Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE MASTERS
DECHAMBEAU: HOW I’LL TAME AUGUSTA
OF all the things Garth Mcgimpsey won in golf, a $4 cheque signed by Jack Nicklaus is among his most prized possessions.
That little piece of paper, framed on the Bangor man’s wall at home, will be 35 years old in a couple of days and comes with an amazing tale.
It arrived through Mcgimpsey’s letterbox on the Thursday after the 1986 US Masters, four days after Nicklaus (inset) won his 18th and final major.
At 46, Nicklaus was – and remains – the oldest Masters winner and probably felt his age when amateur Mcgimpsey beat him in practise on the Tuesday. Which is where the $4 comes in.
Two-time Walker Cup captain Mcgimpsey told Mirrorsport: “I was there because I’d won the British Amateur championship and I got to play with Jack Nicklaus on the Tuesday.
“There was a sort of tradition that he would play with an amateur that day and my father wrote to him asking if I could play with him. He wrote back saying he’d be delighted, that he’d meet me on the putting green at 1 o’clock.”
In the end, they played a four ball nassau – a dollar bet on both nines and two dollars overall – with US amateur champion Peter Persons also among the group.
Mcgimpsey shot 73 on his own ball and despite Nicklaus going on to win his most famous major that weekend, the Golden Bear never forgot about the $4 debt.
The cheque he sent came with a note, ‘For getting beat at Augusta National’ and naturally enough was never cashed.
Nobody else beat Nicklaus that week as he reeled back the years with a win for the ages, holding off Tom Kite and Greg Norman by shooting 30 on the back nine on Sunday.
Mcgimpsey said: “At 46, he still had it. One thing I remember, he had an extra 30 yards in the locker when he wanted, like all the good players do. When we got onto the Par 5s, he’d crank it up and knock it 30 yards past me.”
Mcgimpsey was just the third Irishman to play the Masters - after Joe Carr and Christy O’connor Junior – noticed something else significant about Nicklaus during practise.
He explained: “He was struggling with a sore back. We had terrible rain on the sixth and waited in the trees. We played on and it happened again, another big delay. He could’ve gone in but he stuck it out and finished the 18.”