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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nicklaus returns despite heavy heart


Jack Nicklaus greets well-wishers as he walks to the sixth green during Tuesday's practice at Augusta National. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Vartan Kupelian Detroit News

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Some tears. Some laughs. And always the cheers. Every step Jack Nicklaus took Tuesday at Augusta National Golf Club, and every swing, was greeted with appreciation.

Jack Nicklaus is back at Augusta National, where he belongs. At 10:11 a.m. Thursday, he’ll be on the first tee for another Masters Tournament, his 45th.

He’s only missed the Masters twice since 1959 because of assorted injuries. For the last few weeks, it looked like he’d miss it again, this time with a broken heart.

Nicklaus’ 17-month-old grandson, Jake, drowned in a hot tub accident on March 2. Jake was the son of Nicklaus’ second-oldest son, Steve, and his daughter-in-law, Krista.

“I had canceled everything after Jake passed away to spend time with Steve, which I did,” said a teary-eyed Nicklaus. “Steve wanted to play golf because he didn’t have anything else to do. We started playing together. I had no intention of playing golf, but that’s what he wanted to do.”

The golf brought them to Augusta National.

“Steve loves it around here,” Nicklaus said. “And he said, ‘Can we go to Augusta?’ I said, ‘Sure, let’s go.’ I came up here two weeks ago.”

Nicklaus and his son talked about the Masters. Steve told the six-time Masters winner to play.

“I said, ‘I want to play, but I don’t have much of a golf game,’ ” Nicklaus said.

No problem, Steve said: “You’ll have a golf game.”

“So I’m here,” Nicklaus said. “That’s why I’m playing.”

Steve Nicklaus will caddie for his father in the Masters. His older brother, Jack Nicklaus II, was on the bag in 1986 when Nicklaus won his record sixth green jacket in what is often considered the greatest Masters of all time.

Nicklaus said the support he’s received from friends and acquaintances in recent weeks has been overwhelming.

“I can’t think of anybody I know that hasn’t (called with condolences),” Nicklaus said. “I don’t know how many thousands of letters or e-mails or calls but every one of them is special. It’s amazing the number of calls … it’s been very, very nice.”

Once the talk turned to golf, as it invariably will with Nicklaus, there were smiles and a few laughs when he mentioned the golf game of an acquaintance he played with at Augusta.

Of course, there were cheers everywhere he went as Nicklaus made his way around the grounds of Augusta National, the course that Bobby Jones built and Jack Nicklaus played in a way Jones said he could never have envisioned. Nicklaus played a practice round with old rival Tom Watson.

“I think I can make the cut if I play halfway decent,” said Nicklaus, 65. “I don’t think that should be a stretch for me. Will I make the cut? Probably not. But do I think I should make it? Yeah. I think I could certainly play well enough to do that.”

Nicklaus is counting on the Masters aura to see him through.

“I’ll remember how to play golf if I get myself in a position to,” he said. “When you get yourself in a competitive situation, you seem to remember what to do, and all of a sudden, (you think), ‘Oh, you do that?’ You have a little 20-footer, you just tap it in, that’s what you do. Sometimes those things happen. Sometimes they don’t.”

Later, Nicklaus had lunch with Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara.

“We talked about a few things,” Woods said. “It quickly changed to a conversation with Mark and Jack talking about all the great fly fishing places they’ve been around the world. … For him to go through this, it’s more of a family thing. It’s about getting everybody’s mind off of (the tragedy). Steve is obviously going through some very hard times right now. The entire family is coming up. It will be a very touching moment, just to at least get their mind off it for a little bit.”

Nicklaus figured 2004 might have been his Masters swan song. He insists there won’t be a farewell tour of Augusta National.

“I don’t think I need to make a big deal out of whether I’m going to play or not going to play,” he said. “My time has passed. I’ve had my time at Augusta.”