Jack Nicklaus bids farewell to Masters

Jack Nicklaus, the U.S. Masters' greatest champion, bade an emotional farewell to the tournament he made famous on Saturday.

His skills fading, but popularity intact, Nicklaus is no longer capable of living up to his own towering standards.

He has a wardrobe packed with a record six green jackets, testimony to the fact that for nearly four decades Augusta and the world's best golfers trembled at the sight of Nicklaus stepping on to the first tee for the year's first major.

But as the course grew longer and tougher Nicklaus simply got older, a Sunday driver cruising in golf's fast lane "trying to figure out some way to get out of the way".

"It's great and it's fun to play in the Masters but it's certainly no fun to play that way," he said, after carding a second-round 76 to finish at nine-over 153.

He missed the cut by five strokes.

"It's no fun to go out there and hack it around and struggle to try to figure out some way to break 80.

"That's never been the way I've operated, and I don't believe that I should be out there.

"You know, this is not a celebrity walk around. This is a golf tournament.

"It's a major golf championship, and if you're going to play in this championship, you should be competitive and you should be able to compete with who is out there."

Despite a familiar smile, Nicklaus played his final competitive round with a heavy heart, deciding only days before the start to make the trip to his beloved Augusta following the tragic death of his 17-month old grandson in a hot tub accident.

Unlike his long-time rival Arnold Palmer, who made his 50th and final competitive walk up the 18th fairway last year, Nicklaus truly believed he had enough game left to tame the monstrous layout one more time and make the cut.

It was something he had not accomplished since 2000.

But there was nothing pretty about the Golden Bear's final round as he slogged to a four-over-par 76, conceding that the course which was lengthened to 7,290 yards three years ago was now beyond his reach.

"This golf course is too hard for me," said the 65-year-old golfing great. "Father time has a tendency to do that to all of us.

"It was really getting the round over with, getting here and enjoying it, enjoying the moment, saying goodbye and do it properly. Just do it without making a fool out of yourself."

While Nicklaus's final march up the fairway on his closing hole lacked the crackling, raw emotion of Palmer's goodbye, there remained the same sense of anticipation as the galleries swelled to witness a piece of Masters history.

When Nicklaus's approach landed three feet from the pin, the crowd exploded. When his birdie putt rolled wide, they groaned.

Nicklaus too was not left unmoved, tears welling in his eyes as the reality of the moment hit home.

"He couldn't talk walking up the last fairway," said his oldest son Jackie Nicklaus, who was on this bag for his final round. "I told him I loved him, he got all emotional. He got emotional right before his second shot."

His round completed, Nicklaus quickly packed his clubs and headed out to do some fishing, saying he would not even watch the finish of this year's event.

But before he left, Nicklaus opened the door slightly on one more Masters comeback.

"I may come up and play a round of golf on Tuesday or Monday or something like that, but I don't think I'll play in the tournament again," said Nicklaus. "Unless I can gain 10mph or more club head speed and I don't think that's going to happen.

"I have the ability to come back. I don't think I will do that. But if I certainly have the right to do that."