win it once," he said. "You've already proven you can win on the course, and you have confidence there."
Like Woods, the 27-year-old Nicklaus had three green jackets to his credit when his quest for three in a row began. One more would tie his rival, Palmer, for the all-time record.
"Certainly I want that," he said before the tournament. "I want No. 5 and No. 6, too. So does Arnold."
Nicklaus had other designs as well - a Grand Slam - which he spoke of boldly and confidently before the 1967 Masters.
"I'm aiming for that," he said. "That's the main thing I work for."
For all his goals, the Masters was key. It was always his most important tournament of the year.
"I want to win it every year, and that's what I try to do," he said. "I don't pay any attention to jinxes and unprecedented things. I've got too many other things to worry about. If things happen, then all that comes with it is very nice to have."
Things didn't happen. Nicklaus made only two birdies on the par-5s and two bogeys for an even-par 72 that left him five shots behind leader Bert Yancey.
"I'm not particularly concerned," he said afterward. "This tournament has a long way to go."
It was shorter than Nicklaus expected. On a day when the mercury hit 91 degrees to set a record for that date in Georgia, Nicklaus melted. He posted nine bogeys and fired a second-round 79 to become the first defending champion to miss the cut since it was established in 1957.
"Everything I did was wrong," Nicklaus said. "Rounds like this have happened to me before, but never here."
When Nicklaus bogeyed No. 10 on Friday, he walked to the 11th tee and noticed a peculiar sight on the scoreboard - his name being peeled off for the first time in five years.
"I hated to see it," he said. "But they should have taken it down before then the way I was playing."
Still, Nicklaus was gracious in defeat.
"I've had some good luck in this tournament," he said. "Maybe I'm due for something bad. But there'll be another day. The world isn't going to change that much because this happened to me."
Golf has changed a little in the intervening 35 years. Tiger Woods is challenging all of the Bear's standards. What does Nicklaus think of Woods' chance to complete what he couldn't in 1967?
"He's just a very good player," Nicklaus said of Woods. "He has a lot of confidence on that golf course. He'll be tough to beat. He does not have to play his best to win. But I never had to play my best to win, either.
"If he plays well, he won't get beat. If he plays pretty well or OK, he should win. But if he just shanks it around, then somebody else has got a shot. But he can still win even hitting it all over the place. He's that good a player."
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
Copyright 2003 The Augusta Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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