Jack Nicklaus has set a target for the Open Championship at St. Andrews, his final competitive appearance on the international major championship stage. It is not a specific score, but to make the cut over the Old Course.
"I want to finish my career on Sunday, not on Friday," Nicklaus said on Thursday. "That's my big goal."
The 65-year-old loses his Open exemption after this year, and considers it entirely fitting to be saying his goodbye to the majors at the home of golf, where he won in 1970 and 1978. He last played in the Open in 2000, also at St Andrews, and last made the halfway cut in 1997.
Also this week, the Scottish government is honoring Nicklaus by putting is face on a Scottish banknote. The paper currency, which will be unveiled at St. Andrews, will be legal tender in Scotland.
Nicklaus called the gesture "one of the most significant and memorable honors I've had in my career" and noted that "only the Queen and the Queen Mother have been on there as living people.
"I'm very, very flattered," he said, "and it's hard for me to say anything other than it's a great honor."
Nicklaus played his last U.S. Open and PGA Championship in 2000 and his last Masters this April.
OLAZABAL IS IN AS SEVE BOWS OUT: Three-time Open Championship winner Seve Ballesteros has withdrawn from the 2005 Open and will be replaced by fellow Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal. The 48-year-old Ballesteros won the Open in 1979, 1984 and 1988.
Ballesteros wrote to tournament organizers, saying he wasn't in good enough form to play the July 14-17 tournament at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
''Unfortunately, I am still not at the competitive level I would expect, especially at a venue like St. Andrews, which hosts the best event in the world,'' Ballesteros said Thursday.
He hasn't played competitively since his own event, The Seve Trophy, in late 2003, and he injured his knee earlier this year when he slipped on a practice tee.
Olazabal was the highest ranked player to miss out on an exempt place in international qualifying at Sunningdale on Monday.
OPEN ENTRIES REACH A RECORD: A record 2,499 entries were received for the Open Championship at St. Andrews. The figure beats the previous record -- for the 2000 Open over the Old Course -- by 18, Royal & Ancient Golf Club officials said.
A total of 101 players were exempt and 55 more are coming from either qualifying or a number of categories such as the leading non-exempt players in the European and Scottish Opens on the European Tour and the Cialis Western Open and John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour.
Copyright 2005 PGA.com. All rights reserved.
