AUGUSTA, Ga. – Jack Nicklaus may have lost the 1964 Masters to Arnold Palmer by a whopping six shots, but that’s not the only lasting memory Nicklaus has from that tournament.
Particularly, Nicklaus, a six-time winner of the green jacket, remembers the 8-iron he hit that Sunday on Augusta National’s famous par-3 12th hole that nearly had dire consequences.
Sure, Nicklaus shanked his tee shot short of Rae’s Creek and carded bogey, but he also narrowly missed beaning the Masters co-founders, who were watching from just right of the tee box.
“I almost killed Bob Jones and Clifford Roberts,” Nicklaus said. “Shanked it right over their head. … Their cart was out in front here about 20, 25 yards on the right side, and I put it right over their head with an 8-iron. I nearly made ‘3.’”
Nicklaus also shared another embarrassing moment during his annual Thursday morning presser alongside Gary Player and Tom Watson. It was Nicklaus’ birthday one year, and he was playing in the Crosby Clambake at Pebble Beach.
“We were having a little group together down at the room,” Nicklaus recalls, “and in our room, probably eight or 10 people are there, and a friend of mine calls, ‘Hey, Jack, happy birthday. Somebody wants to say happy birthday to you.’ And a guy got on the phone and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ all the way through, and I could barely hear and so forth and so on.
“He said, ‘Happy birthday, Jack.’ And I gave it real businesslike, as I might in those days, ‘Who am I speaking with, please?’
“‘It’s Bing Crosby, Jack. Happy birthday.’
“I’m sitting there listening to Bing Crosby sing ‘Happy Birthday,’ and I don’t even know it.
“That 8-iron shank was embarrassing, too.”
