Nicklaus, Watson Conquer Unknown at Pelican Hill

Tom Watson knew. He heard it from Bruce Fleisher, who undoubtedly also told partner David Graham.

Too bad nobody bothered to tell Jack Nicklaus that when paired with Watson, he had never played a team match that went past the 16th hole.

If somebody had, it might have saved the legendary duo from having to sweat out the final holes of a 1-up victory over Fleisher and Graham Sunday in the Senior PGA Tour final of the Diners Club matches.

A good time to mention the streak would have been right before Nicklaus attempted a 10-foot par putt on the 16th hole at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast.

Nicklaus could have ended the match by making the putt, but he missed and Fleisher and Graham won the hole to push the legends into uncharted territory.

“We never went past 16?” Nicklaus quipped after the match. “Well, why did we do that today? If I had known that I would have made that putt.”

Fleisher, the 1999 Senior PGA Tour player of the year, holed a 30-yard chip on 17 for an eagle to pull his team to within a hole, but Graham missed an eight-foot birdie putt on the 18th that would have sent the match to extra holes.

Nicklaus and Watson remain undefeated as a team in their match-play careers.

“They had opportunities about four times to make putts to win holes and they didn’t do it,” Watson said. “We had kind of the same opportunities, but we ended up making more putts than they did.”

On a day after Nicklaus’ show-stopping 62, Watson did most of the scoring for a tandem that has a combined 26 major championships.

He rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the fourth hole, slammed in an 11-footer for birdie on the 11th and, with Graham lining up a six-footer, he drained a 12-footer for birdie on the 12th.

Graham missed his, giving Watson and Nicklaus a 2-up lead. Watson made it 3-up with an eight-foot birdie putt on No. 14.

“We got out of it thanks to my partner,” Nicklaus said. “My partner played really good today. We had opportunities to shut them out and we didn’t.

“Yeah,” Watson said. “All we had to do was make that putt on 16.”

In the LPGA final, Juli Inkster and Dottie Pepper won their third consecutive Diners Club title with a 4-and-3 victory over Karrie Webb and Kelly Robbins. Pepper had four birdies on the front nine to give the team a 4-up lead, then Inkster closed out the match with a birdie on the 15th.

Fred Couples, dubbed king of the second season because of an impeccable record in November and December, had six birdies in leading partner Mark Calcavecchia to a 1-up victory over defending champions Jeff Maggert and Steve Elkington.

It was the third challenge-season victory for Couples this year. He also won the Skins Game and teamed with David Duval to win the Shark Shootout.

“I was playing with Captain Postseason,” Calcavecchia said.

Couples, who won $769,192 during the regular season in 1999, won $910,000 in unofficial events. He also has Skins Game victories in 1995 and ’96 and four consecutive World Cup of Golf titles with Davis Love III (‘92-95) among his 17 career unofficial season victories.

“I enjoy playing in the team things,” Couples said. “If I could tee off with Mark in other events, I’m sure we’d win those things too. We enjoy playing with each other.”