Nicklaus Takes Major Detour

Jack Nicklaus faces a future that might include a hip replacement operation, but one that definitely won’t include playing in the British Open next week.

Nicklaus said Wednesday in Dearborn, Mich., that he will end his streak of playing in consecutive major tournaments for which he was eligible at 154 by withdrawing from the British Open, which will be contested at Royal Birkdale in England.

The reason for ending a streak that is the longest in professional golf is twofold: the schedule and his hip.

“With . . . the [Senior] Players Championship, the British Open and the Senior Open, three weeks in a row, I see no way in the world that I can walk and prepare myself properly to do justice playing in the British Open championship,” he said at a news conference.

“I’ve played golf on one leg long enough. I have played for the last four, five years that way.”

He added that he also will skip the PGA Championship and that the U.S. Senior Open, to be played at Riviera on July 23-26, will be his last competitive golf this year.

“I intend to find out what I can do with this hip and what I have to do, whether I have to get a new hip or . . . maybe take enough time to just exercise the devil out of it and get it strong enough where I can keep it in position, keep it functional,” said Nicklaus, whose run of 146 consecutive appearances in majors also will come to and end.

He apparently came to a decision Monday after quitting play after 15 holes because of his hip.

Nicklaus said he had intended to end his streak of majors after the Masters, but when the U.S. Golf Assn. gave him a three-year exemption to play in the U.S. Open, he decided to continue.

Still, he knew the end was in view.

“This last week, or actually last two, three weeks, I have been thinking about it, and I felt that my preparation for the U.S. Open was less than ideal,” he said.

Always a stickler for preparation, particularly for the major tournaments that have driven him, that lack of practice bothered him as much as the rounds of 73-74-73-75 that kept him from being a factor at the Olympic Club.

And at 58, his outlook is changing.

“In this time of my life, I think that I really would like to win the U.S. Open Senior Championship, and I think that is probably more important to me . . . than competing in the British Open,” he said.

Nicklaus has won 18 majors--six Masters, four U.S. Opens, three British Opens and five PGA Championships--as a professional, and he also counts his two U.S. Amateur championships in that class.

He is one of only four players to win all four major titles--along with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Player--and the only player to win each more than once.

His longevity in majors has been as amazing as his success.

“It was a great streak, probably never to be duplicated,” said Tim Finchem, PGA Tour commissioner.

An indication of that came Wednesday when Nick Faldo, who has the second-longest current streak at 44 majors, withdrew from the Loch Lomond tournament in Scotland because of an elbow injury that could keep him out of the British Open.

Nicklaus also has won eight senior majors, and though the number of tournaments in which he plays has diminished in recent years because of his commitments to his course-design business and family, majors have kept him going.

“I love to play the game of golf, and I love to play major championships more than anything in the world,” he said. “But I think that all good things must come to an end, and I’d like to have them come to an end on a note that I have played [competitively]. . . .

“I know I can’t give them Jack Nicklaus of 35, but I’d like to give them the best I can give them of the Jack Nicklaus of 58. I think Jack Nicklaus of 58 could probably still play decently.”

But not in Britain. Not this year.

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Major Rewards

Jack Nicklaus in golf’s majors:

MASTERS, 40 (1959-98)

* Wins: 6 (1963, ‘65, ‘66, ‘72, ‘75, ‘86).

* Runner-up: 4. * Top 3: 12.

* Notable: Finished top 10 at every 1970s event.

U.S. OPEN, 42 (1957-1998)

* Wins: 4 (1962, ‘67, ‘72, ‘80).

* Runner-up: 4. * Top 3: 9.

* Notable: Only player to win in three decades.

BRITISH OPEN 36, (1962-1997)

* Wins: 3 (1966, ‘70, ‘78).

* Runner-up: 7. * Top 3: 13.

* Notable: In 15 years starting in 1966, never finished worse than tie for sixth.

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, 36 (1962-1997)

* Wins: 5 (1963, ‘71, ‘73, ‘75, ‘80).

* Runner-up: 4. * Top 3: 12.

* Notable: Only player to win career Grand Slam twice when won PGA in ’71.