Tiger Woods went to sleep
wearing his green jacket after a record-smashing performance made him the youngest
Masters champion ever.
From
Tommy Aaron to Fuzzy Zoeller, only a select group of players have owned one --
not just any green jacket, but the most coveted prize in golf that comes with
winning the most exclusive major championship.
Until
two years ago, Jack Nicklaus wasn't on that list.
How could
that be?
No one
has written more history at historic Augusta National than Nicklaus, a six-time
winner who has become as synonymous with the Masters as the green jacket itself.
He was even honored with a monument in 1998, the 40th anniversary of his first
appearance.
Oddly, it was at that ceremony
when Nicklaus first wore an Augusta National green jacket he could finally call
his own.
"Everybody
talks about the green jacket," Nicklaus said. "I never owned one until 1998."
Nicklaus
says he has told the story many times. He wasn't about to repeat it until he
saw the attentive faces of a small group of reporters huddled around him on the
patio of his south Florida home this week.
What
followed was one of the most fascinating stories to come forth regarding the
hallowed grounds of Augusta National.
Nicklaus
was a chubby 23-year-old when he won his first Masters in 1963. Augusta tradition
allows for the previous year's winner -- Arnold Palmer, in this case -- to drape
the green jacket on the shoulders of the new champion.
Club
officials keep several jackets handy for the presentation, and they brought out
a size 46 long for Nicklaus.
"They
thought I was so big," Nicklaus said. "It was like an overcoat. It just hung
on me."
The jacket
was only for show. Defending champions have their own coat waiting for them upon
their return. For whatever reason, a green jacket with a "Nicklaus" name tag
stitched inside wasn't in his locker in 1964.
Not to
worry. Nicklaus borrowed one from Augusta member Thomas Dewey, the former New
York governor of the famous headline, "Dewey defeats Truman."
Nicklaus
won again in 1965 and 1966. Still no jacket. He continued to wear Dewey's coat
for the Champions Dinner on Wednesday before the tournament, not wanting to make
a fuss.
"They
never said anything," Nicklaus said. "And I wasn't going to say anything."
Dewey's
jacket finally wore out about the time Nicklaus won his record-tying fourth Masters
in 1972. This time, he took matters into his own hands. Since Nicklaus had an
endorsement deal with Hart, Schaffner and Marx, he asked the Cincinnati-based
clothier to make him a green jacket.
"It wasn't
even the same material or the right color," he said.
No one
noticed.
That
jacket lasted a short time past his fifth victory in 1975, and Nicklaus was back
to borrowing a green jacket every year from Augusta National members -- and not
letting on about the oversight.
Eleven
years later, the 46-year-old Nicklaus won the Masters again, but still had not
one green jacket to show for any of his six titles.
Nicklaus
enjoyed the story and shared it among friends. But he never told anyone from
Augusta National until 1997 when he dropped it on then-chairman Jackson Stephens,
a pokerfaced oilman from Arkansas rarely ruffled by anything.
"I told
him, 'I've won this tournament six times and I've never been given a green jacket,'
" Nicklaus said. "I don't own a green jacket."
Ridiculous,
replied Stephens, who ordered him to the pro shop to be measured for a green
jacket immediately.
Nicklaus
declined.
"I said,
'Jack, it's such a great story, I don't want to ruin it,' " Nicklaus recalled
with a chuckle.
Alas,
not even the great Nicklaus has the final word at Augusta. When he returned in
1998, he found a note in his locker from Stephens, who had scheduled an appointment
with the tailor for Nicklaus. Nicklaus gave in and was measured for a 44 regular
-- his first green jacket, 35 years late.
It will
hang from his locker in the Champions Room when Nicklaus returns in April. Perhaps
he can pull off another miracle and win his seventh Masters, in which case Jose
Maria Olazabal would help him put on the green jacket.
