Nicklaus Has A Very Bad Day

What do you say after you shoot an 81 at the U.S. Open?

If you’re Jack Nicklaus, you keep it simple.

“Not very good,” he said. “That simple. I just wasn’t very good.”

Actually, Nicklaus has never been worse at the U.S. Open. His 81 Friday at Shinnecock Hills, 11 over par, matched his previous worst round, which he established in the first round of the 1970 U.S. Open at Hazeltine.

It was just one of those days, said Nicklaus, 55, a four-time U.S. Open champion who last won it in 1980 at Baltusrol.

“I just struggled,” he said. “On the back side, I tried to make something happen and every time I tried to make something happen, it got worse. I think it’s that kind of golf course.”

Nicklaus missed the cut with his 36-hole total of 152.Nicklaus, winner of 18 major titles, played in the same group with two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North and 1991 British Open champion, Ian Baker-Finch. In two days, the three were a combined 33 over par.

Besides Hazeltine and now Shinnecock, Nicklaus’ only other U.S. Open rounds in the 80s were when he shot consecutive 80s in his U.S. Open debut in 1957 at Inverness.

Will Jack be back? Nicklaus said he will play in his 40th U.S. Open next year at Oakland Hills if he receives another special exemption.

“I’ll let the USGA make that call,” he said. “If they invite me, I’ll play.

”(A 40th U.S. Open) would be a nice round number to finish it off. I would hate to have what I did today be my last round at the U.S. Open.”

Dangerous game

Mark McCumber had already taken 12 Advils since Thursday night, but he would have needed a few more had he not ducked quickly Friday on the 12th green. After sinking a 20-foot putt for birdie, Jumbo Ozaki jerked his putter up in celebration, right into the path of McCumber, who had started walking behind Ozaki to prepare to putt.

McCumber dodged the putter by dropping to the green, then grabbed Ozaki around the knees. Although everyone had a good laugh, it was no easy motion for McCumber, who on Thursday tore a calf muscle in his right leg while marking his ball on the 10th green.

Slip of the lip

Shinnecock Hills, which had a very famous lost ball at the 1986 Open when a drive by Jack Nicklaus disappeared in the grass off the 10th fairway, has put together a corps of spotters and forecaddies who use signals to indicate the direction of the shots. At No. 1, a 23-member crew, volunteers from the Southampton Golf Club, keep their eyes on every shot. “We haven’t lost one yet,” John Borucke, a signaler, said Thursday.

Oops, spoke too soon. John Mahaffey’s first-round tee shot landed in the right rough and eluded a large search party. After the allotted 5 minutes, Mahaffey returned to the tee, hit again and wound up with a bogey 5 because of the penalty.

Golfing by air

Bill Glasson, who is in contention at 1-under 139, is one of a growing number of PGA Tour players who pilots their own airplanes. Glasson goes from tour stop to tour stop in his twin-engine, eight-seat Beechcraft Starship, and sees a kinship between the disciplines of flying and playing golf.

“There’s a correlation between the precision that golf requires and the precision flying requires,” said Glasson, 35. “You’re always trying to make the perfect shot and you’re always trying to make the perfect approach.”