GOLF / MAL FLORENCE : Nicklaus Seeking One More Big One

Jack Nicklaus hasn’t won on the tour since his victory, at 46, in the 1986 Masters.

He plays a limited number of tournaments now, on the regular and senior tours.

Nicklaus doesn’t say it, but the feeling persists that he would like to win one more major tournament before he devotes all his time to his many business interests, among them the designing of golf courses.

The U.S. Open ends here today at Pebble Beach, if there isn’t a playoff. It’s a course on which Nicklaus won the 1972 Open and was deprived of possibly another title in 1982 when Tom Watson made his miraculous shot out of the rough on the 17th hole for a birdie.

Nonetheless, Nicklaus has won four Open championships and yearns for still another victory, even if it’s unlikely.

He shot a 77 during the opening round and a 74 on Friday, his seven-over-par 151 missing the cut.

“If I’m ever going to be competitive in an Open, I should be competitive here, although I can’t say I’m striking the ball with any great quality right now,” Nicklaus said earlier in the week.

“I’ve loved this course since the first time I played it. It’s probably the best in the world.”

He won the U.S. Amateur championship here in 1961, and he also won three Bing Crosby Pro-Am titles, as well as his Open victory in 1972.

That Open was memorable for the two-iron tee shot he hit on the par-three 17th hole that hit the flagstick, leaving him with a short birdie putt.

Nicklaus said he intends to play in two more Opens, at Baltusrol in Springfield, N.J., and Oakmont at Oakmont, Pa.

“If I don’t play beyond that, fine,” Nicklaus said. “Those are courses that I won on and courses that are very special to me.”

Nicklaus is 52 and hinted that his competitive career is winding down.

“I’m making cuts (most of the time), but that’s not much fun,” he said. “There’s going to be a certain point where I stop doing that, and it’s probably going to be sooner than later.”

Phil Mickelson, the three-time NCAA champion playing in his first pro event, said money does not rank high on his list of priorities.

“A year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to turn professional and win a lot of money, but I’ve never been paid to play golf, and money is not my motivation,” he said.

“Money is secondary to what is important to me. The important things are my goals in the game. All my career plans are going to be tied to accomplishing these goals.

“That means I probably won’t play every week. Two weeks, maybe three weeks (in a row) will be my maximum. I’m exempt through 1993, so I’m going to try to be ready to have a good full year on the U.S. tour.”

Mickelson, who missed the cut after shooting 68-81 at Pebble Beach, wouldn’t identify his goals, saying they were private.

“I have a lot of self-imposed expectations I think are a lot higher than anyone else’s,” he said. “But I’ve tried to think of those as long-term, rather than short-term successes.”

Mitch Voges, the U.S. Amateur champion from Simi Valley, got a surprise on the 18th green of Thursday’s round when he asked for his putter.

His caddie had left it behind on the 17th green. So Voges putted with a driver and made par.

Voges wasn’t too hard on his caddie, either. It was his 13-year-old son, Christian.

John Daly was on the practice tee Tuesday when a representative from the company that supplies his clubs brought out a new bag.

Daly emptied the old bag, then took it to a fence where he handed it to a youngster.

Then, he posed for a snapshot with the youngster, who probably won’t ever forget Daly.

Golf Notes

The Southern California PGA Charities Corp. announced that 17 college scholarships worth a total of $25,000 have been awarded to area high school students. The winners and their high schools: Marcos Briano of San Fernando; George Lee of South Torrance; Mark Easterday of San Bernardino San Gorgonio; Matt Keenan of Blythe Palo Verde; Brian Foss and Nina Rhode of Santa Inez; Diamond Tran of Huntington Beach Marina; Paul Hinkle of Costa Mesa Estancia; Kathy Choi of Downey; Casey Maguire of Long Beach Poly; Scott Gibson of Huntington Beach; Mark Christensen of Trabuco Hills; Brian Pecht of Oxnard Rio Mesa; Ted Cordova of Santa Margarita; Cynthia Lum of Downey; Stuart Cohen of Calabasas and Eric Lohman of Palm Springs. . . . The annual Golf-Tennis Summer Fling honoring Walt Hazzard and benefiting the Young Black Scholars program will be held July 2 at Rancho Park. Details: (213) 931-9291.