“Be the right club” implored Jack Jnr.
“It is” said Jack Snr, as he swooped down to collect his tee from the closely trimmed grass on the 170-yard, par-3, 16th, at the Augusta National Golf Club, not taking even a cursory glance as to which direction his freshly hit ball was travelling.
Jack Nicklaus, 5-iron still in hand, instinctively knew he’d hit a good one.
Final day Sunday, at the 1986 Masters and the legendary ‘Golden Bear’ was having the time of his life with his liked-named oldest son, who was caddying for him, on what would be one last iconic winning journey at one of four major golf tournaments.
Fast approaching six years on from his 17th major success, a success attained at Oak Hill, Rochester, New York, when winning the 1980 USPGA, the inspiration for his unlikely victory came from a combination of the love and support of his wife and children, and a scathing article a friend of Nicklaus found within the sports pages of an Atlanta newspaper, a week before the 1986 Masters took place.
That friend, and business partner, was John Montgomery.
Montgomery tore the article from the offending newspaper and stuck it to Nicklaus’ refrigerator door.
Nicklaus, not one to usually bristle at negative press, allowed the article to rankle in the days prior to setting off for Augusta with his son.
Classed as over the hill; classed as washed up, at 46 years-old the article had even suggested that Nicklaus was too old to play.
With his professional pride sufficiently poked with a stick, rather than get angry, Nicklaus set out to enjoy sharing the Masters with his son and to give as good an account of his still potent skills as he possibly could.
A first round 74, left Nicklaus six shots off the pace-setters going into day two.
At the halfway stage that gap hadn’t altered, although he had completed his round in three fewer shots than the previous day. A bigger problem was that a true golfing heavyweight was now leading the way, in the shape of Seve Ballesteros.
On day three Nick Price was the big story, posting a then Augusta course record of 63, moving him to within one shot of the new co-leaders Greg Norman and Bernhard Langer, as part of an increasing bunfight for the fabled green jacket, in which eight contenders were separated by just two shots.
As for Nicklaus, a third round 69 left him four shots off the leaders. While he had overturned final day deficits before, he had never come back from four shots behind to claim any of his previous major titles, going into the last 18 holes. He continued to go relatively unnoticed and even slipped a further shot away from the lead, shortly before the magic began to unfold.
The American golfing public was desperate for a hero.
1985 had been a barren year from a demanding American perspective. Although two of the four majors had ended up in American hands, there was a compelling European rise which had coincided with what seemed to be the end of the Nicklaus-Tom Watson-Lee Trevino era.
Europe had even won the Ryder Cup.
Urging on a return of the megaliths, it was to Watson that the Augusta crowd looked to in hope of a hero being able to roll back the years. A third round 68 had brought him to within two shots of the lead.
It was a tentative field which stumbled their way through the front-9 on that picture-perfect Sunday. As Norman battled to hold his nerve, Ballesteros drew level with him on 7-under, and Tom Kite, after a stuttering start to the day, brought himself back into the reckoning due to an eagle putt at the 8th, something which Ballesteros also managed.
As the hoped-for Watson charge failed to materialise, Nicklaus took one step forward, and one step back, thanks to a birdie on the 2nd and a bogey on the 4th. When he sank an innocent looking birdie on the 9th, nobody on the ground at Augusta, or amongst the millions watching on television around the world, could have had an inkling of what was about to unfold on the back-9.
The host broadcaster, CBS, crowbarred in recorded footage of Nicklaus’ birdie on the 9th, between what it saw as the real action being served up by Ballesteros, Norman and Kite.
When Nicklaus sank a 25-yard putt for another birdie on the 10th, CBS began to take notice. Increasingly so, when he made it three birdies in succession on the 11th, combined to Ballesteros dropping a shot simultaneously on the 9th. The Golden Bear was now within just two shots of the lead.
As a stunned crowd struggled to contain its fevered disbelief, Nicklaus’ charge swiftly appeared to be over, as soon as it had begun, as he dropped a shot on the 12th. A spike mark between his ball and the hole, on the otherwise pristine green, serving to divert him from a par to a bogey.
Coming at the same time as Norman was befalling a double-bogey on the 10th, the 1986 Masters was now Ballesteros’ to lose.
Nicklaus struck back immediately however, collecting another birdie on the 13th, and then seemingly taking a breather on the 14th with a sedate par. It was on the par-5, 15th that all hell broke loose.
Having veered slightly left with his tee-shot, Nicklaus, with 204-yards to the pin, enquired with his son “How far do you think a three would go here?”, to which the reply was “Let’s see it”.
With a beautiful swing, the ball was planted just 12-yards shy of its target. Nicklaus then rolled in the putt for an eagle. The noise created reverberations around the rest of the course. A mad scramble to follow Nicklaus unfolded. Players sat behind the drama, found themselves teeing off in front of small numbers of spectators.
Ballesteros own eagle-putt at the 13th proved to be his last positive hole of the day. When he hit the water on his approach to the 15th green, the writing was on the wall.
With Nicklaus making his iconic birdie at the 16th and adding another at the 17th, he suddenly held the outright lead heading down the 18th. Holding for par, it put him in the clubhouse on 9-under.
While Ballesteros was wilting under the pressure, Norman had one last charge left in him however, claiming a run of birdies at the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th. It was a charge which gave Norman a share of the lead as he headed to the 18th.
With Kite failing to take his chance to tie the lead with Nicklaus on the 18th, it was left to Norman to see if he could spoil the party.
Finding the gallery on his approach to the green, a bogey on the final hole for Norman handed Nicklaus his fairy tale 18th major.
At the age of 46, Nicklaus became to oldest player to win the Masters; defying perceived logic, and rolling back the years, it was his sixth green jacket, but his first for 11-years.
Ultimately, it was a victory which transcended the confines of its sporting subsection. Rather than a golfing story, it instead became a broader legendary sporting moment.
Whether you were a seasoned golf watcher or not, you knew who Jack Nicklaus was, and the ‘oldest gunslinger in town’ nature to his victory at Augusta in 1986 was a thing of immense beauty.
