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Jack Nicklaus' love affair with Pebble Beach began in 1961 when he was 21 years old.
He won the U.S. Amateur on those spectacular links that year, beating Dudley Wysong 8 and 6 in the 36-hole finale. Nicklaus was under par in every one of his matches that year, and "I fell in love with the place," Nicklaus said simply.
Nicklaus would go on to win the 1972 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach—making him the only player to have won the Amateur and the Open on the same course. He also captured three of Bing Crosby's annual clambakes there, a tournament now known as the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, and two editions of Shell's Wonderful World of Golf.
In fact, Nicklaus has often said that if he had to pick one course on which to play his final round, it would be Pebble Beach. And indeed, when he closed out his U.S. Open career in 2000, a career that included four wins in his national championship, Nicklaus chose to do so on that scenic layout on the craggy coast of the Pacific Ocean.
"I just happen to like the place," Nicklaus said. "I think it's a pretty special place. It's not a very difficult golf course if the wind doesn't blow. It's extremely difficult when the wind blows. Just dramatic changes (to) the golf course. … I think it's a very special piece of property in the United States."
Nicklaus knows just how difficult Pebble Beach can play, too. After all, the winds were blowing more than 30 mph on Sunday when he took a one-stroke lead over Lee Trevino, Kermit Zarley and Bruce Crampton into the final round of the 1972 U.S. Open.
Turns out, Mother Nature was playing right into Nicklaus' hands.
"I like tough conditions," he said. "I like making you struggle. I think it's fun to do that. You sit there and think, man, that's impossible; how can I do the best possible? It's a survival act, I guess."
Trevino was the defending champion, having bested Nicklaus 69-71 in an 18-hole playoff at Merion the previous year. The two were playing together at Pebble Beach in the final group that Sunday, too, but Trevino had fallen back by the time they made the turn into some of the worst of the blustery gales.
When he stepped to the 10th tee, Nicklaus was up by three over Homero Blancas and led Zarley, Crampton and his long-time and legendary adversary Arnold Palmer by four. That's when what Nicklaus called the "fun" began.
The Bear pushed his tee shot on the demanding par 4 onto the beach by Carmel Bay. He took a penalty stroke and then hit a 2-iron that landed in the hazard again. A double bogey later, and Nicklaus' lead suddenly was more tenuous.
"You play the wrong shot, you get penalized," Nicklaus says philosophically. "You expect that in a U.S. Open. I think that's part of your mental toughness. You have to stay tough to be able to play through your mistakes."
He made another at the par-3 12th where his 3-iron went over the green and tumbled down the steep bank. He took two chips to get on and faced an 8-footer for bogey at almost the same instant Palmer was studying a birdie putt at the 14th hole. A Nicklaus miss coupled with a successful putt by Palmer would have put the King in the lead.
Nicklaus was unfazed, though. As he had done so many times before—and since, the Golden Bear calmly made the putt and when Palmer missed, he had some more breathing room.
"(I was thinking) man, I just doubled bogeyed 10 and now here I am at 12 with a chance to make another double bogey," Nicklaus said. "That was a big putt when I made that putt."
By the time he got to Pebble Beach's signature 17th hole, Nicklaus held a three-stroke lead over Crampton, his closest pursuer. In one of the greatest shots in U.S. Open history, his 1-iron bounced once, struck the flagstick and cozied up to 2 inches at the picturesque par 3—"I nailed it," Nicklaus said simply—and any suspense was over.
"He hit this shot, and of course, he flushed it," Tom Watson said. "It ended up right at the flag—ball game over."
Nicklaus would go on to bogey the 18th hole for a 74 and a 72-hole total of 290. But he still beat Crampton by three strokes on a brutal day when the final-round scoring average was a whopping 78.8.
"I shot 76 in the final round and I believe I passed 30 people that day," Watson said. "Thirty people—that's how tough it was."
The win, his 11th professional major title, gave Nicklaus, who would go on to win seven times in 1972, the first two legs of the Grand Slam. But he was thwarted in his bid for a third at Carnoustie when he closed with a 66 but Lee Trevino still managed to edge him by a shot.
--By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
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