Nicklaus Too Sore to Play
On a day when Bobby Wadkins was one of only five players in the Senior PGA Championship field to shoot below par and the only one to complete 54 holes under par, Jack Nicklaus couldn’t make it to the first tee.
“I was hitting balls [on the practice range] and couldn’t get past the wedge,” Nicklaus said Saturday at Firestone Country Club. “I’m just so darn sore that I can’t make a go.”
Nicklaus barely made the cut while fighting back and hip pain, shooting rounds of 71 and 78 to finish 36 holes at nine-over-par 149.
“I was hoping that I could make it but I couldn’t even sit down this morning,” Nicklaus said. “Sometimes when I’m on my feet I’m better.”
Wadkins has a one-shot lead at one-under 209 after shooting 69 on Saturday. Fuzzy Zoeller, Larry Nelson and Roy Vucinich are at 210. There are 18 players within four strokes of the lead.
“I can go out there tomorrow and play halfway decent and shoot 72,” Wadkins said. “Somebody is four back and they go out and shoot three- or four-under and we have a ballgame.”
It was the first time since the tournament went to a 72-hole format in 1958 that only one player was under par through three rounds.
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