Nicklaus Ends His ’98 Schedule on a High Note

Jack Nicklaus figures he went out with a bang Sunday, shooting a 67 in the final round of the U.S. Senior Open.

It was the best round of the week, and it was 12 shots better than the 79 he stumbled around with on Saturday.

More important, “It’s going to be the last round of golf I play for a while, so I wanted to try to do the best I could,” he said.

Nicklaus has ended his tournament golf for 1998 and will concentrate on recovering from a hip ailment that has had him limping all weekend, and playing golf on one leg for two years.

On Sunday, he was heartened, because “my body was great. No problems whatsoever.”

And he was talking about a future without dealing with a hip replacement, which until a couple of days ago appeared his fate.

“I spent the last two days with Peter Egoskue, and he is amazing,” Nicklaus said. “He got the thing very functional and, as a matter of fact, I finished my exercise last night and ran back to the [Santa Monica hotel] room. I haven’t run a step in six months, so that was kind of fun.”

Egoskue, a physical therapist in Del Mar, has Nicklaus on an exercise regimen designed to shed weight and get both hips functioning as a unit. He also has Nicklaus putting surgery in the back of his mind after days spent this week considering it as his primary option.

The impact on his game was immediate.

“Actually, it was really funny today,” Nicklaus said. “I concentrated on being able to get my weight to my right side. I haven’t gotten my weight to the right side in two months. I hit the ball 20 yards farther. I had a blast today. I mean, that was fun.”

*

Raymond Floyd on Hale Irwin: “There aren’t too many crooked drivers who win the U.S. Open.” . . . Arnold Palmer was the only player to birdie the 10th hole all four days. Irwin bogeyed it twice (Thursday and Sunday) and Floyd bogeyed it Sunday. . . . Irwin played the last three holes over the four days in a combined three under par. Asked what that told him, he said, “That I’m getting off to a bad start?”

*

The announced attendance Sunday was 25,500, making the overall announced attendance for the week 76,500.

Staff writer Thomas Bonk contributed to this report.