Nicklaus Special Is Major Farewell

What’s a full year of major championships without Jack Nicklaus? We are going to find out, but we didn’t have to worry about it this year because he played in all four, something he says he did for the last time.

No one has played in as many majors (159) or won as many (18) as Nicklaus, who made a career and a reputation of playing well in the sport’s biggest tournaments. Remember, he also finished second in 19 majors.

Nicklaus and majors seem to go together, which is as good a reason as any for a television show about that association. And so we have “Nicklaus: A Final March Through the Majors,” airing Oct. 22 on CBS.

He turned 60 in January, battled a foot problem and was coming back from hip surgery, but he was far from his best in majors this year. He made one cut, at the Masters, where he tied for 54th and shot 81-78 on the weekend. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the British Open at St. Andrews and the PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Nicklaus said he chose to play all four for the last time because the courses meant something to him.

“The year 2000 was the right year for me,” he said. “Maybe actually a couple of years too late because my golf game wasn’t up to it.”

At Valhalla, a course he designed, Nicklaus played a competitive round with Tiger Woods for the first time and said it was a nice way to end his major march.

“He is obviously not the heir apparent, he is the heir,” said Nicklaus, who nevertheless sounded a note of caution to anyone expecting Woods to break all of Nicklaus’ records.

“Whether he’ll break my records or not, [some are saying] ‘another five or six years and Nicklaus’ records are gone,’ that remains to be seen,” Nicklaus said.

And yet . . .

“He’s got great competition today, but not probably the competition that’s going to prevent him from getting to that level.”

As for his 2001 schedule, Nicklaus said he will take stock of his game early in the year and then decide on playing the Masters. He isn’t sure if he will play any other majors.

MORE JACK

The CBS program was originally intended to last two hours but shortened to 90 minutes.

Said Nicklaus: “Because I didn’t play on Saturdays and Sundays.”

POLITICAL UPDATE

Payne Stewart’s mother is running for state representative in Missouri.

Bee Payne-Stewart, a Democrat, is the underdog against a two-term incumbent in a heavily Republican district. She says she is not the underdog because she happens to be 81.

Said Bee: “What difference does that make?”

GOOD-BAD SPORTS

Rematch, anyone? Last week at the mud-splattered Solheim Cup in Scotland, Kelly Robbins and Pat Hurst of the U.S. team were bad sports when they made Annika Sorenstam replay her shot after she chipped in for a birdie.

As it turned out, Sorenstam was not the farthest from the hole, but it was hardly good sportsmanship for the United States. Captain Pat Bradley was forced to step up and apologize.

And don’t say that it really is Sorenstam’s fault because she played out of turn. If Sorenstam had three-putted, do you think they would have asked her to play over?

Hurst, Robbins and Sorenstam are all in the same, small, 20-player field of the Samsung World Championships that began Thursday at Hiddenbrooke Country Club in Vallejo.

Maybe this weekend we will see how long everyone’s memories are.

GOOD-BAD SPORTS II

Meanwhile, there is the men’s professional version of the Solheim Cup, called the Ryder Cup. And we all know what great sportsmanship is always on display in this event.

In the the latest points standings, the top 10 players on the U.S. team for next year’s Ryder Cup at the Belfry in England are (in order) Woods, Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Loren Roberts, Tom Lehman, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III, David Toms, Kirk Triplett and Jim Furyk.

OF COURSE IT IS

Sign of the times: The estate of Ben Hogan is on auction at E-bay through Sunday.

OF COURSE THEY ARE

Put this one under the heading, “What Else is There To Do in Tulsa in June Besides Wash the Pickup?” All 35,000 tickets each day for the 2001 U.S. Open at Southern Hills Country Club have been sold.

AYE FOR AYE

Speaking of the Ryder Cup, you may know that it has been held in Scotland only once. No matter that the Scots invented golf, the Ryder Cup was staged in Scotland only in 1973, when the U.S. defeated a Great Britain and Ireland team at Muirfield, 19-13.

Scotland is busy mounting a full-scale offensive to host the 2009 Ryder Cup. Muirfield, Gleneagles, Loch Lomond, Turnberry, Carnoustie and St. Andrews have all expressed interest in hosting the event.

On Thursday, Scot Colin Montgomerie, plus the minister for Education and Children and the minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, staged what amounted to a pep rally at the Old Course Hotel in St. Andrews.

