Most people at Augusta that Sunday in 1986 weren't even watching Jack Nicklaus anymore. Why would they? The man was 46 years old and hadn't won a major since 1980, and had spent most of 1986 either missing cuts or withdrawing.

Even one of the newspapers that week said that his time was done. But the real story of what happened was that Nicklaus won his record sixth Masters title on April 6, 1986, at Augusta National Golf Club, and he shot a 65 in the final round, finished at nine-under, and won the Green Jacket at age 46.

His son Steve called that morning with one simple question. What score would win?

“My guess is 66 gets me into a playoff,” Jack Nicklaus said. “65 wins it.”

Steve kept it simple. “That’s what I was thinking too. Go do it.”

But through nine holes, it didn’t look like that at all. He missed two short putts, made the turn at one-under, and was still six shots behind. The crowd was following him out of respect, not because they expected anything big. The situation started to shift as he began building momentum through the middle of the round.

“That was the hole that really got me going,” he said. “I knew I couldn't play defensive golf anymore.”

He birdied three straight holes from the ninth through the eleventh, then surged again with an eagle at the 15th, followed by birdies on the 16th and 17th.

On the 16th, his 5-iron almost went in and stopped just 3 feet away, and he made another birdie. On the 17th, his drive went into trouble, but he hit a good shot to 11 feet and made that putt too. By then, Nicklaus had moved into contention for the lead.

He finished at nine-under and could only wait in the clubhouse as the rest of the field tried to catch him, but one by one, they fell short.

This April 2026 will mark 40 years since that iconic Sunday. Even after 40 years, no one has done anything quite like it, and people still talk about that day the same way they did the next morning.

The Trio That Had Shots at Him but Couldn’t Hold On

Three players had a good chance to win against him on that day, but each one of them lost to him, albeit differently.

Seve Ballesteros was at nine-under on the 15th hole and close to winning. But he stood in the fairway, choosing between two clubs with his brother and caddie. Later, he picked one, but he was not sure during the swing and hit the ball into the water, making a six and losing the lead.

Tom Kite came to the 18th hole needing a birdie to go into a playoff, and his putt from 12 feet looked perfect, but it just missed.

“I made that putt,” Kite said. “It just didn’t go in.”

Greg Norman made four birdies in a row and needed one more on the 18th hole to tie. He went for the flag, but the approach went too far right into the crowd, and he made a bogey.

Nicklaus was in the Bobby Jones Cabin, watching everything. When the last putt missed, he turned to his wife, Barbara, and said what the whole week really meant.

“I finally found that guy I used to know on the golf course. It was me.”

40 years later, people still find no shortage of reasons to celebrate how and why Jack Nicklaus is the man he is, indeed.

Read more at Daily Club Golf!

Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Shraabona Sengupta