Major memory burns in the stars

Winning a big one creates a link to all others who have done so

Major champions today create memories for tomorrow.

Still to be determined is whether the grit Patrick Reed showed at Augusta National — holding off Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler in that order — resonates with a junior who is just getting into golf or motivates one of Reed’s peers.

“It’s such a nostalgic game,” McIlroy said last summer. “People remember when they watched Jack (Nicklaus) win a U.S. Open or Tom Watson chip in at Pebble Beach. Whatever generation it is, that’s what they’re going to remember and that’s their fondest memory.”

McIlroy was among five major champions who were asked about their fondest memory of a major (excluding their wins).

Redemption: “I’m a big redemption person,” McIlroy said. “I’m big on someone winning who deserves it.”

The one major that stands out is Adam Scott winning the Masters in 2013, mainly because it came nine months after blew a four-shot lead at the British Open.

The next year, Scott hwon at Augusta National with a birdie on the second playoff hole.

“I cried,” McIlroy said. “I cried! I was so happy for him.”

Big moments: Jordan Spieth was 11 when Tiger Woods won the Masters in 2005 for the fourth time.

“It goes back to when Tiger holed that chip on 16 and ended up going to a playoff with Chris DiMarco,” Spieth said. “That Masters win because of that shot ... when you’re a kid, you want to go out right away and try some kind of similar shot that you saw someone hit.”

Emotions: Davis Love III has watched a lot of friends win majors, all special occasions. One of them meant so much to him that he stayed behind even after missing the cut in the 2011 British Open at Royal St. George’s.

“Darren Clarke winning made me the happiest,” Love said.

Clarke was 42, five years removed from losing his wife to breast cancer. He was no longer among the top 100 in the world and not even eligible for all the majors. And then, finally, he won the claret jug .

Aussie pride: Scott’s favourite major was the British Open in 1993 at Royal St. George’s, mainly because of the winner. Greg Norman never won the Masters. He won the claret jug twice, the second time when Scott was a few weeks from turning 13.

“It was such a big moment for me,” he said. “I was 5 when he won his other Open. So this was huge. I had more Shark clothing than him at that point.”

History: The favourite major memory of Curtis Strange — except for his back-to-back U.S. Open titles — was 1986 at the Masters.

“I was four groups in front of Jack,” he said.

Jack Nicklaus shot 30 on the back nine and won his sixth green jacket at age 46. He remains the greatest — and oldest — Masters champion.

Strange did something he has never done at a major championship he didn’t win. He stayed to watch the finish.

“Ordinarily, you finish on Sunday and you’re in and out of the locker room in five minutes because you want to get the hell out of Dodge,” Strange said. “That locker room was full of every player who played that day. Nobody left. That’s what it meant to everybody.”