BRITISH OPEN NOTES : Nicklaus’ Round Quickly Goes to Hell

For Jack Nicklaus, it was one of those, well, once-every-three-decades experiences.

It was exactly 33 years ago that Nicklaus took a 10 on a hole in the British Open, which is just what he did here Thursday on the 14th hole.

Nicklaus hit his second shot into the infamous Hell Bunker and needed four shots to get out. Then, to add to the indignity, he three-putted after chipping onto the green.

Add it up and you’ve got a 10, which Nicklaus hadn’t done in the British Open since 1962 at Troon.

Nicklaus thought his four-wood second shot might put the ball 40 or 50 yards short of the green on the 567-yard par five. He was wrong.

“Steve [Nicklaus’ son and caddie] said, ‘There’s a ball over here in the bunker.’ and I said ‘Bunker, hell, that’s Hell.’ ”

And it was. Nicklaus tried a pitching wedge on the first shot from the bunker, but the ball went straight up and down and buried itself in the sand.

Nicklaus flung aside his pitching wedge and grabbed his sand wedge. He swung. He failed to dislodge the ball. He swung again. He failed again. He swung again. The ball dribbled out.

“I tried to go sideways every time,” Nicklaus said. “I was just trying to get out. I couldn’t get out. I certainly don’t want to visit it again. I guess that’s why they call it Hell.”

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How’s this for a way to start the British Open?

Former winner Ian Baker-Finch hit his tee shot on the first hole out of bounds, which isn’t easy, since the fairway, which accommodates both the first and 18th holes, is wider than a polo field.

Baker-Finch’s drive went so far left, the ball bounced across the fairway and rolled under a fence.

Baker-Finch’s hat blew off in the middle of his swing, which probably didn’t help his concentration.

But what probably made it worse was that Baker-Finch was playing in the same group as Arnold Palmer, who had drawn a big crowd as he began his last British Open.

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Greg Norman, who was getting treatment for his sore back 2 1/2 hours before his tee time, felt well enough to shoot 71.

“I was glad I played,” he said. “If it was any other golf tournament, I wouldn’t have been here.”

Norman, whose round included a chip to four feet from the road on No. 17 for a “routine four,” said there was only one reason he wouldn’t have played.

“If I couldn’t have bent over,” he said.

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Tiger Woods, 19, began his first British Open with a two-over-par 74 after taking a triple-bogey seven on the second hole.

Palmer, 65, began his last British Open with an 11-over 83, the worst round of the day, and Palmer’s worst ever in this event.