Tunes of Glory

Bobby Jones once observed that nobody really wins a major golf tournament; someone always loses it. Indeed the salient feature of last week's British Open was not so much Lee Trevino's narrow victory, but Jack Nicklaus' slender loss. Nicklaus had already won the Masters at Augusta, Ga., and the U.S. Open and had set his sights on this tournament and the upcoming P.G.A. in a bid for an unprecedented grand slam of professional golf.

He came incredibly close in what was likely the most dramatic finish in golf history. Nicklaus went into the closing round on Scotland's sun-sluiced Muirfield course a full six strokes behind Defending Champion Trevino and five behind Britain's dogged Tony Jacklin. Trevino had blistered the parched fairways at the finish of the third round with birdies on the final five holes for a 66, which tied the course record and put him one stroke ahead of Jacklin. Nicklaus, playing what was for him desultory golf, needed birdies on two of the final three holes merely to finish the day with a par 71.

The final round was something else again. Nicklaus birdied six of the first eleven holes, while Trevino and Jacklin played fitful golf. By the ninth hole big Jack had caught the leaders. But on the 17th Trevino pulled off a spectacular shot. Perched on an awkward angle off the green, Trevino lofted a 30-ft. chip that rolled into the cup to save a par. Nicklaus had bogeyed the 16th, Jacklin bogeyed both of the final holes, and the Merry Mexican, crying, "I'm the greatest chipper in the world!", became the first golfer since Arnold Palmer (1961-62) to win two straight British Opens. Although Nicklaus lost his glorious quest, Bobby Jones would agree that, on the bonnie Muirfield moors, both he and Trevino struck resonant tunes of glory.

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