Jack and the '86 Masters
Jack Nicklaus is firmly established as one of golf's greatest champions, if not it's greatest. A living legend, who has won a record eighteen professional major championships, including six Masters. The renowned tournament held every April at Augusta National Golf Club has been Jack's personal fief where he has had 21 top ten finishes in 45 tries.
Since his youth, Augusta and the Masters have held fond memories for Jack. "There are nine million things that Augusta has always been very, very special about. And it’s just something that every year I can go back. When I was just a kid 13–14 years old, it was the first tournament that I really recalled anything about. It’s always very special to me."
“Sound, on rare occasions, becomes louder than sound as we know it, losing all definition and measurability. That's the way it was when Jack Nicklaus rallied to the most memorable and improbable of his (18 majors).”
— Nick Seitz, '96 Golf Digest celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Jack's win.
The 1986 Masters Tournament would deepen that relationship between Jack and Augusta. It was the tournament’s 50th edition and Jack’s 28th appearance. At the time, Jack has 46 and had not won a Masters in eleven years. His focus was increasingly moving away from playing to his other endeavors. In fact, Jack hadn’t won a tournament in two years and came to Augusta ranked 160th on the PGA Tour’s money list. The popular press wrote him off saying he was “done, washed up, through.”
Jack responded, “I kept thinking all week, ‘Through, washed up, huh?’ I sizzled for a while. But then I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to quit now, playing the way I’m playing. I’ve played too well, too long to let a shorter period of bad golf be my last.”
Jack won a historic victory shooting a final round 65 for a total of 279 (-9). His win made him the oldest winner of the Masters, and the second oldest winner of any major championship. The win also gave Jack a record six Masters victories. His first came in 1963. The 23 years between wins at Augusta and 24 years between major championship victories are also records.