Friday, June 16
By Bob Harig
Special to ESPN Golf Online
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- He is 60 years old now, having achieved more than any player in golf history. A burgeoning golf-course design business will keep his legacy alive for years to come, and you can picture the 11 grandchildren getting their run of his South Florida home, with Jack Nicklaus there to spoil them.
|  | | It was an emotional day for Nicklaus, who bowed out of his 44th consecutive Open. |
But the Golden Bear is still proud of his game, which made his inability to muster the old magic on Friday a bit sad. Nobody, least of all Nicklaus, wanted him to go out this way. Nobody wanted him to throw up an 82 in what was likely his last U.S. Open appearance. Nobody wanted to see him exit with a tear in his eye.
And yet there it was streaming down his face, something Nicklaus would have never allowed at another time, another place.
For four decades, he has competed against the greats of the game, from Ben Hogan all the way to Tiger Woods. He won 18 professional major championships, a career Grand Slam, 70 PGA Tour titles.
And he did it with a stiff upper lip.
But Nicklaus could not help it Friday afternoon. Sensing the end to an illustrious run of U.S. Open competitions, Nicklaus enjoyed a sentimental journey across the back nine of the Pebble Beach Golf Links.
Unable to sustain any success, realizing he would be unable to make the cut and extend his 44th consecutive U.S. Open to the weekend, Nicklaus took a look around, enjoyed the ovations at every hole, waved to the crowd.
And then at the 543-yard par-5 18th hole, Nicklaus did something he couldn't remember doing for some 20 years: he hit the green in two, unleashing a perfect drive, then reaching the putting surface with a gigantic 3-wood shot that needed to travel 260 yards to get to the pin.
Even Tiger Woods came up short.
Before Nicklaus attempted his eagle putt, he had to wipe the tears out of his eyes. The fact that his vision was blurred probably didn't help, may have even contributed to his three-putt par. No matter.
Nicklaus' U.S. Open career was -- in all probability -- coming to an end.
"I'd say the chances are pretty slim that I would ever play again," Nicklaus said. "Pebble Beach is a great place to end your Open career. This place sort of started in many ways my golf game. Almost 40 years later, it's a pretty fitting place to stop."
The 100th U.S. Open continued Friday with Woods leading the fog-delayed tournament and chasing Nicklaus' records.
But Nicklaus was the story on this day.
With his son Jackie on his bag, and sons Steve, Mike and Gary in the gallery along with their mother, Barbara, it was a fitting finale.
Nicklaus has so much history here, having won the 1961 U.S. Amateur, where he first fell in love with Pebble Beach. He later went on to win three Bing Crosby Pro-Ams and the 1972 U.S. Open, a tournament he won a record-tying four times.
Only a Tom Watson chip-in for birdie at Pebble's 71st hole in 1982 denied Nicklaus a record fifth Open title.
Watson, who played in the group behind Nicklaus on Friday, stood in the fairway and clapped along with thousands of spectators as the Golden Bear walked off the green. Nicklaus exchanged a hug with Watson afterward.
"The Open has always been the most important tournament to me," Nicklaus said. "It's our championship. I'm an American, it's the championship of our country, and I think it's the biggest tournament in the world for me.
"The only thing that redeemed this one was the walk up 18, which was very nice. And then at the end, I got to put a number on the scorecard and stop the bleeding."
That number was 82, the highest Nicklaus has ever shot in a U.S. Open round. That's pretty remarkable when you consider that through 44 championships he played 160 rounds and 11,614 strokes.
Nicklaus' first Open was in 1957 as a 17-year-old amateur. Played at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, Nicklaus opened the tournament with a birdie, then shot consecutive 80s to miss the cut.
He would not shoot in the 80s again until 1970 and only did so five times overall.
Nicklaus made 35 cuts, finished in the top-three on nine occasions and in the top-five 11 times. He holds or shares 25 U.S. Open records, including most victories along with Hogan, Bobby Jones and Willie Anderson.
But Pebble Beach was too much for Nicklaus this time. After an opening-round 73 that he completed early Friday morning, Nicklaus could not manage a birdie in the second round, shooting consecutive nines of 41. "I was too busy chopping out of the rough to worry about the end," he said.
The par-4 eighth hole, one that Nicklaus ranks among the best in golf, sort of epitomized his day.
"I hit three golf shots as good as three shots could be hit," he said. "I hit my tee shot with a 3-wood and still drove it through the fairway and into the hazard. I dropped the ball back, hit a 7-iron and couldn't hit it any better, and it landed 20 feet short of the hole and took one bounce over the green. And then I hit the prettiest little fluff shot you've ever seen, and it shoots all the way to the front of the green.
"Somebody was telling me something -- on my favorite hole."
"I'm ready to let it go, and for a very good reason," Nicklaus said. "I really don't think that I can compete anymore. I can occasionally play well if the conditions are such. But they got today where I had a horrible time trying to figure out what to do.
"I have no problem in letting go at all. As I say, I've had 44 great years at a U.S. Open. I don't know how many people who have played more than that."
Nobody has, which like most things in golf, puts Nicklaus in a class by himself.
Bob Harig, who covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times, writes a column every Tuesday for ESPN Golf Online.
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