Paul MacWeeneywatched as Jack Nicklaus was forced to pull out all the stops at Muirfield in his maiden British Open victory 42 years ago

JACK NICKLAUS, the 26-year-old son of a wealthy chemist in Ohio, climbed to the summit of the golfing world at Muirfield on Saturday when, at his fifth attempt, he won the Open Championship with rounds of 70, 67, 75, 70, for an aggregate of 282, beating Dave Thomas, of Wales, and Doug Sanders, of La Jolla, California, by one shot.

Having previously won the US Amateur and Open titles, the US Masters and PGA, the individual, as well as sharing in the team awards in the Eisenhower Trophy and Canada Cup, the only ambition remaining was the oldest trophy of all and this he claimed after making the determined statement that he would cross the Atlantic every year until he did so.

That the ultimate prize would fall before his rare combination of power and skill was inevitable but when he looks back upon his tournament triumphs he may well rate this one as the most difficult and most nerve-racking.

On Friday he had cast away a virtually impregnable position in the last six holes of the third round, and instead of holding a commanding lead, was two shots behind a fellow-countryman, Phil Rodgers.

By the halfway stage on Saturday he held an advantage of two shots over Rodgers and Sanders, and four over Arnold Palmer and Thomas. Having reached the turn in a brilliant three-under-par 33, who could doubt that this young genius had the situation completely under control.

Then occurred so bewildering, so astounding a series of events as to make this perhaps the most thrilling finish yet seen in the historic test.

To take them in sequence, Rodgers, paired with Nicklaus at the end of the order, and starting the round three under par, hooked his tee shot into the rough at the ninth, took four to reach the green and holed out for six.

Nicklaus, who had made up three strokes on par in the first eight holes, had a three-foot putt to go further ahead with a birdie four, but missed it.

Sanders, at the same hole, saw a 30 yards pitch find the target for an eagle three, and thus came right back into contention, two under par.

Palmer, out in 35 and still very much in evidence, killed himself with the most shocking seven at the 10th, for after his tee shot had been engulfed in the rough on the left, he hacked along the same route four more times, and reaching the putting surface in five, took two more to get down.

His partner, Sanders, lost no ground with the par four, but Rodgers, following just behind, emulated his misery of the ninth by doing exactly the same thing, ploughing through the jungle on the left, and getting even the six by virtue of a good chip and three-foot putt - so that was two possible challengers out of the way.

Nicklaus had a copy-book four, but at the 11th the drama was intensified. There, Sanders, for the first time, left the straight line and took six. but the leader also faltered in the most unexpected manner.

Down the middle with his drive and laying the approach 12 feet from the pin, Nicklaus putted up to two feet and then got such a nervous twitch on the putt the ball spun off the lip at right angles, and he had to think even about the next one.

That left him three under par, Sanders level par, and at the same moment, a roar went up from the vast crowd as Thomas, out in 34, got his second two of the round with a 20-yarder from the front of the 13th green. So the Welshman became one under par.

Quite clearly Nicklaus was, as on the previous day, losing his grip, for after getting the par four at the 12th only with difficulty, his first putt running more than three feet past, he dropped a further shot at the 13th, his putt from the apron of the green racing like an express train fully 15 feet past, and when his tee shot at the 14th caught the up-slope of a bunker, putting the green out of range with the approach, the five there cut him down to one under par.

With Sanders getting a birdie three at the 15th, he, Nicklaus and Thomas were level.

The key hole, therefore, became the 528-yard 17th downwind, reachable in two if the drive was on the fairway. Thomas almost moved ahead at the one-shot 16th where his tee shot hit the pin and kicked off eight feet away, but the putt was missed.

At the 17th his second was on a bank on the right side of the green, whereupon his weakness, which has kept him from reaching the very top class, seized him.

He fluffed the chip, admittedly not an easy one, and had to settle for the par five. He gave himself one last chance, for he hit a fine tee shot and approach to the 18th, but his 15-footer for the birdie three was just off line.

Then came Sanders, a yard or so into the rough on the left at the 17th, but what a difference that made. He pulled his second into the rough again: the third was just off the back of the green, and again it was a par five.

At the 18th he was on the left edge of the green and this master putter and former Las Vegas professional gambler and wisecracker was no more than a couple of inches short, from fully 20 yards, of forcing a play-off with Nicklaus.

The leader, with grim, set face, got the par at the 15th; laid a 30-foot putt stone dead at the 16th, and won his championship with his four iron approach at the 17th. He found the fairway from the tee, and the next shot finished 15 feet from the hole.

The first putt was an inch or so away, and he walked on to the 18th tee knowing that the par four would suffice.

Nicklaus took out a two iron, hit it straight down the middle, cracked a six on the right-hand side of the green, putted to within a foot of the hole and it was over.

If he has to suffer from the grinding mental strain of championship tournaments for years to come, it is difficult to imagine Nicklaus will spend two more tortured days. Even if you are a millionaire at so tender an age, the lure of another few hundred thousand dollars must always be strong, and the fame and fortune goes to the winner - never to the runner -up.

Had Thomas got his birdie four at the 17th and holed either of the putts on the 16th or 18th, he would be in a position to earn at least £100,000 in the next few months; instead he will not benefit by much more than the worth of the second and third prizes, split with Sanders, who, of course, would have benefited just as bountifully.

The sun shone, once again, throughout the day and, from the weather aspect, this will be remembered as one of the few really "summer" Opens, but the pleasant conditions also added to the difficulties of a links which invoked the most savage penalties for any shot finishing off the fairway.

Although the experts at the start were not unduly pessimistic about the influence of the rough, it did, in fact, play a vital part, and there could be a demand in future for a few yards of semi-rough along the fairways and behind the greens.

If there was no question of an Irish challenge, at least both Christy O'Connor and Christy Greene finished on a high note with 72 and 74, respectively.

At last O'Connor mastered the outward nine, reaching the turn in par, with birdies at the second, fifth and ninth, but going over par at the first, sixth and eighth.

He came back in his best vein, with six fours and two threes, but a visit to the rough at the 18th cost him a six, and 72 instead of 70. However, on 291 , he had only 11 of the field ahead of him, and Harold Henning in the same bracket.

Greene also started with a five, but he had his birdie for the fourth time, at the third and an eagle three at the fifth in 36 out.

Like so many others, he was a victim of the rough at the 10th, which cost him a six. And he finished with two fives - not once did he play those last two holes in what would be termed the American style. The 17th and 18th cost him six shots against par.