Jack Nicklaus Hopes to Emulate Son in Memorial Tourney

DUBLIN, Ohio â€”  Jack Nicklaus, a proud father, is battling a letdown as he prepares to defend his title in the 10th Memorial Tournament beginning today.

Nicklaus, still beaming over son Jack II’s victory last weekend in the North-South Amateur, put his own game on the shelf while watching his son play at Pinehurst, N.C.

“My game was shoved to the back burner for four or five days,� Nicklaus said, “but it might have been the best thing. I had been working pretty hard on it.�

The four days of spectating prompted the Golden Bear to play an unusual Monday round at his 7,106-yard, par-72 Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Although he played “lousy� in Tuesday’s pro-am, Nicklaus said “that is not currently the state of my game.�

“I’m hitting the ball well,� said Nicklaus, the only player to win the Memorial twice. “I’m quite encouraged about what I’ve been doing. By Thursday, I think I’ll be in pretty good shape.�

Can Jack Nicklaus win again?

“If he can get over his son’s win,� Nicklaus said, “he’ll probably do OK. I’m kind of let down right now. I feel like a wet washcloth. But I’ll build myself back up.�

Nicklaus who designed Muirfield Village, located near this northwest Columbus suburb, was looking for sunny skies and some wind to help dry the course.

“The course was absolutely magnificent 10 days ago when I was here,� said Nicklaus. “If we get some drying weather, we’ll be OK.

“What I was looking for was a fast course. I don’t like a soggy golf course. When a course is fast, you have to place the ball. It demands more shots.�

Nicklaus won the second Memorial in 1977 and became the first repeat winner a year ago when he beat Andy Bean in a three-hole sudden death playoff.

This year’s tournament, worth at least $600,000, with $100,000 going to the winner, has attracted its usual select field, with 100 players slated to tee up this morning.

The field also includes the seven other previous champions--Roger Maltbie, Jim Simons, Tom Watson, David Graham, Keith Fergus, Ray Floyd and Hale Irwin.

Cory Pavin, winner of last week’s Colonial Invitational, is entered, as are 16 of the 19 previous 1985 Tour winners.

The foreign contingent, which includes Australian Greg Norman, South Africans Denis Watson and Nick Price and Britain’s Nick Faldo, was diminished somewhat by the British PGA being played at the same time.

Skipping the Memorial to play in Great Britain were both Spain’s Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer of West Germany, this year’s Masters champion.

JoAnne Carner says she has finally beaten the influenza and bronchial asthma that plagued her for months and is ready to defend her title in this weekend’s $250,000 LPGA tournament at Corning, N. Y.

Carner started the Ladies Professional Golf Assn. season right with a victory at the Elizabeth Arden Classic in early February, but it was downhill from there.

Her lung ailment left her tired and wheezing, and some of the medications she took blurred her vision and made her hands shake--something a golfer cannot afford.

“I never get sick, so you think it’s going to go away,� she said. She played sick for five tournaments, took a break and then returned in late April for the S&H; tournament.