A Hitting Man's Golfer

Golf is supposed to be a scientific game -- "90% thinking and 10% hit ting," the pros tell anyone who is will ing to listen (at $10 per half-hour).

But Jack Nicklaus, 24, is a hitting man's golfer.

"How would you like to be playing against that fellow?" wailed Gary Play er last week, as Jack split the Phoenix Country Club's fairway with a 350-yd.

drive. Going into the last round of the $50,000 Phoenix Open, Nicklaus was trailing George Bayer by three strokes.

He took just five holes to take over the lead. He reached the first, a 528-yd.

par five, with a driver and a No. 2 iron, and two-putted for a birdie. He parred the second and third, birdied the fourth.

Then came the fifth -- a tricky 305-yd.

par four, with a gaping trap stretched across the front of the green. Other players sensibly hit irons off the tee --purposely playing short of the trap -- but Nicklaus pulled out his driver. The ball dropped 6 ft. from the pin -- an easy eagle. Waiting on the tee, Bob Rosburg threw up his hands. "What can I do for an encore," he asked, "after a man hits a shot like that?"

Nicklaus played his own encores. He sliced his tee shot badly on the 411-yd. sixth hole, still got down in three for a birdie. On the par-five, 549-yd. seventh, Jack got into trouble again. This time, he underestimated his own strength and all but overshot the green with his second shot--a No. 2 iron. Luckily, the ball came to rest on the back fringe. Two putts gave Nicklaus still another birdie, and at the end of seven holes, Jack was six under par.

It is undoubtedly a good thing for golf that Nicklaus is no great shakes as a putter. By the time he finished the round, Jack had three-putted two greens, muffed four easy putts of 5 ft. That pretty well settled his hash: the best he could manage was a score of 66 for a 72-hole total of 271 (13 under par) and a three-stroke victory. He even managed to look annoyed at himself as he pocketed a $7,500 check that boosted his bankroll to $8,700 and made him golf's No. 1 money-winner so far in 1964.

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