Associated Press
Wednesday, March 29

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- If any place can restore the magic for Jack Nicklaus, it's Desert Mountain.

Nicklaus, trying to regain the awesome swing that deserted him as his hip degenerated, won four of his six Senior Tour majors at The Tradition on the tight, hilly Cochise Course he designed.

	In two Senior starts this year, Nicklaus finished 34th and 14th.

"I know the good parts," Nicklaus said after practice Wednesday. "I know where you can get in trouble, too."

Nicklaus, 60, won The Tradition in 1990, his first year of eligibility. He repeated in 1991 and also won in 1995 and 1996. He picked up four other Senior Tour titles before making up a three-stroke deficit in the last eight holes to defeat Hale Irwin on April 7, 1996.

It looked then as if Nicklaus would rule the Senior Tour, but that was his last victory at any level.

His left hip began to bother him so much it changed his swing. His senior tournament appearances dwindled from six in 1997 and 1998 to three last year after hip-replacement surgery in January.

Now, the sweet rotation and powerful follow-through that carried him to 70 victories on the PGA Tour is straining muscles atrophied from disuse.

"I have a hip now that allows me to make a motion that I haven't been able to make for probably 10 years," Nicklaus said. "But now when I use it, I'm using muscles that I haven't used for a long time.

"I just have to go through this thing and relearn the game. I know that sounds strange, but I bailed out with my hip for who knows how many years."

Eighteen of his wins on the regular tour were majors. The chance to add another major is a strong incentive to Nicklaus, who has been working his way through 50 clubs and six putters in an attempt to get comfortable with one set.

"I changed my irons, and I've got some fairway woods I've been fiddling with," he said. "I haven't decided on a driver yet or a putter, which are two pretty important clubs."

To get another win at the end of his fourth decade as a pro, Nicklaus faces serious competition from Irwin, who won five times last season, two-time Tradition winner Gil Morgan, and relative newcomers Tom Kite, Lanny Wadkins, Bruce Fleischer and Tom Watson.

Graham Marsh won last year, when two days of snow scaled the tournament from 72 holes to 36.

But the passage of time may be Nicklaus' biggest challenge -- seven winners in The Tradition's 11-year history were 52 or younger. He was the oldest winner when he took the 1996 crown at 56.

And, his attempts to get back into playing shape forced him to deal with a variety of aches and strains -- "a bunch of other little dings," as Nicklaus puts it -- that slowed his progress.

But none of it kept him from deciding to play a combined 20 events this year, including all the majors on both tours.

Part of his goal is to play in tournaments with his son Gary, who earned his tour card in November.

Another part is plain stubbornness, the kind that allowed him to play through hip pain and shoot 68 in the final round of the 1998 Masters.

"It's been a struggle, but hard work certainly is the recipe to getting better," Nicklaus said. "That's the way I've always felt."