What played out on the final two holes – the 18th in particular – is now the stuff of sporting legend. “They get in the heat and they don’t crumble.” “What I love about the mental strength of winners is that they don’t blink,” said Mike Tirico from NBC. After 70 captivating holes there was still nothing to separate these two titans. Like the fighter he is, Watson recovered, and two more birdies meant the pair were level once again as they walked onto the 17th tee. He had Watson on the ropes but was unable to land the knockout blow. Such was Nicklaus’ resolve that by the 13th tee he had opened up another two-shot lead. Much like Rocky, one of Hollywood’s most successful underdog stories, DUEL rises to a crescendo, helped in no small part by the back-and-forth nature of this historic denouement. “When Jack Nicklaus has got a three-shot lead after four holes in the final round of an Open Championship I’m like: ‘Pop the champagne!’ He has to win,” said Alex Miceli from Sports Illustrated.īut the Golden Bear, depicted as a superhero in DUEL, knew his rival was made of sterner stuff.

By the fourth hole this lead had increased to three. This is exactly what Nicklaus did, capitalising on a bogey from Watson at the first by finding a birdie for an immediate two-shot swing. “ is statement day for Jack because he’s the great major champion, and this is what major champions do on they take control early,” said Doug Ferguson from Associated Press. “If Tom was David, Jack was Goliath,” said filmmaker Erik Anders Lang.Īfter shooting the exact same score in rounds one, two and three, Nicklaus and Watson were neck-and-neck and paired together for the final round. Meanwhile, Watson, a whole decade younger than his rival, had just picked up his second major in the form of the Green Jacket he won at Augusta three months earlier.

“When you looked at that leaderboard, you were only looking for one name, and that was Jack Nicklaus,” said Watson. Nicklaus had already claimed 14 major titles by the time the Claret Jug pitched up on the west coast of Scotland that summer. Nicklaus and Watson were the two best golfers in the world in 1977.

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