It’s Becoming a Tradition: Nicklaus Wins in a Playoff

The Bear is growling again, and although Jack Nicklaus may not be happy with his golf game, he can still beat the best on the Senior PGA Tour.

Nicklaus finally turned back the challenge of tough Isao Aoki on the third playoff hole Sunday at Desert Mountain to win his third Tradition.

“I was tickled pink,” Nicklaus said. “I hadn’t won in two years, and this was tough.

“It just shows that hard work can pay off. I played better today, and winning makes it great.

“It’s a great finish when all three in the final group shoot 67s. I’m very encouraged.”

Jim Ferree, who completed the threesome, missed the playoff by one shot and finished third.

After Nicklaus and Aoki had battled on even terms for the last three of the 72 holes, they did the same on two playoff holes.

But playing No. 18, a 531-yard par-five, for the third time in half an hour, Nicklaus broke the match open when his second shot rolled just through the green. Aoki then fell apart after laying up. His third shot went over the green into the trap, and his next went over the green into another trap, and it was all over. Just to make sure, Nicklaus birdied from four feet as Aoki settled for a bogey six.

The Cochise Course’s 18th was the first playoff hole, and by this time the wind was blowing hard. They settled for pars and did the same on the par-three 17th before going back to 18.

“I got into the game when I sank the wedge for the eagle (on the par-5 15th), but on the last (playoff) hole I misclubbed on my approach, and that cost me,” Aoki said.

Now Nicklaus, still a bit erratic, will head for the Masters, assured that he isn’t losing his competitive edge. Although he had three early bogeys to go with eight birdies in the final round, his putting saved him.

This was the second senior playoff for Nicklaus in a major event. At the 1991 U.S. Senior Open, he beat Chi Chi Rodriguez in a playoff. He has played in 29 events on the 50-and-over circuit and won eight. He won the Tradition in 1990 and repeated the next year.

But he came here concerned about his game. He had played poorly in two consecutive tournaments on the PGA Tour and had a ninth place and a tie for fifth on the Senior PGA Tour this year.

From the time Aoki sank the sand wedge for an eagle-three on the 534-yard 15th and Nicklaus followed with a birdie from 4 1/2 feet, it was virtually match play.

It was one testing shot after another as they parred the next two holes. When both made terrific shots on No. 18, Nicklaus out of a pot bunker and Aoki from the waste area, for easy birdies, they finished at 12-under 276.

On the first two playoff holes, Aoki had to make difficult short putts to prolong the agony, before Nicklaus put him away.

Ferree, who will be 64 in June, was bidding to be the oldest player ever to win a Senior PGA Tour event.

Playing with Nicklaus and Aoki, Ferree, who was a shot back when they started, actually took the lead with a birdie on the sixth hole. Although he made a more valiant effort than his alma mater North Carolina did in the NCAA Final Four at Seattle, Ferree just missed. His final-round 67 gave him a 277 total.

Ferree, who came back from prostate cancer and a rotator cuff problem earlier, also had a severe wrist injury and didn’t start playing again until last November.

“I was depressed at the start today because of what happened to the Tar Heels,” Ferree said, “but maybe that helped my play. I know it was fun, but it would have been nice to be in the playoff.”

Even Raymond Floyd made a run at a repeat victory. Trailing by four strokes going into the final round, he began a rally when he eagled the 500-yard 12th hole and was within one shot of the lead. On the next hole, he had a four-foot birdie putt that would have put him in a tie for the lead, but when he just missed, he seemed to lose interest and faded.

Jim Colbert, only one stroke back after three rounds, finished fourth when he was four-under in the last eight holes.