Jim Nantz: 40 Years Ago, Jack Nicklaus Stunned The World And This First-year Announcer

Every springtime there appears to be a particular anniversary awaiting us at Augusta National. This yr marks certainly one of the best of all—40 years since Jack Nicklaus’ epic sixth Masters triumphthe most anybody has received.

All these many years later, for the 7 million TV viewers and these lucky sufficient to witness that Masters in individual, the surreal occasions of Sunday, April 13, 1986, nonetheless look like a fairy story. Did it actually occur? How did Jack do it?

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I used to be in the CBS tower behind the par-3 sixteenth gap that day, however the story for me started virtually two years earlier. In June 1984, I caddied for Jack Nicklaus throughout an exhibition at Park Meadows CC, a course in Park City, Utah, that he designed. Jack invited his good pal Johnny Miller to affix him for the 18-hole debut spherical earlier than a number of thousand followers. Two native sports activities broadcasters have been invited to function bag toters for the afternoon. I used to be certainly one of them and assigned to the nice man. You can think about the honor of carrying Jack’s large MacGregor tour bag for 18 holes. The thrill was monumental, and Jack often even sought my enter on yardages and inexperienced reads. Jack was heat and type to his rookie caddie, though I steered him to a birdie-free 73 that featured 17 pars and one three-putt bogey.

I used to be employed by CBS Sports the following summer season. I used to be 26 and solely 4 years faraway from a dormitory at the University of Houston. Soon after, I used to be knowledgeable that CBS’ legendary golf producer Frank Chirkinian had requested the brass at the community to incorporate me as a part of his broadcast workforce.

Frank often obtained what he needed, and in January, I used to be at Pebble Beach for our first occasion of the season. Upon arriving, Frank informed me three issues: First, I would not be calling the motion that weekend. “You are here only to observe how we present a telecast,” he mentioned. Second, the Lodge at Pebble Beach was bought out and CBS would as an alternative stash me in a villa off the left facet of the first fairway that after was the residence of 1940’s golf nice Lawson Little. My roommate: The curmudgeon reporter and well-known golf author Bob Drum. Lastly, Frank dropped a bomb: If issues went nicely in the coming weeks, together with an on-air premiere at the Doral Open, he deliberate to incorporate me in the Masters broadcast 10 weeks later.

My first glimpse of Augusta National got here that March when Frank requested me to report community promotional spots for the match. When April lastly arrived, my studying curve was quick. The tower was so near the motion that I discovered to decrease my voice to not distract the gamers. I seen late in the day how the setting solar was at my again and shone brightly on the gamers as they hit their tee photographs. The intense mild made the golf balls seem bigger than they have been. It felt like I used to be monitoring seashore balls, not objects 1.68 inches in diameter.

It now was time for me to ‘lay out,’ broadcaster parlance for not saying something in any respect.

On Sunday, the leaderboard was crammed with iconic hall-of-fame names. Greg Norman, the third-round chief, and Nick Price, who had shot a course-record 63 on Saturday, have been in the remaining pairing. One group forward of them have been Seve Ballesteros, looking for his third inexperienced jacket, and Bernhard Langer, at the time looking for a repeat victory. Tom Kite was in the combine, as have been Corey Pavin, Tom Watson and Sandy Lyle. Nicklaus was tied for ninth, six strokes again. Jack did not determine to have any probability in any respect. He was 46 and hadn’t received a serious in six years. As far as I may inform from the 73 I’d witnessed in Park City, his finest days have been behind him.

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Jack got here alive with birdies at the ninth, tenth and eleventh holes. I bogeyed the twelfth however then birdied the thirteenth. When he eagled No. 15, he was instantly solely two photographs behind the chief, Ballesteros. As Jack ready to play the par-3 sixteenth, I shortly disbursed details about his wealthy historical past on the gap, together with his pivotal birdie in 1963 on his option to his first inexperienced jacket and his 40-footer for birdie up the hill in 1975 to fend off Miller and Tom Weiskopf. As he addressed the ball with a 6-iron, it was now time for me to “lay out,” broadcaster parlance for not saying something in any respect.

The subsequent factor I knew, the seashore ball was flying towards me. I may inform, after 4 days of watching quite a few photographs, that this one was going to be shut. As the ball drifted down the slope and trickled towards the cup, ideas of a hole-in-one danced in my head. Coincidentally, I had requested Frank earlier that morning about how I ought to deal with a scenario through which somebody made an ace. In typical tough-love trend, he’d mentioned, “Son, this is a visual medium. If you ever talk about a moment like that, I will walk out of the truck, come down to 16 and personally throw you out of the tower!” With that thought circling my mind, I mentioned solely, “right at it” as the ball was in the air. When it settled three toes under, I exclaimed, “Oh, my!”

For the subsequent 5 minutes I just about remained silent. Frank, directing brilliantly, let the digital camera linger on Jack as he walked alongside the water’s edge towards the inexperienced. Jack center-cut his putt for birdie, and as he strode off the inexperienced, I exclaimed towards the roar in the background, “There is no doubt about it, the Bear has come out of hibernation.”

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Jack went on to win, in fact, and after the broadcast concluded, I walked up the hill to the CBS compound. A cart instantly pulled alongside. Our lead golf analyst, the legendary Ken Venturi, was behind the wheel. Ken was downright giddy. He mentioned, “Jimmy, you may be lucky enough to one day broadcast 50 Masters tournaments, but I can promise you this, you will never see a day greater than this around Augusta National.”

I’ve been blessed to see many issues by way of the years: Tiger in 1997, Tiger once more along with his “return to glory” in 2019, Rory final yr. But 1986 in some ways stands alone. We bear in mind it as the day Jack Nicklaus composed a golf fairy story that in some way got here true.