Jack Nicklaus

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Compiling a list of contenders for The Masters every year is usually not too difficult. Figure in a couple of the PGA Tour's hottest players, come up with a few former champions and add some who've been close.And then there is this year.A litany of troubles -- from back problems to personal problems to more fundamental problems, such as putting -- have made the 57th Masters almost impossible to predict. Trying to find a favorite is near impossible.It's easier to pick those who probably won't win.Perhaps the most prominent is Tom Kite, the tour's leading money-winner this year and all time.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- In the end, it was the veteran stars who were left in the wake of unheralded Larry Laoretti and his ever-present cigar.Those who expected him to give away a one-stroke lead in the face of expected challenges by such names as Nicklaus, Player, Geiberger and Stockton are still waiting.Instead, it was Laoretti, standing much taller than his 5-foot-11, 185-pound frame, who was in command, riding three back-nine birdies to a 68, a 72-hole total of 275, and a four-stroke victory in the U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley Country Club yesterday.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Before the 92nd U.S. Open began last week at Pebble Beach, someone asked Jack Nicklaus what score he thought would win."If the wind kicks up, even-par is going to win this tournament," Nicklaus said during a pre-tournament news conference.Nicklaus, the 1972 Open champion here, made that prediction again yesterday. He was sitting in the ABC booth as Colin Montgomerie was about to putt at 18 to stay even-par."If Montgomerie makes the putt, he's going to win the golf tournament," said Nicklaus, who was serving as a commentator after missing the cut.Later, when Nicklaus saw the 28-year-old Scot who now lives in England, he told him the same thing.

ANNAPOLIS -- When it last happened at the Naval Academy, the Cleveland Indians were drawing 2.6 million fans in a year they won their last World Series and the Baltimore Bullets were defeating the Philadelphia Warriors for the city's only NBA championship.The last time it happened at Tulane, Cincinnati was beating Ohio State in an all-Buckeye NCAA basketball final, and a kid named Jack Nicklaus -- in his first year as a professional -- was winning his first U.S. Open in a playoff over Arnold Palmer.

CARMEL, Ind. -- Uncertainty is the only certainty about the two wild-card selections for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.U.S. captain Dave Stockton said yesterday that his short list to fill the final spots on the 12-man team keeps getting longer.Jack Nicklaus' phenomenal 65 in the U.S. Senior Open playoff moved him back into contention as did Chip Beck's strong showing in the Buick Open last weekend.And proven veterans like Tom Watson, Tom Kite, Curtis Strange and Raymond Floyd warrant consideration, as do a handful of newcomers and those who may fall just shy of earning enough points to make the Top 10.Stockton said the increasing options have been the first "unfun" aspect of his captaincy.

The TV repairman:Season's greetings, sports fans, the start of the mini-series you've been breathlessly awaiting these many months is at hand: WTL football.WTL stands for the Waste of Time League, of course, and the first official confrontation goes tomorrow with Denver and Detroit meeting in the Hall of Fame debacle in Canton, Ohio (ABC, 12:30 p.m.).Ah, can you wait for Frank Gifford to wax, "[So-and-so] has had a good camp so far and they really like him." Tears will well in the eyes of Giff when he thinks back over the careers of inductees Earl Campbell, Bob Griese, John Hannah, Stan Jones and Tex Schramm.

SUPPOSE Vice President Quayle never really wanted to be president. There are plenty of people who don't, including some politicians.What could be more natural for a civilized person than to recoil from the brutal destruction of privacy, the incessant haggling, the inescapable armed escorts, the constant companionship of sycophants and careerists, the abuse of gossips, the contempt of cartoonists, the cheerless prospect of a life lived in the clutches of...

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- It was just like old times. Wit one round left, Jack Nicklaus blew out the field and took a record eight-stroke lead after three rounds of the 52nd Senior PGA Championship.Nicklaus led by five strokes before yesterday's play, saw his lead dwindle to one stroke over Jim Dent at the turn, then put himself in commanding position to win for the fourth time in six tries among the over-50 set."Often I don't play that well with a few shots lead," Nicklaus said. "Jim got to within one, and I just gave myself a kick, said, 'This is ridiculous; you've got to get going.

When Ian Woosnam of Wales won the Masters Tournament yesterday, millions of golfers might have been asking what Turf Valley's Charley Brandt said aloud:"What's going on? The Masters used to be won by Americans like Jack Nicklaus [six times], Arnold Palmer [four times], Ben Crenshaw, Larry Mize and Tom Watson. Now all of a sudden the Brits own this tournament."True enough. Woosnam is now the fourth straight player from the British Isles to win the prestigious American event. Preceding him were Nick Faldo (1989 and '90)

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Jack Nicklaus, making another of his legendary final-round runs, shot a 5-under-par 67 yesterday and successfully defended his title with a one-stroke victory at The Tradition over Jim Colbert, Phil Rodgers and Jim Dent.Nicklaus, in his season debut on the Senior PGA Tour, came from five shots back to finish with an 11-under 277 and take the $120,000 top prize in the $800,000 tournament."I didn't think I could make up that much ground," Nicklaus said. "I never had done that before in 30-something years of playing golf, so why think I could do it now?"