Sporting Bygones: How Nicklaus rolled back the years to once again prove he was a true master

Wembley perhaps, the Camp Nou, Lord’s, golf’s other great course, St Andrews.

But for sheer open-mouthed beauty, matched only by its fiersome test of the game, Augusta National in Georgia has to be the most awe-inspiring sporting arena of them all.

And as befitting of such a venue, it never disappoints in the drama stakes every April when the Masters Tournament rolls around.

Think of Tiger Woods’s extraordinary chip-in at the 16th six years ago, Phil Mickelson off the pine needles on the 13th and Nick Faldo closing out Ray Floyd in the gathering gloom at the 11th.

There was Faldo again, relentlessly hunting down a self-destructing Greg Norman in 1996, Ben Crenshaw collapsing in tears 12 months earlier, and a young man from Florida changing the course of the game in 1997 with a performance of such power and finesse that golf would never be the same again.

Before Woods donned the green jacket, there was Jack Nicklaus, and on this, the 25th anniversary of his 18th, last and perhaps most memorable major, his name will not be far from people’s lips as they drive up Magnolia Lane.

For the Golden Bear made the lush green fairways of Augusta his own. He was a winner there five times – from 1963 to 1975 – but by 1986 was long since past his best.

The days of duelling in the sun with the likes of Tom Watson, appeared long gone.

Seve Ballesteros led the new breed of European golfers, with Bernhard Langer having joined the Spaniard just a few days earlier in the fabled ‘champions dinner’ following the German’s win 12 months previous.

Nicklaus arrived at Augusta having won only twice on the PGA Tour in the five-and-a-half years since claiming majors No 16 and 17 at the 1980 US Open and PGA Championships.

One Atlanta journalist even labelled him as “through, washed up”. It proved a red rag to a bull.

“I kept thinking all week, ‘Through, washed up, huh?’” Nicklaus recalled. “I sizzled for a while.

“But then I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to quit now, playing the way I’m playing. I’ve played too well, too long to let a shorter period of bad golf be my last.”

The journalist appeared to be on the money after Nicklaus opened with a 74.

Rounds of 71 and 69 followed as Nicklaus showed glimpses of his old form but even as he stood on the ninth tee, still at the two-under par mark on which he began the final day, few gave him a chance of putting together one of the finest back nines even he had ever produced in his unequalled career.

It was on the ninth that roars from the crowds behind him prompted him to say to his caddy, “Hey, why don’t we see if we can make a little noise up here ourselves.”

After picking up shots on nine and 10, and then another through Amen Corner, the noise accompanying his gathering momentum echoed through the azaleas.

Still, though, the likes of Ballesteros, Greg Norman and Tom Kite were ahead of him.

The killer shot for Nicklaus was the approach shot to the par-five 15th, over the water and into the heart of the green.

That set up an eagle attempt for the Ohioan and all of a sudden he was seven under par and two behind Ballesteros.

Like Woods in his pomp, the very sight of Nicklaus’s name on the leaderboard was enough to send shivers down the spines of those ahead of him on the scoreboard and behind him on the course.

So it proved, as at the 15th just moments later, Ballesteros pulled his approach shot into the lake and his chances drowned in the clear blue water of Augusta.

By then, Nicklaus had played another sumptuous shot, this time a tee shot to the 16th that landed in the centre of the green and filtered all the way down the putting surface to nestle right beside the hole.

Another birdie followed at the 17th, this time a tricky, downhill 18-footer that plotted a course for the centre of the cup from the moment it had left Nicklaus’s blade.

A run of eagle-birdie-birdie had given him the outright lead and a solid par four up one of the most intimidating closing holes in championship golf saw him post a total of 279.

‘Go and beat that’ was his challenge to those behind him, but none of them could, as some of the most revered winners in the game fell away.

At 46, Nicklaus had become the oldest winner of the Masters Tournament on its 50th playing. It is a record that still stands.

Speaking on the eve of the 2006 Masters, Nicklaus said that what made it so special was: “That I can still summon what I had back in the day and still could use it coming down the stretch and that was special for me and I think it was special to the golfing world in many ways because they just didn’t expect that to happen.

“Augusta always inspired me. Because it was the same place, it was the consistency of it, the type of golf course that it was.

“It’s not like the US Open every year where they prepare it differently. Being the same place every year you learn the golf course, you learn the situations, you learn the things that you had to do and things that you had to avoid.

“It was obviously a great week for me. It’s the only event when I see it on television I actually stop and watch a little bit of.”

Nicklaus will not be the only one watching re-runs this week as the players of today seek inspiration from his memorable charge from a quarter of a century ago.

Don’t miss Nick Westby’s expert previews and features building up to the Masters throughout this week in the Yorkshire Post.