In his 44th consecutive U.S. Open, Jack Nicklaus played his final round at the tournament Friday and it wasn't one to remember, at least from a numbers standpoint.
He had gone out in the morning and completed an opening-round 73, which put him in a tie for 39th place, in contention to make the cut, but in the afternoon his age caught up with him and he struggled in with an 82 for a 155 total.
The 60-year-old Nicklaus saved his best for last, however, by hitting two great shots to make the green in two, something that hasn't been done very often, by anyone this week.
"I told (son) Jackie on the tee, 'What do I have to lose, let's see what we can do,'" said Nicklaus.
He hit a nice drive, about 270 yards which left him 261 to the hole and 238 to the front of the green.
As he put it later, "I crushed a 3-wood pretty good" and the ball hit in front of the green and rolled onto the putting surface, about 50 feet short of the hole, eliciting a roar from the large gallery in the stands around the 18th green. "I was very proud of that," he said.
The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he walked to the green, which caused him to hit a poor putt a few minutes later.
"My eyes welled up," Nicklaus explained. "I couldn't even see my putt and I topped it. My eyes were kind of blurry."
Nicklaus left his eagle try about eight feet short and then left his next putt about two inches short before tapping in for a par.
It's been widely assumed that this would be Nicklaus' final U.S. Open and he admitted as much Friday in the press tent.
"There's always a possibility (of playing next year)," he said. "But the only way I could come back is if I won the Senior Open (which would give him an exemption) and if I'm playing well next year. Even then, it's very slim chance that I'd play."
By playing in 44 straight U.S. Opens, Nicklaus set a standard that will likely never be broken. He played in his first Open in 1957 at the age of 17 when he shot a pair of 80s at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.
Nicklaus' wife, Barbara, and their four sons walked with him in his last U.S. Open round and there were a few tears shed afterward away from the crowds near the scoring trailer.
Afterward, Nicklaus addressed a press gathering there, before doing a repeat performance in the main press interview room. Then he cracked the door open one more time, when after answering questions for 20 minutes, he said, "See you at next year's Open."
EARLY EXITS: Several of golf's biggest names missed the cut, or rather were very likely to miss the cut, which will officially come Saturday morning after all the golfers had finished their second rounds. Among the top names going home early are Nicklaus (73-82--155), Greg Norman (77-82--159), Davis Love III (75-79--154), Bernhard Langer (77-80-157) and Curtis Strange (81-81-162).
The cut was expected to come at either 149 or 150 Saturday morning.
IN A FOG: Anyone who's followed weather reports out of northern California, could not believe that bad weather is playing havoc with the U.S. Open. Most years, the U.S. Open is played under hot conditions and with northern California breaking all kinds of temperature records earlier this week, it looked like heat could be a big factor.
However, it's the fog that has been a problem in both rounds.
Play was stopped Thursday at 3:56 p.m. after Jeff Maggert complained to a USGA official that he couldn't see where to hit his drive on No. 10. The USGA official agreed and play was halted, never to start again.
The players who didn't finish Thursday were supposed to all resume play at 6:45 a.m. PDT Friday, but again, fog pushed play back another 90 minutes before play could begin. By the end of the day, 56 golfers still hadn't finished their second rounds.
OPEN NOTES: Dennis Paulson, the former Utah Open winner, who won last week's Buick Open, withdrew after his round Saturday, citing back and rib injuries. Paulson probably wouldn't have made the cut anyway with scores of 75 and 76 for a 151 total . . . The toughest hole is the 188-yard par-3 No. 5 hole, which is a brand-new hole at Pebble Beach (opened in 1998) designed by Jack Nicklaus. In the first round it averaged 3.455 shots per player . . . In the first round Tiger Woods ranked second in driving distance at 297.5, just behind John Daly, who withdrew after a 14 on the final hole. Utah's Mike Borich, known as a long hitter, ranked 48th in driving distance.
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