It's one of my greatest sports memories.
Twitter may have exploded had it existed on that April afternoon in 1986, the day Jack Nicklaus turned back the clock, shocked his doubters, and won his sixth Masters Tournament in unforgettable fashion.
Nicklaus, then 46, hadn't won a major championship in six years and hadn't won the Masters in 11 years when he teed up that Sunday. He was four shots back of the leader and there were eight players ahead of him, including several of the game's greats.
Nicklaus failed to make a charge for eight holes. He was even on the day when he approached the ninth tee. Then he birdied 9, 10 and 11. Something was happening in Augusta, Ga. When he bogeyed 12, I was crushed, a 20-year-old Nicklaus fan in Massachusetts who thought the magic ride was over. It was not.
Nicklaus eagled the 15th and then sent shockwaves through the golfing world when he hit an iron to within three feet at the par 3 16th. I can still hear the cheers when he birdied 16 and 17. After a par on 18, he embraced his caddy, his son Jackie. But Nicklaus had to wait. When Greg Norman bogeyed the 18th, Nicklaus had won his sixth green jacket.
In a couple of hours, Hideki Matsuyama will take a four-shot lead into the final round of the 2021 Masters. A four-shot deficit at Augusta National can be made up in the final round, as we learned 35 years ago, the day Jack staged a comeback for the ages.
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