Golden Oldie

Sixty years ago, a Bulky Ohioan' as the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette wrote, bested Tony Lema by a stroke to claim the Masters at age 23, then the youngest to win the tournament. It was the first of Jack Nicklaus' record six wins at Augusta. As the Golden Bear remembers, the first time is always the sweetest.

DURING MY PEAK PLAYING YEARS, what got me off the tennis court (and the fishing boat!) during what was then an extended off-season and onto the driving range each January was the thought of playing in the Masters. In 1963, golf ’s greatest springtime rite had a particularly strong appeal for me. Since missing the cut on my first visit to Augusta in 1959, I had finished tied for 13th, tied for seventh and tied for 14th. As reigning U.S. Open champion—I had beat Arnold Palmer in a playoff at Oakmont the previous June—I wanted to redeem myself in America’s shrine of golf so badly I could hardly wait to get on the Augusta National grounds again.