AS HE HEADED FOR THE 17TH TEE, TOM WATSON WAS TIED FOR THE LEAD. MOMENTS EARLIER JACK NICKLAUS HAD FINISHED UNCHARACTERISTICALLY. HIS SLOPPY PAR AT 18 CAPPED OFF A 3-UNDER-PAR 69.
One of the great aphorisms of modern PGA Tour history is that Nicklaus never missed putts in the clutch, that if you had one putt to make and you could select anyone to play it for you, the axiomatic choice would be Jack Nicklaus. Not this time. On this day it was the putter that betrayed the man frequently referred to as the greatest flatstick practitioner of them all. On both 16 and 17 Nicklaus inexplicably left birdie putts short. Then, on the 72nd hole, Nicklaus faced an immi- nently makeable 15-foot birdie putt, one that could have put meaningful pressure on Watson. Nicklaus not only missed the putt, he ran it an unseemly four feet past, leaving himself a demanding comebacker. After holing out, Nicklaus in a bi- zarre confluence of frustration and relief tossed his ball into the crowd. As he began to walk off the green, the home-hole leaderboard posted Watson’s bogey at 16. Nicklaus was now tied for the lead. Watson needed to play 17 and 18 – 758 yards in all – in 1-un- der-par 7. If he did, he would make golf history, not to mention fulfill the Watson family’s vision of national championship glory. Par in, and Watson would face Nicklaus the next day in an 18-hole playoff. A wobble here or on 18 and Watson could easily be sucked into the Sneadian vortex of Open despair. (Sam Snead finished runner-up in the US Open four times. As with Phil Mickelson, who has six runners-up, it was the missing championship from a career grand slam.) Not surprisingly, the 17th had played the toughest hole on Sunday. Watson watched as his playing partner, reigning Open Champion Bill Rogers – who was en route to a 2-over- par 74, his worst score of the week, and a tie for third place – drew a 4-wood. The tee markers were only a few paces up from the furthest possible setting; the pin tucked by the US- GA’s P J Boatwright was as far back and left as possible. Frank Hannigan, the senior executive director of the USGA, was supplying rules commentary for ABC Sports that week and was positioned at the 17th hole on Sunday. “It was a very hard hole, just as it had been in 1972,” said Hannigan in an interview prior to his 2014 death. It was also much harder than it played in the PGA Tour’s Crosby, in which contestants often played from the shorter tees. Hanni- gan estimated the difference – taking in weather, distance, and pin placement at four full clubs. “It was a long iron into a small target,” said Hannigan, “and it was chilly.” As thick as the air was with cool Pacific dampness and good old-fashioned tension, this was relatively familiar territory. This was the 137th time Nicklaus and Watson had compet- ed in the same tournament. Nicklaus had long enjoyed the
upper hand in those match-ups, with 67 top tens to Watson’s 26, but Watson had been carving out an impressive niche against Nicklaus in the majors. This was their 35th mutual major. In the most recent 31 leading up to Pebble, Watson had an average finish of 15th. He had also won five, three of which came directly at Nicklaus’ expense. In the same preceding 31 majors Nick- laus had averaged a 10th-place finish and had won six majors, but not one of those titles came directly at Watson’s expense. When it mattered most, in the glare of major championship pressure,
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