PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Jack Nicklaus saw Tiger Woods for the first time in a long time Thursday night when he had a group of prospective U.S. Ryder Cup players and the captains to his North Palm Beach, Fla., home for dinner.
As the two men with the most career major championship victories spoke — Nicklaus has a record 18 and Woods has 14 — the “Golden Bear’’ delivered a poignant, heart-felt message to Woods, who is out indefinitely while he rehabs from his October back surgery.
“You know you and I have talked about it [and] nobody wants their records to be broken,’’ Nicklaus told Woods. “But I don’t want you to not have the ability to have that opportunity to do so by your health. So I wish you well and I hope you get healthy, hope you get to play, hope you get out there as soon as you feel like you can play and I hope you do well.’’
Nicklaus, speaking to reporters Sunday at the Honda Classic, at which he is very involved with his charities, said it was “the first time I’ve spoken to Tiger’’ in a long time.
“He talked a lot,’’ Nicklaus said. “He was feeling good and told that to everybody. He says he was feeling great and he was able to stand over a putt and chip now without having any leg pain. We didn’t really talk a whole lot about it. I wished him well.
“He doesn’t have a timetable for returning or anything else. He’s pretty private about what his situation is and I don’t blame him, because every time he opens his mouth there’s nothing but articles written about speculation about Tiger. I don’t think it’s my place to expound on Tiger’s health … but he looked very good. He looked very healthy. And he misses playing, so that’s good.’’
Nicklaus said “sure’’ when asked if he feels Woods, at 40, is still young enough be successful again, saying, “He’s 40 years old … I did pretty well when I was 40 [Nicklaus won five times in his 40s, including three majors].’’
Gary Woodland stripped down to his skivvies to hit his approach shot from the water on the sixth hole Sunday. Woodland, wearing light-colored slacks, hit his tee shot into the water hazard to the left of the fairway on the par-4 and decided he’d rather not get his pants muddy while hacking out of the water.
Barefoot and wearing only a shirt and some dark-colored underwear, he picked the ball pretty cleanly from the water and hit the shot just over the green, but saved par.
Earlier in the week, Sergio Garcia, who finished second in the tournament, hit from the water on the same hole but rolled up the pant legs on his slacks and went barefoot to hit.
Phil Mickelson never got anything going this week despite not hitting the ball badly, finishing 3-over par. Mickelson was encouraged by his opening-round 1-under 69 in high winds, but he faltered Friday, making the cut on the number at 3-over, where he stayed all weekend. … Defending champion Padraig Harrington finished 4-over. … Justin Hicks posted the biggest number of the tournament with an 82 on Sunday to finish 17-over.
Vijay Singh, at age 53, played well again Sunday, finishing tied for sixth at 3-under par. Singh was vying to become the oldest player ever to win a PGA Tour event, eclipsing Sam Snead at age 52.
Illustrating how difficult the tournament course is at PGA National, ranking as the second-toughest of all PGA Tour venues last year (excluding the majors), entering Sunday, there were 254 double bogeys or worse though three rounds. The tournament that had yielded the most before this week this year was the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines with 163.