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A Nicklaus wins Masters
Youngest champ at 23
286 beats newcomer Lema by 1
Boros, Snead tie for third
By John Hendrix
Chronicle Sports Writer
Augusta, Ga., Monday, April 8, 1963 -- Jack Nicklaus, withstanding repeated charges by four other players and mounting pressure, rapped in a three-foot putt on the 18th hole of the Augusta National Golf Club Sunday afternoon to win the 27th Masters Tournament with a 72-hole score of 286. At 23, Nicklaus becomes, by a considerable margin, the youngest winner of a Masters Tournament. The previous youngest winner was Byron Nelson, in 1937, who won it at 25 years and two months. Nicklaus shot a final round of 37-35-72 to beat Tony Lema by a shot. Lema made a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole with Nicklaus on the course and the stocky Columbus, Ohio, U.S. Open champion accepted the challenge that was laid down with pars on the final two holes.
Finishing in a tie for third with scores of even par 288 for the distance were Julius Boros, who at one time was tied with Nicklaus during the round, and 51-year-old Sam Snead, a three-time winner of the tournament who at one point had a two-stroke lead - in relation to par - over the eventual winner. Nicklaus started the round with a one-shot lead over Ed Furgol, who faded to a 74 and joined Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald in a tie for fifth place at 289. Arnold Palmer, the defending champion and favorite to retain his title, shot a last round 71 291, five shots off the winning score.
Nicklaus' victory was produced by some of the steadiest golf ever witnessed in a Masters Tournament. During the 72 holes, he had only 11 birdies and nine bogies. He had no double bogies or eagles and three putted only twice, both times in the opening round when he shot 74. The victory was worth $20,000 to Nicklaus, who, at least for the moment, must be considered the No. 1 golfer in the world. He owns the U.S. Open championship and the Masters title, a domain seldom ruled by the same man.
At one stretch during the front nine of the final round, Nicklaus had played 18 consecutive holes in par, dating back to Saturday's play when he moved into the lead by a shot. This string of par golf was broken by a bogey at the eighth hole, and he later added a bogey at 12 and birdies at 13 and 16 on the back to produce the margin of victory.
A professional for little more than a year, Nicklaus moved into first place in the official PGA money winning list with $36,715.
This was a tournament of surprises and all of them were not used up before the final day. Of particular interest was the great play of two so-called old-timers, Snead and Furgol, and the tremendous effort made by Lema who was playing the course for the first time.
Not since the early days of the tournament has a player who had not previously appeared in the tournament come so close to winning. And it was Lema who made the finish one of drama which had been accepted as typical for a Masters.
Little Indication
Until Nicklaus bogies eight, there seemed little indication that the usual excitement at the finish would permeate the area. Through the seventh hole he had seen the scores of Snead, Furgol, Boros and Player on the board and the closest any of them were was two strokes.
But by the time he had dropped the stroke at eight, Snead had birdied the ninth hole to again get even with par and stand but one shot off the pace. Later in the afternoon Snead had birdied the 14th and 15th at about the same time Nicklaus was drawing a bogey at the 12th hole. This put Snead two up on the field, but he lost it with a three-putt at 16 and a missed green at 18 where he again bogeyed.
Player also made a big run at it, but bogeyed the last two holes in a row to finish three shots back. Starting off five strokes behind Nicklaus, he pulled even with par at the 13th hole and then went one under at 15.
His move ran out of steam at the 16th, however, when a birdie putt lipped out of the cup and he had to settle for a par. From there, Player missed the final two greens and settled for 5's.
Boros, three shots behind Nicklaus and playing with the eventual winner, hauled even at the 12th hole with a birdie, which put him even par for the distance. He played the remainder of the round in regulation, failing to match Nicklaus' birdies at 13 and 16, thereby winding up two shots off the lead.
Best Drive Forward
Nicklaus, who had scored a six-under-par 66 in the second round to pull himself into contention and then moved ahead on Saturday with a two-over-par 74, started the final round with his best drive on that hole in the tournament. In fact, in six previous rounds, including three in practice, he had been unable to hit a good drive here.
This time, however, he did get a good drive, put his second shot on the green and two-putted for his par. Except for the fact that he missed some birdie opportunities, including particularly short one at the third hole, Nicklaus generated little excitement until he reached the eighth.
Taking a look at the pin placement from the tee, he decided to go at the hole from the left side. Short with his second shot, he punched his third into the bank at the left and it stayed. His chip from there was six feet from the hole and he missed for the bogey.
Nicklaus' approach shot at nine, after a big drive down into the bottom of the hill, sucked off the green and he chopped some three feet from the hole and made that for his par.
After more or less routine two-putt pars at 10 and 11, he was standing on the 12th tee when he guessed from a roar ahead of him that Snead again had birdied and now was even or ahead of him.
Choosing a seven-iron for the shot, he came off it a little and put it into a bunker. The ball rested in casual water and when he dropped it, he came up with a buried lie. The explosion out was over the green and he ran it nine feet past coming back. At this point, he said, he realized that Boros has had a putt - which he made - to tie him. If he was able to make the nine-footer. A miss and he knew he was out of the lead for sure.
``I didn't feel too badly about Snead at this point because I still had the birdie holes (13 and 15) on front of me,'' he said.
As it turned out, he managed to cut only one of these for a birdie, but made the putt that kept him even with Boros.
Nicklaus regained the lost stroke on the next hole, hitting a two-iron second shot onto the green 60 feet from the cup and getting it down in two.
After two-putting for a par from 12 feet on 14, he went at the 15th green with a spoon. The shot carried over the green into the mud and muck near the lake at 16. After getting a drop, he chopped it four feet from the hole but missed it.
By now, things were getting interesting. Although Snead had bogeyed the 16th hole, Nicklaus was unaware that he also had done the same at 18.
``I still didn't start to get nervous until after the 16th hole,'' he said.
At 16 he picked up the birdie that proved the difference. Using a five-iron off the tee, he got the ball within 13 feet of the cup and made it.
Then the sweating really began. After the tee shot off 17, he knew Lema had holed out for a birdie at 18. One stumble on either of the two finishing holes and he could wind up tied or a loser.
He might have staggered just a little, but he didn't stumble. His second shot to 17 was short of the hole, hitting into the slope of the green and jumping back. He got down in two, however, and then faced 18.
``I wasn't about to flirt with those trees,'' he said. ``so I put it out to the left.''
As it turned out, it went a little too far left and finished up in the tramples area behind the gallery ropes. Again he was allowed a drop and then hit a six-iron 30 feet past the flag.
The putt was a down-hiller with a left to right break and when he hit it, Nicklaus felt like it was in the hole. But it stayed left and finished up three feet past.
``It looked like 86,'' he said, ``I didn't see it go in. I just closed my eyes.''
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