By Rob Mueller
Staff Writer
Augusta Chronicle

Ten years have passed since that triumphant march to the 18th green at Augusta National Golf Club, where he was about to close out a remarkable sixth win at the Masters Tournament.

Ten years later, Jack Nicklaus approached that same green in the final round of the 60th Masters on Sunday, simply hoping to stop the bleeding.

``This wasn't a very good Masters,'' said the 56-year-old, after a 6-over-par 78 to finish at 9-over in his 38th installment at Augusta National. ``I played well last week, but simply didn't have a good week here. I appreciated the reception I got today walking up there (to the 18th green), and it's nice to have that emotion. But I played very poorly yesterday and today.'' Nicklaus turned in an outstanding final round last Sunday to win The Tradition on the Senior PGA Tour, where he edged Hale Irwin in the final round.

After a 2-under-par 70 in Thursday's first round, Nicklaus was 11-over-par the rest of the way, to finish near the bottom of the Masters pack.

His four-round total of 297 is his worst finish ever at the Masters, excluding years when he missed the cut - his first Masters in 1959, 1967, and 1994 - and '83, when he withdrew.

``The weather has been absolutely perfect this week, and it made this tournament there for the taking,'' Nicklaus said. ``Today, the pin placements were pretty difficult. I think the tournament committee wanted some excitement coming in today down the stretch. I three-putted about half-a-dozen times out there the last two days, and once I stopped playing well, concentration is hard. The golf course takes 100 percent of your mental attitude to score well.''

Nicklaus opened the final round with a bogey on No. 1. He also bogeyed Nos. 3 and 7 and double-bogeyed the par-4 fifth hole. He opened the back nine with another double-bogey on No. 10. His only birdie of the day came on the par-5 13th.

``Basically, this course demands you to play 75 percent of your shots from right to left,'' said Nicklaus, who hasn't finished better than 27th in a major championship since the 1990 Masters - 25 majors ago - and has missed the cut in a major 10 times since then. ``That's a difficult thing for me to do at this stage in my career. I'm just not strong enough to play like I did 20 years ago.''

Nicklaus said earlier this year he would most likely end his 39-year streak of playing in consecutive major tournaments at the British Open, if he wasn't playing well.

On Wednesday, he said that barring a poor performance this week, he would indeed play in the British Open this July.

After Sunday's disappointing finish, Nicklaus left his majors streak up in the air.

``I'm gonna get ready for the U.S. Open next, but I've got a couple of tournaments before that,'' said Nicklaus, who added that it was too early to say if he would enter his 23rd British Open. ``We'll see what happens.''