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Trio's Twilight
Masters wouldn't be the same without Big Three: Palmer, Player and Nicklaus
Posted: Saturday April 06, 2002 8:40 PM
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Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player pass an appreciative crowd after teeing off on No. 1 during the 2001 Masters Tournament. Player is the only one to confirm he will play this year. The Augusta Chronicle |
By Scott Michaux
The Augusta Chronicle
Get a good look this year, if possible, to those still standing. The Big Three might have already made its last go-round at Augusta National.
Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus have been fixtures at the Masters for most of the past half-century. But the Big Three, who were grouped together each of the past two Masters, is nearing the end of the competitive line - if some of them haven't reached it already.
The Masters without the Big Three is something we'll all have to get used to - sooner rather than later. At best, this year's field has already been reduced to the Big Two.
"It would be weird," said PGA Tour player Rocco Mediate. "It wouldn't be as cool if they didn't play. You wouldn't see the guys around as much."
Nicklaus formally withdrew last week, citing back problems that have left his game below his own high competitive standards. Just weeks before the 2002 Masters, Palmer remained undecided about whether he would even attempt to play the expanded Augusta National course that has outgrown his game.
Palmer was discouraged by his performances in the Bob Hope Desert Classic and his own Bay Hill Invitational, announcing he would not return to either and might make the same decision about the Masters.
"That's still a question mark," Palmer said of the Masters. "Possibly this year (I'll play), if I get my game together. But even that is growing in doubt in my mind."
While chronic back problems led to Nicklaus' decision to sit this one out, the six-time champion admitted the course changes would factor into his decision.
"Whether my back is well or not, I still might not play at Augusta," Nicklaus said in February, "only because lengthwise I cannot handle the golf course."
Player leaves no question about his status: "I'm definitely playing."
The changes at the Augusta National already have cost the field a few of the aging champions, including Doug Ford, Gay Brewer and Billy Casper, who received letters from Masters chairman Hootie Johnson encouraging them to retire from participating.
Palmer said deciding when to call it quits is difficult.
"I think most of the players who are in that situation have taken themselves out," he said. "Some of them have hung in there. That's a courtesy that Augusta has given the players. But I think all of us have to look at our own situation and decide where we should be and when we should be considering not stepping up on that first tee."
It's tough to imagine a Masters without the Big Three. Thirteen times in 28 years, one of the Big Three prevailed at Augusta. For nearly 50 years, they've woven themselves into the fabric of the tournament.
First came Palmer, now 72, whose swashbuckling style debuted in Augusta in 1955.
Then came Player, who is 66, a South African import small in size but large in heart who made his first Masters appearance in 1957.
Finally came Nicklaus, now 62, the greatest competitor the game has ever known and a Masters rookie in 1959.
When Palmer won his first of four green jackets in 1958, it began a stretch of eight victories in nine years by the Big Three, including seven straight from 1960-66. Nicklaus and Player resumed the pattern in the 1970s, splitting four more triumphs in a seven-year span from 1972-78. Nicklaus added his historic sixth Masters title 23 years after his first with a victory in 1986.
Palmer, Player and Nicklaus picked up where Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead had left off as titans of the game. But Palmer said the day is at hand to leave the Masters to the next generation of superstars.
"It is coming. It's inevitable," he said. "It's just like Hogan, Snead and Nelson or (Bobby) Jones and (Gene) Sarazen and that gang. We know it's going to happen. The good news is that you've got these young guys like Tiger (Woods) and Charles Howell, who is going to be a very definite factor. There's nothing forever, you know that. So these young people will take up the slack."
As for now, Palmer, Player and Nicklaus wrestle with the idea of letting go of a cherished part of their careers and lives.
"I anticipate in the future going there," said Palmer, who along with Nicklaus is a member of Augusta National Golf Club. "Whether I'll play, this year may have something to do with that. As I get older and try to play golf courses like Augusta and like Bay Hill, I realize that it's time to sort of give way."
Nicklaus makes competitiveness a priority. He challenged as recently as 1998, finishing tied for sixth. But the added length will make it tougher on him and could drive him to retire in the future even if his back is healthy enough to support his game.
"I certainly want to play there, but I don't want to make a fool out of myself either," he said. "I don't have the length or the strength to play it. ... I don't want to just play to be part of an event. That's never been me."
Player expressed no qualms about challenging the longer layout.
"I think the changes are excellent," he said. "What Augusta has done, I'm all in favor. It puts the course back in perspective."
Player, who made the cut at age 62 in 1998, said how many more Masters are in his future depends on his continued good health and good play.
"I will see when I play there," Player said of the effect the course changes will have on his game. "When I don't feel I can compete reasonably well, I won't play,"
But like Nicklaus and Palmer, Player intends to always be a part of the Masters.
"Augusta's got a very special place in my heart," he said.
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