A MOMENT IN TIME : Nicklaus Had a Back Nine for the Ages in 1986 to Win Sixth Masters

Rae’s Creek flowed backward, azaleas uprooted themselves, pine trees grew upside down and Amen Corner didn’t have a prayer.

Ten years ago at Augusta National, everything you knew was wrong.

Jack Nicklaus was 46 and hadn’t won a tournament, well, since they invented dogwood, wasn’t it?

It sure seemed that way, especially to Nicklaus whenever he stood in front of the refrigerator, which was often, and read the newspaper clipping taped there.

Basically, the article said that Nicklaus was as washed up as last night’s dishes, that he didn’t need his clubs anymore, he needed a walker.

And so Nicklaus went out and won, of course.

Shot 65 on Sunday.

Shot 30 on the back nine.

Trailed by four shots with four holes to go.

Eagled the 15th.

Put on the green Masters jacket for a sixth time.

Made everybody believers again.

“Jack Nicklaus’ win in 1986 was something out of this world,” Ben Crenshaw said. “Some spectacular golf. Thrilling. Some of the greatest golf that he’s ever produced. It was just magical.”

The 50th Masters belonged to Nicklaus, all right, the greatest player of his era but one who was supposedly so far past his ability to compete for major titles that he wouldn’t be able to find it again with a compass.

Well, for four days in the hot Georgia sun, conventional wisdom took a back seat to magic. His steel shafts were wands. All the pressure that’s there waiting for a chance to suffocate somebody when golf history is being made just hopped squarely on Nicklaus’ back.

It was not a fair fight. As far as Nicklaus is concerned, pressure has something to do with the air in your tires. It is not something that affects him on the golf course.

Instead, it wilts the others.

Greg Norman birdied four consecutive holes and needed one more at the 18th for the victory, but missed the green and wound up with a bogey, finishing tied for second by a shot.

Tom Kite left a 15-foot birdie putt an inch below the hole at the 18th, missing a playoff and finishing tied with Norman.

Seve Ballesteros hit his second shot at 15 into the water, bogeyed the hole and finished two shots back.

After he finished his last round, Nicklaus sat in the Bobby Jones Cabin, watching on television and waiting for someone to beat him. He waited for someone younger to leave him behind in the bent grass.

But no one did, which surprised many people, Nicklaus included. At the awards ceremony, Bernhard Langer, the 1985 champion, helped Nicklaus into the familiar green jacket and it was a perfect fit, as usual.

Few had thought they would be seeing Nicklaus in green that Sunday.

“It was at a point in my career when nobody expected me to win--including myself,” Nicklaus said.

“It was very special, probably the most special win I ever had.”

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When Nicklaus turned off Washington Road and drove up Magnolia Lane to the storied clubhouse at Augusta National that year, he carried two things with him: the knowledge that he hadn’t won a tournament in two years and a new, big-headed putter.

On the first day, Nicklaus shot 74, which left him six shots behind 18-hole leaders Bill Kratzert and Ken Green. But he felt all right about it afterward.

Talking to reporters behind the 18th green, he said his round was just the reverse of how he had played all year. He finally had begun hitting the ball well, but he couldn’t make a putt.

Nicklaus shot 71 on Friday and was six shots behind Ballesteros after 36 holes. Then Nicklaus shot 69 on Saturday, coaxed a few more putts to drop, and began the last round at 214, four shots off Norman’s lead.

But Sunday at the Masters was his day. It seemed that each time he stood on the green, the ball was drawn into the hole, as if it were being pulled on a string.

“He had kept lipping putts out,” said Jackie Nicklaus, who was caddying for his father. “They were very good putts, they just weren’t falling. So he made nothing Thursday, he made one or two Friday, he made a few more Saturday, and on Sunday, they all went in.

“Actually, he kind of came alive the closer we got to Sunday. . . . He’s been able to do that throughout his career.”

There have been many remarkable days for Nicklaus, which is understandable considering he has won 18 major championships, but this was one for the books.

Age 46? Two years since his previous tournament victory? Six years since his last major title? Starting the last day behind eight players whose average age was 31?

Gary Player said it is wise not to underestimate someone such as Nicklaus.

“Great athletes have an inner strength, something you cannot define,” Player said. “When I won at Augusta and I was 42, I thought that was pretty impressive. But what Jack did at 46, that was just a marvelous achievement.”

Nicklaus made his move on the ninth hole, at just about the same time Kite and Ballesteros holed out for eagles on No. 8. The roars from the crowd forced Nicklaus to step back twice from his putt, a 15-footer from behind the hole. He was putting for a birdie.

