The larger-than-life bronze sculpture of Jack Nicklaus that stands in the rotunda of the Augusta Museum of History is frozen in a transcendent moment in golf history, one that will reverberate at Augusta National Golf Club this week as Nicklaus’s epic Masters victory from 25 years ago is remembered.
The piece could have been modeled from any of several photographs capturing what happened at the 17th hole late on the Sunday afternoon of April 13, 1986, a split second before Nicklaus — then 46 — first took the lead in what became his 6th and last Masters victory, his record 18th major championship and his 73rd tour win.
The piece could have been modeled from any of several photographs capturing what happened at the 17th hole late on the Sunday afternoon of April 13, 1986, a split second before Nicklaus — then 46 — first took the lead in what became his 6th and last Masters victory, his record 18th major championship and his 73rd tour win.
It was then that Nicklaus knew his odds of winning had moved from possible to highly probable. The photographs show the change on his face as his last birdie putt of a remarkable final round approached the hole. With soft light from the setting sun streaming onto his face as it broke into a wide grin, Nicklaus bent his knees into a powerful, athletic crouch and raised the putter in his left hand aloft, like a scepter or Excalibur, as he stalked the putt.
Very few of the spine-tingling recollections have faded from that Sunday, the most dramatic final round in the history of Augusta National. There, in front of an ecstatic gallery and what is perennially the largest television audience of the year for a golf tournament, Nicklaus — already written off as washed-up — went ahead and won the Masters.
In addition to the sublime shots that were played — Nicklaus’s soaring 4-iron into the 15th green to 12 feet for eagle, a 5-iron tight to the flagstick at No. 16 — there also were emotional notes that resonated. Curtis Strange, hardly known for his soft side, found himself moved by the sight of Nicklaus, with the second of his four sons, Jackie, on the bag, walking through a dream round.
“I guess the one last impression that I have in my mind is Jackie and Jack walking off the last green together arm in arm,” said Strange, who finished in a tie for 21st that year. “I think as a father, we all can relate to that.” read more:
