JACK NICKLAUS: Unlocking the Mystery of his Missing 1986 Masters’ Putter
Ryder Cup and college football also on his mind
By Tom Lang
Jack Nicklaus’ famous MacGregor Response ZT 615 putter – the one he held high in the air wearing his bright yellow shirt after sinking the long, slightly wiggling, iconic putt for birdie on the 17th green at Augusta National in 1986 – had been missing for 10 years or more.
Now he knows where it is – but he’s still seeking its return.
How the putter got there is a story of twists and turns – and now the MI Golf Journal is the first media to share Jack’s perspective on it, which he voiced at a sponsor’s event at the recent Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc.
The situation troubles him because Nicklaus said it’s the one and only golf club he doesn’t have out of all 18 majors he won: six Masters, five PGA Championships, four U.S. Opens, three Opens.
The only club.
“I don’t know if people have noticed in the paper, but here in the past week that Irsay (owner of the Indianapolis Colts) bought my putter from the ’86 Masters,” Nicklaus said.
“It’s kind of a funny story. I was playing tennis for about 10 days with Ivan Lendl, Tony Roche and Billy Scanlon. They came to my house; they wanted to get ready for grass court tennis … so Ivan and I would play Billy and Tony, and we won a few sets too.
“Anyway, we’d play tennis in the morning and play golf in the afternoon. And Billy was putting terribly. I said ‘Billy, try this, just use it while you’re here.’
“But he never gave it back. It was the putter I won the ’86 Masters with. I didn’t know about it, I didn’t know where it was. Finally, Ivan told me, ‘Jack I know where it is. It’s in Billy’s rec room in a trophy case.’”
By now the small gathering of Ally guests were laughing, but some a bit nervously. The topic came up because event moderator Chantel McCabe – the only other media in the room – had previously asked Jack what he might donate to the World Golf Hall of Fame Museum. Jack replied that he would not give anything – “except maybe this” as he tugged on the shirt he was wearing that Saturday at the Ally – which drew many laughs. Nicklaus explained that his method is to retain ownership of special items for the Jack Nicklaus Museum in Columbus, but that he does have loan programs with other museums for special exhibits.
“Anyway, so, I said, ‘Ivan, I don’t know Billy well enough, but he should give me my putter back,” Nicklaus continued, with no real animosity heard in his voice. “Or if he doesn’t want to he can donate it; it’s fine with me.’ Unfortunately, Billy got cancer and died (fairly suddenly according to tennis media reports in June 2021).
“And now I’m dealing with his wife,” Nicklaus continued, “who wants to put it on eBay as fast as she can. She doesn’t own the blasted putter. It’s my putter. I never gave it to anybody. He just took it.”
The eBay statement elicited some laughs and some groans as Nicklaus told the story mostly, but not always, with a slight smile on his face.
“So, anyway, I’ve been trying to get the putter back and she wouldn’t donate it. I tried to get Augusta (National) to buy it,” Nickalus said. “And Augusta negotiated with her, I don’t know how long; they wanted to buy it because they wanted the putter and they would take it for 6 months and then I’d take it to Muirfield (Village) for 6 months.
“Augusta said they wouldn’t pay the amount of money she wanted for it. I read in the paper that (Jim Irsay) ended up buying it; she put it on eBay and he bought it. Now I’ve got to call Irsay, and I do know Irsay, so I can call him. I’ll call him and figure out some way and somewhere we’ll end up getting it back.
“That’s the only golf club that I don’t have that I won a major championship with. Irons, woods, putters, everything.”
Here is hoping for a successful phone call between Columbus and Indianapolis.
Ryder Cup and College Football:
I asked Nicklaus at the Ally Challenge if he had heard from Ryder Cup Captain Zach Johnson.
He replied that he never heard from Johnson and was glad he didn’t. He said the newest captain had some very tough choices to make.
“I never really liked the idea of having six (Captain’s picks),” Nicklaus responded. “At the President’s Cup one year, I had two Captain’s choices, and I didn’t pick No. 11. I ended up picking 12 and 13. And I regret that, because the young man who was 11 really had earned himself through the year a better position than the guys who were 12 and 13.
“But they were playing better than he was at the time. So, I chose them, and I always felt funny about that with my relationship with that fella. I’m sure he probably has too. But, it’s something I did as a captain – and now they’ve got six choices. What happens if they start picking guys 17, 18 on the list? What happens to guys who were 7, 8, 9, 10?
“They’ve played fairly well to get themselves in that position, and not to get selected? I think it’s a tough deal.” Note: Nicklaus said this three days before the picks were announced which included No. 15 Justin Thomas.
“That’s probably the toughest part of the captain’s job… Once you’ve got the team, then you make sure they’ve got sunscreen, and spikes and towels and hats, extra tees and make sure that they get food,” he quipped.
* * *
With college football season upon us, Nicklaus brought up the topic of Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes. The latter became a good friend to Jack and his father, since Woody was a customer of Jack’s dad’s pharmacy in Columbus.
“They had a great rivalry. They were like this (motioned butting heads with his hands) but they were the best of friends,” Nicklaus said.
“Every time I used to come up and play at the TPC of Michigan (for the Ford Senior Players) Bo would come out and walk with me every time, and he always came out for the Pro-Am.”
Jack went on to explain that in 1960, Woody Hayes came out to Colorado for a football conference a couple hours away from the U.S. Open. Woody had always been a customer of Jack’s father at the Pharmacy his dad owned in Columbus and built a friendship.
“Woody came up to Denver and he asked around ‘where is Kaye Kessler (Columbus Citizen, met Nickalus at age 10) and Paul Hornung’ (41 years at Columbus Dispatch), who were two sports writers from Columbus. He was told the newspapers didn’t send them out (to Denver) and he is saying ‘you’re telling me that the newspapers didn’t send anyone out to the U.S. Open when they had the U.S. Amateur champ playing in it?’ So, Woody stayed for the whole tournament and wrote an article every day and sent it back to the newspapers.”
“I also remember on a Christmas Eve, the last Christmas that we had with my father, we were having Christmas dinner and there was a knock on the door,” Nicklaus’ story went on. “It was Woody. He wanted to sit down and talk to my dad and me. We talked for a couple hours, and Woody said we had the greatest father-son relationship he had ever known, which I was very proud of.
“Woody did those kinds of things that people didn’t know about. Bo did a lot of the same type of stuff. Bo was a great guy.”
Nicklaus finished the stories with one final Michigan-Ohio State zinger, which got a huge laugh from the gathering.
“I always got a big kick out of Woody running out of gas coming out of Michigan, and they pushed his car across the state line, so he didn’t have to buy gas in Michigan. I don’t know if that’s a true story or not, but it’s a good one.”