He turned to his gallery and said, “OK, well, let’s see if we can get a little yell of our own going here.” Then he knocked the ball into the hole.

From that point on, Nicklaus said, his effort probably was as good as it gets.

“I don’t think that I have ever had 10 holes that have been better--at the right time,” he said.

On No. 10, Nicklaus made a 25-foot birdie putt. He made another from 20 feet on No. 11. He missed the green on the par-three 12th, chipped to five feet behind the hole and, even though he missed the putt and settled for a bogey, Nicklaus said he felt ready to make a charge.

He birdied the dogleg 13th hole after hitting a three-wood off the tee and drawing the ball around the corner, close to the creek. He was on the green in two and two-putted from 25 feet.

After a par on No. 14, Nicklaus stood 202 yards from the hole for his second shot at the par-five 15th. He air-mailed a four-iron straight at the flagstick. The ball landed in front of the hole and bounced left, 12 feet from an eagle.

Nicklaus stroked the putt and as the ball rolled into the hole, Jackie leaped with joy.

“I remember looking over at Jackie,” Nicklaus said. “He was in the air and I said, ‘You never jumped that high when you played basketball,’ and he said, ‘I never got that excited.’ ”

Now seven under par, Nicklaus was two shots behind Ballesteros, the leader.

Nicklaus moved to the 16th hole, a stage from which he had played two of his greatest moments. The par three, guarded by water and set in an amphitheater of azaleas and pines, has had a profound impact on Nicklaus’ fortunes.

It was there in 1963 that Nicklaus, then 23, made a six-foot birdie putt that ultimately beat Tony Lema and gave Nicklaus his first Masters victory. In the 1975 Masters, Nicklaus made a winding, uphill 40-foot putt on the 16th green to edge Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf and get his fifth green jacket.

Nicklaus used a five-iron and almost knocked the ball into the hole. It went past, then spun back until it rested three feet from the cup. Nicklaus made the putt for a birdie, and Ballesteros bogeyed the 15th--the hole Nicklaus had eagled--when he knocked his second shot into the water.

Now Nicklaus was tied for the lead. He quickly moved in front by himself. On the 17th, he hit his drive to the left, but his wedge landed 11 feet from the hole. Then he made the birdie putt that won the Masters.

Jackie said the ovation his dad received was overwhelming.

“It wasn’t so much an ovation for the shot that he had hit, it was for the years of golf and enjoyment that he had played over the years,” he said.

With the cheers of the crowd bouncing off the pine trees, Nicklaus finished with a par at 18, hugged Jackie and waited in the Jones cabin to the left of the 10th tee to see if he was going to win.

Kite and Ballesteros were a shot behind with two holes to play. Norman was two down with three to go.

Ballesteros took himself out of it when he three-putted No. 17. Kite left his birdie putt that would have forced a playoff just inches short on the 18th.

That left Norman. He birdied the 16th, then the 17th, with a 10-footer, and was even with Nicklaus at nine under par.

But needing only a par on 18 to force a playoff, Norman faltered. His four-iron second shot missed the green to the right and the ball flew into the gallery. He pitched to 15 feet, but missed the putt for par.

Nicklaus walked out of the cabin with his arms in the air. History and the green jacket belonged to him.

Gene Sarazen, perhaps alone among those present, wasn’t terribly surprised about the turn of events.

“I think he’s the greatest player of all time, by far,” Sarazen said.

And so it was that 10 years ago, possibly the greatest player of all time won his sixth Masters. We know how he did it, of course, because we saw it. Only Nicklaus felt it, though.

“When I come down the stretch, for some reason I have been able to keep myself together,” he said. “My attention span gets more acute, my focus is better. I’m able to do what I am supposed to do.

“I’ve always been aware of what my abilities are. You don’t forget those things. I watched Magic [Johnson] the other night. He didn’t forget too much of what he is supposed to do. And Michael Jordan didn’t forget too much, either, when he came back.”

It’s 10 years later and Nicklaus is back for another go at Augusta National, where the words to the wise this week are probably pretty simple.

Feel like writing how Nicklaus is over the hill? Don’t. He’ll tape it to his refrigerator.

1986 Masters Scorecard

FINAL ROUND

April 13, 1986

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Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total Yards 400 555 360 205 435 180 360 535 435 3,465 Par 4 5 4 3 4 3 4 5 4 36 Nicklaus 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 5 3 35

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Hole 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Total Yards 485 455 155 465 405 500 170 400 405 3,440 Par 4 4 3 5 4 5 3 4 4 36 Nicklaus 3 3 4 4 4 3 2 3 4 30

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Course total:

Yards: 6,905

Par: 72

Nicklaus: 65

1986 Masters Scorecard