After a big drive off the par 5 fifteenth tee, Jack Nicklaus was now looking at an opportunity to get on the green in two. The question was, could he clear the water and still keep the ball on the green.
It was Augusta National. The final round of The Masters, April 13, 1986. Forty years ago next month. Jack was chasing golfers ten to fifteen years his junior. No one had ever won the Masters at age 46.
“I consider my sixth Masters victory the most fulfilling because it came at a time when not many people expected me to win, and I wasn’t all that confident I could win either, although I never would have admitted it to anyone,” Nicklaus would write in his self-titled book in 2007.
There’s no doubt Jack was going for the green. He pulled out a three iron. Not only did his shot clear the water, but the ball rolled up to ten feet from the cup for a legitimate shot at an eagle. His greatest shot ever? Probably not.
According to son Jackie (his caddie), his putt broke eight inches. Jack got his eagle. He had just pulled to within two shots of 29-year-old two time Masters champion Seve Ballesteros with three holes to play.
Back when Jack played, it felt like the entire gallery followed him around the course. People expected greatness. And they often got it.
In this classic golf tale, Jack then walked up to the 16 tee. “If anyone has ever owned this hole, it would be Jack Nicklaus,” said newly hired 26-year-old tv announcer Jim Nantz. Jack, of course, hit his drive right at the pin. It landed just to the right of the cup, slid underneath and stopped three feet away. Jack got a 170 yard standing ovation as he made his way up to the green. He calmly tapped in his birdie to get to minus eight, just one shot back with two holes to play.
Seve meanwhile had hit a massive drive near 300 yards into the middle of the fairway on the long fifteenth hole. Like Jack, the green became in play on his second shot. The risk again was the water.
As Jack stepped up to tee off on 17, a roar erupted that backed him off his ball. Ballesteros had just gone in the water on his approach. Jack would say later he knew the roar/groan was for Seve. “He either hit it in the water or holed it.”
The leader was wet. Seve would take his penalty, chip onto the green and miss his par saving putt. The Golden Bear and the young Spaniard were now tied at minus eight. Tom Kite was at minus seven. 31-year-old Australian Greg Norman (leader after three rounds) and the legendary Tom Watson both were at minus six.
On 17, Jack made the green in two and left himself eighteen feet for a birdie and the lead. Meanwhile Kite birdied fifteen to draw even with Seve and Jack at minus eight. Then the iconic putt that would be shown millions of times over the next couple of decades. Jack – the conquering warrior – stabbing his putter in the air after he watched his ball drop in for the lead and legendary announcer Vern Lundquist exclaiming “Maybe…yes sir!”
Eagle. Birdie. Birdie. And only the eighteenth hole left to play.
“If there is any doubt about the greatness of this man, it is proven today,” said TV announcer Ken Venturi. “Its one of the most emotional Masters I’ve ever witnessed.”
Meanwhile, Norman birdied 15 and 16, to pull within one shot of Jack.
As Nicklaus approached the eighteenth green and a standing ovation, he teared up. He had left himself a long putt over a ridge to get to the hole. Nonetheless, he would triumphantly make par and walk off the green arm and arm with his son Jackie. Now, he had to wait.
The thunderous ovation for Jack echoed through the course. Seve missed his birdie putt on 17 after waiting for the ovation to die down. His aggressiveness sent the ball fifteen feet beyond the hole. He ended up three putting. All shot at catching Nicklaus was gone. Kite parred 17 & 18 to finish one shot back.
Young Greg Norman was all that was left. On 17, Norman made his fourth straight birdie. The GOAT and the Shark were tied at minus nine. The stage was set for a dramatic final hole. Birdie for the win. Par for a playoff. Or the unthinkable…a bogey and history would pass him by.
Jack and Jackie watched Norman’s charge in the Bob Jones cabin.
On his approach to 18, Norman hit his ball deep into the gallery to the right of the green and behind a bunker. His chip from there rolled along the top of the green and settled within 12 feet of the hole. Then he missed his par putt.
Jack Nicklaus had won the Masters yet again. At age 46, some forty years later, he is still the oldest man to win this most prestigious event.
“It’s the only golf tournament that I can recall that everybody, when I see them, turns around and says, “Jack, ’86 Masters, I was at a motel, or I was at an airport, or I was in this bar, or I was in this place and I couldn’t leave, and my wife wanted to leave and I kept saying, ‘No, no, no, we’re not leaving until this is over,” Jack would say twenty years later. “Thousands of people have told me that story.”
In 2019, at the age of 43, Tiger Woods won his final major. His fifteenth. The Masters.
Sunday at the Masters is consistently magical. It is great theater. Even when you think you know the ending, there is almost always a twist at the end. Sometimes it can even get chaotic.
Jack Nicklaus created drama. Back in his day, there was this thing called the charge of the bear. Jack would go on a birdie binge late in the final round and climb up the leaderboard.
And that’s all we wanted. To see the legend do it one last time.
Sources: Augusta National Golf Club: a hole-by-hole guide by Tim Gavrich, April 3, 2025, www.golfpass.com; Oldest winners of the Masters Tournament, www.golfcompendium.com; Masters moments: Jack Nicklaus’ quiet goodbye by Mark Cannizzaro, April 11, 2020, www.nypost.com; www.golfweek.usatoday.com; 1986 Masters, Daniel Butler, July 12, 2023, www.youtube.com; Jack Nicklaus Museum, Columbus, Ohio; Featured picture is courtesy of Columbus Monthly, Dec, 1983.