Estimated economic impact for a 2009 event in Scotland is about $100 million. The 1999 Ryder Cup at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., generated an estimated $150 million for the local economy. The announcement of where the 2009 Ryder Cup will be staged is expected by February.

RIP, D.I.

Sometime in the next few months the fabled Desert Inn course in Las Vegas is going the way of wrecking ball, or something like that. Nothing stays the same, even for fun courses with fun traditions like the Desert Inn.

For instance, from 1953-1966 the D.I. hosted the Tournament of Champions, where the winner received a wheelbarrow loaded with silver coins.

Come to think of it, somebody else needs to update that tradition . . . and hand out bars of gold.

FALDO UPDATE

Nick Faldo has sunk to No. 108 in the Official World Ranking and says the best way to move up is to get more distance off the tee. But how much is enough?

“I’ve got to gain another 30 tiny yards, that’s all,” Faldo said.

GET THE MANUAL

From a European Tour media release about Miguel Angel Jimenez, going up against Woods again in the American Express Championship in Spain next month: “The prospect of a rematch with Woods excites the man nicknamed ‘The Mechanic,’ who is aiming to put a spanner in the works this time around.”

If anybody can put a spanner in the works, it’s him, all right.

GET THE POPCORN

What does golf need now? That’s right, another golf movie. Next month, we get Robert Redford’s ‘The Legend of Bagger Vance,’ starring Matt Damon and Will Smith.

What’s the movie about? Think this: Roy Hobbs discovers golf.

SHARK BITES

Either Greg Norman doesn’t have any clout, the top pros are already making enough money or the schedule stinks, but he can’t get any players ranked in the top 18 in the world to play in his Franklin Templeton Shark Shootout next month at Doral in Miami.

The top-ranked player entered is No. 19, John Huston. Defending champions Fred Couples and Duval aren’t coming back to defend their title at the Shootout, which isn’t helped by being scheduled the week after the $5-million American Express Championships in Spain.

And as for the money issue, Ernie Els said no to a guaranteed $150,000 just for showing up at the PGA’s Grand Slam of Golf, a two-day event featuring the winners of the four majors. He was asked because Woods won three of the four. Masters champion Vijay Singh, plus invitees Paul Azinger and Lehman fill out the foursome.

GOOD TIMES

Eight players have won at least three times in the last two years: Woods with 17 victories, Duval with five, Notah Begay with four, and Carlos Franco, Mickelson, Jesper Parnevik, Sutton and Toms with three.

Speaking of Mickelson, his brother Tim, 23, turned pro Thursday and is going to try qualifying school next week in DeSoto, Texas. Tim Mickelson, who signed with Gaylord Sports, was honorable mention All-Pac 10 at Oregon State.

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

Justin Leonard, Stewart Cink and Sutton have accepted invitations to play in Woods’ Williams World Challenge, joining Lehman, Woods, Sergio Garcia, Singh, Love, Duval, Parnevik, Couples and Mark O’Meara. The $3.5-million event, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, is Nov. 30-Dec. 3 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

Nicklaus, Gary McCord and Lee Trevino will represent the Senior PGA Tour in the $580,000 Sun Microsystems Par 3 Challenge, Nov. 7 at the Four Seasons Aviara. The event benefits the Century Club of San Diego and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego.

Nicklaus-Tom Watson, McCord-John Jacobs, Bruce Fleischer-David Graham and Dana Quigley-Allen Doyle are the senior teams in the $1.2-million Hyundai Team Matches, Dec. 15-17 at Pelican Hill Golf Club at Newport Coast. Other teams so far: Couples-Mark Calcavecchia, Mickelson-Rocco Mediate of the PGA; Juli Inkster-Dottie Pepper and Grace Park-Kelli Kuehne of the LPGA. The event benefits the Jimmy Fund for cancer research.

Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Clarence Clemons, Damon Wayans and Meat Loaf, plus Jim Colbert, John Cook, Gary Nicklaus, Dennis Paulson, Scott Simpson, Craig Stadler and Duffy Waldorf are among those who are expected to play in the VH1 Fairway to Heaven celebrity pro-am, Oct. 15-17 at the Royal Links in Las Vegas. The event, which will be shown on VH1 Nov. 11, benefits the Save the Music Foundation.