Nicklaus Finds Nothing Sweet About 16 Shots Behind

Jack Nicklaus was a frustrated six-time champion when he completed his 37th Masters on Sunday.

“It’s a little disappointing to know that your ability is still there to play it and you can’t make it happen,” Nicklaus said after finishing well back in the pack with a 75-290, 16 shots behind Ben Crenshaw’s winning total.

“It’s frustrating,” he said.

After winning the Tradition on the Senior PGA Tour last week, Nicklaus had reason to expect more than he got in Augusta.

He started with a 5-under-par 67 on Thursday and had a 70 on Saturday. It was the other two rounds that cost him - a 78 on Friday and the closing 75 Sunday.

“I would say I had two good experiences and two not very good experiences,” he said. “Today was not much different than it was Friday. I couldn’t get started.”

Nicklaus said he was 4-over-par after the first eight holes Sunday and felt he hit only one bad shot - “and that didn’t cost me anything.”

“I bogeyed the first three par 5s and then I finally made a birdie and made three in a row,” he said. “I guess that’s sort of the way I’ve been this week. I get going in a streak. I get going in the wrong direction and then I get going in the right direction.”

His string of three birdies started at the par-4 14th.

Despite being out of contention, Nicklaus drew a standing ovation from the fans surrounding the 18th green. Autographseekers strolled with him toward the clubhouse, with security personnel moving him along until he reached a roped off area before stopping at the entrance to sign a few.

Harrick, Calhoun on hand

Two prominent college basketball coaches were at Augusta National for the final round of the Masters - Jim Harrick of national champion UCLA and Jim Calhoun of Connecticut.

Harrick was seen following the UCLA twosome of Corey Pavin and Duffy Waldorf.

Calhoun has good reason to be in Augusta other than the Masters. One of his prize recruits, point guard Ricky Moore of Westside High in Augusta, was serving as a busboy at the club.

Scoring tidbits

There were 30 eagles and 869 birdies during the four rounds. Crenshaw had none of the eagles, but his 19 birdies tied the tournament best along with Jay Haas, Fred Couples, Jumbo Ozaki and Dan Forsman.

Phil Mickelson had the most eagles (three). Couples, Paul Azinger and Nicklaus each had two.

The average score for the 47 players on Sunday was 73.340, a day in which there were six eagles, 151 birdies, 495 pars, 165 bogeys and 26 double bogeys.

The average score for all four rounds was 72.589.

Best, worst of times

Seventeen shots separated the best and worst scores in the final round - the 66 by Davis Love and the 83 by Rick Fehr.

Only five others had scores in the 60s - Crenshaw, Greg Norman and Bob Estes with 68s and Ken Perry and Colin Montgomerie with 69s.