AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Jack Nicklaus said goodbye to the Masters on his own terms.
Instead of a glorious, nostalgia-filled stroll up to the 18th green on the Friday of the 2005 tournament, he settled for a tap-in par at No. 9.
Instead of giving everyone time to plan a ceremonial send-off, he simply signed his scorecard, walked into the media center and matter-of-factly announced that he was done with the tournament that defined his brilliant career.
But don't fret for the Golden Bear. He'll always have 1986.
In the first year of his self-imposed Masters retirement, Nicklaus has plenty of time to reflect on his most stirring triumph: A come-from-behind victory at Augusta National by a supposedly washed-up, 46-year-old golfer.
Even if he wanted to get on with the rest of his life, no one will ever let him forget what occurred on that Sunday afternoon in Georgia, the memories still as vivid as the azaleas that erupt in a dazzling array of colors every spring.
"It's the only golf tournament that I can recall that everybody, when I see them, they turn around and say, 'Jack, '86 Masters, I was at a motel, or I was at an airport, or I was in this bar, and I couldn't leave. My wife was yelling at me to leave and I said: No, no, no, we're not leaving until this is over,'" Nicklaus said. "I've had thousands of people who have told me that story."
Twenty years later, it still seems like yesterday.
Nicklaus trailed eight other players going into Sunday, and he was still four shots behind at the turn. Then, suddenly morphing into the guy who dominated the game in the 1960s and '70s, he shot a record-tying 6-under 30 on the back side and collected a record-all-to-himself sixth green jacket.
"Washed up, huh?" Nicklaus said afterward, clearly satisfied to have silenced those pundits who said he had no chance to win another major title, who were openly speculating that it was time to hang up his clubs.
As is turned out, the Golden Bear hung around two more decades. He even made a run for a seventh Masters title at 58, settling for a sixth-place finish in 1998 that is probably just as remarkable as his victory a dozen years earlier.
No one asks about '98, however.
They all want to talk about '86.
Ernie Els was only 15 at the time, watching the tournament on television with his dad and thinking -- like everyone else -- there was no way a 46-year-old golfer could actually win the Masters. Especially one who had not won a tournament in two years and had given no indication of breaking out of the slump.
In seven tournaments leading into Augusta, Nicklaus had missed the cut three times, withdrew from another event and didn't have a finish higher than 39th.
Even when the Golden Bear put himself on the cusp of contention going into the final round, there were still too many great golfers to catch, a who's who that included Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Tom Kite and Tom Watson.
"It kind of was like watching an old boxer like Muhammad Ali fighting Larry Holmes, and you hope he's going to beat the guy, but you think he's going to get the crap beat out of him," Els said. "That was kind of the same thing watching Nicklaus play the Masters going into the final nine. You're thinking, 'I hope he wins, but I don't think he's going to do it.'"
Amazingly, it was Nicklaus who threw most of the punches that day.
He knocked in birdie putts of 25 and 20 feet to start the back nine. He stumbled a bit at No. 12, missing a 6-footer to save par, but that actually turned out to be blessing. Nicklaus threw all caution aside the rest of the way, knowing he needed to finish strong to have any chance.
He two-putted from 30 feet for another birdie at the par-5 13th. But the defining shot of his round came two holes later -- a 4-iron over the water from 240 yards away, the ball trickling to a stop only 12 feet from the flag.
"I just took dead aim at it and hit it, and it never left the pin," Nicklaus said.
He strolled up to the green and knocked in the putt for eagle. The gallery let out a roar that probably could be heard all the way to Atlanta.
"Now I'm pumped," Nicklaus said. "I know I'm just a couple of shots behind at that point."
Feeling like he did in his prime, Nicklaus went right at the flag again on the par-3 16th. The 5-iron from 175 yards was so true that he didn't even bother watching the flight of the ball. He reached down for his tee while Jackie, his son and caddie, yelled, "Be right."
"It is," Nicklaus replied -- in hindsight, a most uncharacteristic response from the Golden Bear.
"It was one of those times where I hit the shot and as soon as it left the club, I knew exactly where it was," he said. "It was just sort of a cocky remark that I made. I don't normally make that. But I had so much confidence in what was going on, that's what I did."
The ball landed 2 feet from the hole. Nicklaus rolled it in for another birdie. Then, as he walked over to 17, another roar went up from the patrons. Ballesteros, who was two holes behind, knocked his approach into the water. He took a bogey at 15, ceding the lead to Nicklaus.
"My dad and myself, sitting there, we couldn't believe it what we were seeing," Els said. "That was exciting stuff. They can show that on the Golf Channel every day instead of all that other stuff they show."
Norman wasn't done. The Shark made four straight birdies starting at 14 and went to the final hole tied for the lead. But, thinking win instead of playoff, he got too aggressive with his approach shot and wound up in the gallery.
When Norman failed to get up and down for par, the green jacket belonged to Nicklaus, who watched that final bit of drama in the Jones Cabin.
"It was kind of a blur after that," he said. "We went down to the Butler Cabin and I guess Langer was defending champion, so I guess he gave me the coat. We had dinner that night and went home. I don't remember much about it."
Last year, Nicklaus decided it was time to call it a career. He was 65 and finally willing to concede to the only opponent he couldn't beat -- age. He played his final Masters, missing the cut for the fifth year in a row. He played one more British Open at St. Andrews, waving goodbye at the birthplace of golf.
Nicklaus is in Augusta this week. He took part in the Champions Dinner on Tuesday. He'll attend a soiree put on by the golf writers the following night. The rest of his schedule was up in the air.
He may take part in the par-3 tournament. He may give the fans a thrill by playing a practice round. Or he may "go walk around and look at the azaleas." One thing is certain: He's not making a comeback.
"I'm certainly not up there to play golf," he said.
For those whose love of the Masters was forged by players such as Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, this year just won't seem the same.
"The thing I'm most regretful about Jack not playing and Arnold not playing is that they used to be the guys that we would call first for a practice round," Phil Mickelson said. "Those would be the guys that we would look to so we could see how to conduct ourselves and how to act like a professional and treat people right."
Nicklaus refuses to get sentimental about his legacy, but he never gets tired of watching highlights of the '86 Masters.
"It's about the only television event when I see it come on, I actually stop and watch a little bit of it," he said. "And, yeah, I still made that putt. That was still a pretty good shot."
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
