Jack Nicklaus Is Hungry Again

“Beware Of Bear!”

That is the sign the golfing world should post on locker room doors this year. And not just on the PGA Seniors Tour. The tall, blond flat-bellies better beware as well.

The Golden Bear is hungry.

The last time Jack William Nicklaus had such an appetite, he ate up the golf world. That year was 1980. Jack turned 40.

The previous year he had been terrible--by Nicklaus standards. At age 39, Jack won a paltry $59,434 after winning at least four times that sum in each of the previous eight seasons.

Jack dealt with the disappointment by setting a goal for the first time in his career. He sought to win not one, but two major championships.

First the dream, then the accomplishment. Jack won the 1980 U.S. Open and PGA Championship. Two majors. “I didn’t want turning 40 to be a downer,” he recalls.

Well, in January, Jack Nicklaus reached another milestone. He turned 50. And he doesn’t want it to be a downer, especially after winning just $95,595 as a 49-year-old.

Sounds a lot like 1980 when everybody wrote him off as the OLDEN Bear, doesn’t it?

Indeed. And for the second time in his career, Jack Nicklaus has set a goal -- he hankers to win an event on the Senior Tour and one on the regular tour (“preferably a major” of course). It’s a double-eagle no one else has yet managed.

But then Jack Nicklaus has spent his entire career doing magical feats no one else could pull off. His record 20 major victories is surely as safely etched in stone as Cy Young’s 511 career wins.

Half of Jack’s stated goal would seem a cinch. For the Golden Bear, winning a Seniors Tour event should be as easy as catching fish in a barrel.

Jack doesn’t plan to play but a handful of the 50-and-older tournaments. His first will be the Traditions in Scottsdale, Ariz., the last weekend in March. But then, one alone might be plenty enough.

But what about winning against the long hitters of the kiddie tour? Don’t bet your mortgage against it.

Last year the ol’ master was surprisingly competitive in the majors, which is really all that is important to Nicklaus. If it’s not a major -- or his own Memorial Tournament -- it’s pretty much just a Quad Cities Open to Jack.

To give you an idea, Jack’s last five tournament victories have been the U.S. Open, PGA, Memorial, Colonial and the Masters. Three majors and Jack’s own baby -- and a throw in.

Of course, his last win was that majestic Masters charge four summers past. For Jack Nicklaus that’s not a dry spell, it’s a ban-on-watering-the-lawn-and-washing-cars drought.

However, he says his once-ailing back isn’t hampering his swing these days. “My back feels very good. I think I’m in good shape ... even for someone younger than me.”

Jack is not ready to give up the muscle tees just yet.

“I still think I can compete on the regular tour,” he states. “When I tee it up, I expect to be in contention. It’s that simple. I’m not the player I used to be, but I still think I can be very good ... very competitive. Whether it’s realistic or not, I always expect to be competitive.”

On a bad day, Jack Nicklaus used to be very, very good. But those days are past. He can no longer afford any bad holes now. He needs all his trump cards to make bid.

It was a long time ago that a fat kid with crew cut won the 1963 Masters. Heck, it wasn’t yesterday a 46-year-old living legend won the 1986 Masters. How quickly time flies. Later this month that young kid from Columbus, Ohio, is set to become a grandfather.

But don’t call the Golden Bear the Olden Bear just yet.

His sideburns are speckled with gray and his cobalt-blue eyes squint more often than they used to. Certainly the par-4s and 5s seem longer than ever. The drives no longer orbit the moon.

“The older you get, the stronger the wind gets -- and it’s always in your face on every hole,” Jack will tell you.

He stands over a long 4-iron out pf some thick rough, that used to maybe take a 6-iron, and quips: “This used to be a piece of cake a few years back.”

Now the cake has a fire hazard of candles on it and the wind in his face seems to be getting stronger.