AUGUSTA, Ga. — Pairing sheets listing the official 2008 Groupings and Starting Times for the first round of the 72nd Masters tournament for Thursday, April 10, were a hot item Wednesday. The most oft-scanned line on the sheet was about halfway down the page.
But to view the real battle shaping up this week, one must step inside the ropes of Augusta National’s living photo album. This is where Masters history moves and breathes, and the moments of the present are measured against the those that have gone before. Here, the tee times look like this:
10:45 a.m. — Tiger Woods; Robert T. Jones Jr.; Jack W. Nicklaus
Fanciful as it seems, Tiger Woods’s principal Masters competition this week comes not so much from the present, and the 93 other golfers in it. In reality, he is playing against the ghost of Bobby Jones and the spirit of Jack Nicklaus. His aim is to become the first player since Jones in 1930 to win all four of golf’s major championships in one season. His goal is to surpass Nicklaus’s record of 18 victories in professional majors.
So it was fitting when the master of the Masters decided to come out of retirement for a little cameo appearance. The huge crowds that turned out for the final practice rounds received a big surprise when Nicklaus, 68, showed up on the 10th tee with his old friend Gary Player, 72, who is playing in his 51st Masters. Player asked Nicklaus to join him before their scheduled 2:30 tee time with Arnold Palmer in the Par-3 contest.
Perhaps more than any other golfer, Nicklaus embodies the astonishing feats that have played out at Augusta National. He has won more green jackets than anyone, and the echoes linger still from his stunning sixth and final Masters victory in 1986, ringing as clear after 22 years as they did on that brightly lit Sunday.
Cheers enveloped him and his 18-year-old grandson, Jack Nicklaus III, as they headed out on No. 10. Outside the ropes was his son Jack II, who caddied in 1986. He is 46 now, the same age his father was then. Although Nicklaus had said he would no longer play the course from the 7,445-yard championship tees after he retired two years ago, he relented.
It mattered not to the adoring crowds that he had a 3-wood in his hands for his second shot into the 10th, now a 495-yard par 4. They pretended not to notice the 4-wood for his second into the 505-yard par-4 11th. When he needed a 5-wood into the 18th, they cheered anyway for the soaring shot. While change is a constant here, and the magnificent vistas that seem the same may be illusions, Jack Nicklaus is still Jack Nicklaus.
Like when he hit a 6-iron into the 16th hole, where he had a kick-in birdie 22 years ago. This time, his ball hit softly on the slope, hole high, above the pin, which was cut on the left. The ball never took the slope, hanging on the hill. His tee shot at the 17th clipped the Eisenhower tree and kicked back into the pine straw. But when Nicklaus went to the 18th tee and hit his drive down the middle, there were some of the old whoops and hollers.
And when he walked from the course, it took the best efforts of two Pinkerton guards to clear him a pathway through the crowds to the clubhouse. Nicklaus smiled tightly and responded to some of the cheers, but his shoulders slumped, and there was no doubt that he was not deceiving himself. He will not be taking many, if any, more walks down memory lane during tournament week.
“It wasn’t any fun hitting woods into all the par 4’s,” he said, a small, rueful smile in place. “That’s why I stopped playing. I probably wouldn’t have played the nine holes if I hadn’t had one of my grandsons on the bag. It was great for him out there. He looked around and said: ‘Wow. Man, there’s a lot of people.’ He really enjoyed that, and I enjoyed having him come along.”
Nicklaus also was not biting on any questions about Woods’s quest to overtake him, starting with one asking him about the oddsmakers having installed Woods as even money to win the Masters. He said he knew nothing about oddsmaking.
“Is he the favorite?” Nicklaus asked rhetorically. “By a mile? Of course he is. Why wouldn’t he be? You’re asking me a question you already know the answer to.”
The real question that remains is, can Woods do it? It will be answered over the next four days. If he can, he will have to do it against the Jack Nicklaus who set the standard, the one who not only won 18 majors but also finished second in 19 others. That Jack Nicklaus, not the one who may be wondering if he let some of those 19 get away.
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