Nicklaus Hasn’t Come to the End of the Roar

AUGUSTA, Ga. —  It was supposed to be a sentimental stroll down memory lane for Jack Nicklaus here at Augusta National, where there are trees a lot younger than the guy with the rebuilt hip and the same old swing.

There was a totally heartwarming plan for Nicklaus’ 41st Masters and it was supposed to go something like this: Smile a lot, remove cap to polite applause, wave goodbye, limp off into the distance as the sun sets quietly behind the tall Georgia pines.

If you think that’s what Nicklaus wanted, then you don’t know Jack.

He might be 60, he might be old enough to be Aaron Baddeley’s grandfather, he might have more miles on him than a used Volkswagen, but Jack Nicklaus knows how to play the Masters.

We saw it again Friday when he played the second round in two-under 70 that put him at even-par 144 halfway through the Masters. That means that Nicklaus is six shots behind leader David Duval. It also means that Nicklaus is three shots closer to Duval than Tiger Woods is.

The only people who could have predicted that are the ones who read Tarot cards and levitate their household pets.

Nicklaus could have finished even closer to the top, but he couldn’t wring one more birdie out of the place after the one he collected at No. 13. On that one, he drove into the right rough but still managed to reach the green on the 485-yard dogleg left with his five-iron second shot.

Nicklaus closed with a bogey at No. 18, which you know didn’t excite him. Actually, for the swirling convoy of a gallery that followed Nicklaus and his playing partners, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, there was enough excitement to light up all of Washington Road.

There are certain types of crowd noises at Augusta National and their sounds have distinctive resonating qualities well known to experts in these things.

There is a birdie roar, there is an eagle roar, there is a Tiger roar and there is a Jack roar.

Jack’s roar is the loudest. Always has been. Masters roar experts will tell you that the cheers from the gallery on the last day in 1986, when Nicklaus made an eagle at the 15th hole, is unchallenged as the loudest unofficial roar in Masters history.

On that day, 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus closed with a 65 and won his sixth Masters title.

It was the lowest finishing round Nicklaus shot at the Masters.

That was supposed to be the end of the road, celebration-wise, for the Golden Bear at the Masters.

Nicklaus has tried his hardest to change all that and has come close. He has had three top-10 finishes since, one of them the last time he played here. That was in 1998, when he tied for sixth, finishing with a 68. Of course, Nicklaus couldn’t play the Masters last year because he’d had hip replacement surgery three months earlier.

Doctors used a ceramic material. That surprised many, not because Nicklaus needed the operation, but because they figured he was a persimmon guy.

The 33 he shot on the front side Friday was the lowest at the Masters by a player of at least 60 since Sam Snead did it in 1974 at 61.

After signing his scorecard, Nicklaus shook hands with Palmer and Player, then started thinking about his future . . . like today and Sunday, when he actually may find himself in the running for another Masters victory.

It’s not possible, is it? Probably not, according to conventional wisdom. Nicklaus doesn’t seem to want to go along, though.

He says he should be leading the tournament. That’s right, not challenging for the lead, but holding the thing in his hands.

As for how he feels in 2000 as opposed to 1986, Nicklaus said there isn’t all that much difference, except he doesn’t have the strength to keep the ball in the air the way he wants.

Anything else, well, there’s no surprise, no magical incantation, absolutely nothing that has brought Nicklaus to this place in this position in this Masters. Nothing except that he has done the same thing he always has.

He uses the spring to get ready for the Masters. He has done it again, all right, and here he is one more time, hogging all the cheers with the applause raining on his tanned, wrinkled face.

Once more Nicklaus is making his way through Augusta National, where he would like nothing better than to turn a sentimental journey into a victory lap.