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Trevino proved spoiler in last Grand Slam bid

Dispirited chip-in leads to 1972 British Open title, derails Jack Nicklaus.

By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 11, 2002

As he stalks Jack Nicklaus' records, including the once-thought-untouchable mark of 18 professional major championships, Tiger Woods does so without the formidable obstacle faced by the Golden Bear himself: rivals.

Many in golf lament the fact that no true challenger has emerged, that a Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els or another world-ranked player has yet to become Woods' chief antagonist.

Nicklaus had several, including Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tom Watson. Each won majors at Nicklaus' expense.

And then there was Lee Trevino, who seemingly came out of nowhere to win the 1968 U.S. Open and later had several memorable duels with Nicklaus, including defeating him in a playoff for the 1971 U.S. Open and holding him off a year later at the British Open.

"I actually think it was my background, my coming from the other side; nobody scared me," said Trevino, 62, who won six major championships and 27 PGA Tour events in his Hall of Fame career. "Jack did something to me when we stepped on the tee. He brought out the best in me. He was the best. Everybody always wrote about how many majors he had won. I just tried my damndest to beat him.

"That's the guy I had my sights on. I didn't care who else was running in the race. If Jack was playing, I wanted to beat Jack, because we knew if we could beat Jack it was pretty good odds we were going to win the golf tournament."

Next week, the Open Championship returns to Muirfield, site of Trevino's one-shot victory over Nicklaus in 1972.

Nicklaus had won the first two majors that year, the Masters and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Before Woods captured the U.S. Open last month to claim the Masters-U.S. Open double, Nicklaus had been the last to do so.

And like now, much of the pretournament talk centered on Nicklaus' ability to make history by winning all four professional majors in the same year. The next stop was Muirfield, site of Nicklaus' 1966 Open Championship win that gave him victories in all four majors in his career. Nicklaus so loved the course he later built a course in Ohio and named it Muirfield Village.

Trevino said there is more hype about the Grand Slam today than there was then, but he may have been oblivious to the surroundings. Newspapers in Britain called it the Grand Slam Open. There were record ticket sales.

It took time for the drama to unfold. Nicklaus, suffering from a sore neck, played conservatively the first two rounds, shooting 70 and 72. He trailed Trevino and Jacklin by one stroke.

But the third round was filled with magic for Trevino, who birdied the last five holes, including holing out at both the 17th and 18th from off the green, to shoot 66. Nicklaus managed par 71 and was six behind Trevino in fifth place.

Afterward, Trevino made it known he was aware of Nicklaus' mission.

"I didn't come to Scotland to help Nicklaus win any Grand Slam," he said. "If I played golf with my wife, I'd try to beat the daylights out of her."

With his neck feeling better in the fourth round, Nicklaus came out firing. He shot 32 over the first nine holes and through 10 had a one-shot advantage over Trevino.

Trevino made eagle, Nicklaus followed with birdie and they were tied, and they remained so when Nicklaus had three holes to play. Standing on the 16th tee, Nicklaus recalled his '66 Open victory. He finished 3-4-4. A similar finish, he figured, would win the tournament.

But he bogeyed the 16th, his first bogey of the day, made a disappointing par at the par-5 17th and parred the 18th for 66 that left him one stroke behind Trevino and Jacklin at the time.

"I really believe that if Jack had parred the 16th hole, we wouldn't have beaten him," Trevino said.

At least Trevino wouldn't have won. Not the way he played the 17th. He hooked his drive into a bunker, barely advanced his ball to the fairway and hit his third shot into the rough. Trevino appeared to give up and carelessly hit his fourth shot over the green. With Jacklin on the green in three, the final pairing was headed for at least a two-shot swing.

"I was so mad," Trevino recalled. "I didn't care if I made an 8."

Trevino hit his fifth shot, a chip from behind the green, in disgust, and it rolled in for par. A stunned Jacklin three-putted for bogey, and Trevino won with par on the 18th.

When Nicklaus' heard about Trevino's chip-in on the 17th, he didn't lament being felled by a lucky shot.

"I finished 4-5-4 and lost by one shot," he said. "Regardless of what Trevino did or what Jacklin did, had I finished the same way (as in '66) I would have won the golf tournament, regardless of what anybody else did. But it didn't happen."

"Jack set the bar, just like Tiger is setting the bar now," Trevino said. "Can you reach it? First you have to jump up and touch it. I could touch it when Jack set it. A lot of these guys can't touch that bar Tiger is setting right now."

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