DUBLIN, Ohio – At 80 you are given a moment or two seniors.
Jack Nicklaus had a doozy on Sunday.
Nicklaus unknowingly took a delightfully embarrassing false step towards the end of the last Sunday round of the Workday Charity Open, which was won by Collin Morikawa in the third playoff hole on Justin Thomas at Nickir’s Muirfield Village Golf Club, the same course on which this week is The memorial will be played.
Nicklaus, founder and designer of the golf course and Memorial host, revealed on Tuesday that he would have liked to be at the club on Sunday to shake hands with the Workday winner, planning to fly to Ohio from his home in Florida at 2:00 pm
But the PGA Tour shifted tee times to the early hours of the day due to the impending inclement weather and Nicklaus didn’t realize it until he and his wife Barbara boarded their private jet on Sunday.
“I had some ‘oops’ [moment]”, Nicklaus said.” We planned our flight to get here because I wanted to congratulate the winner in the locker room at 6, and of course then they got on the tee time, and it didn’t work.
“So, we were getting on a plane at 2 and just as we were getting ready to take off, the first hole of the playoff, Justin Thomas hole that big long putt [a 50-footer]. I saw the [Thomas] putt. We haven’t seen Morikawa’s putt [a 25-footer to extend the playoff].
“Both Barbara and I wrote to Justin and said to him: ‘Wow, what a fantastic putt, incredible fantastic super putt, we can’t believe you did it. Now you have the chance to win two in a row. ” ‘
Thomas obviously won’t have a chance to return to Muirfield Village again because Morikawa’s shot to extend the playoff that Nicklaus hasn’t seen has allowed him to stay alive and win the tournament in the third playoff hole.
“Then we got up in the air, collected WiFi after 10,000 feet and found out that Morikawa won the tournament, so I had to send [Thomas] another message and say, “Oops, a little premature,” “Nicklaus said.” He was good at it. He replied and said, “It’s okay, okay.” ”
Nicklaus is close to Thomas, who lives close to him in the Palm Beach area and plays outside Nicklaus’ Bear’s Club in Jupiter, and said he believes his 27-year-old friend will quickly recover from Sunday’s loss, which included a three shot plumbing escape on Morikawa with three holes to play.
“He will have no problem getting over it,” said Nicklaus. “His head is tightly screwed and his feet are on the ground. He knows that sometimes you get beaten even when you play well and do the right things or even when you make a mistake.
“He knew he had a chance on the second hole of the playoffs – what he had, about an 8 foot [to win]? Sometimes you do your best and get beaten, and that’s what seemed to have happened. I think JT will be back there this week. ”
If it is, Nicklaus said he plans to be 18 to congratulate Thomas.
One of the traditions at Memorial is Nicklaus shaking the winner’s hand at the 18th green at the end of the tournament. In the age of COVID-19, however, it is forbidden to shake hands on the PGA Tour protocol policy.
When asked what he plans to do with the winner on Sunday, Nicklaus didn’t hesitate with his answer.
“I’m going to shake hands,” he said. “I am going to walk out there and tremble [the winner’s] but no. If they don’t want to shake my hand, okay, I’ll punch or elbow them, but I won’t give them COVID-19. I wouldn’t put anyone in that position. And, if I was in danger of doing it, I wouldn’t shake hands. ”
Nicklaus, considered in the “bubble” of the PGA Tour, has been tested and tested negative for the virus.
“I like to shake hands,” he said. “I think it’s a great tradition. It’s as much fun for me as I hope it is for them. ”
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