Jack Nicklaus can play in the U.S. Open after all. The USGA on Monday gave Nicklaus special exemptions for the next three tournaments through the year 2000.
When Nicklaus, 58, was not among those given exemptions by the USGA in January, it appeared his streak of consecutive major championships would end at 145 after the Masters, which is April 9-12.
Now Nicklaus can extend that streak through the 2001 Masters, if he chooses, pushing it to 157 consecutive major championships. He has lifetime invitations to the Masters and the PGA Championship, and can play the British Open until he is 65.
This year’s U.S. Open is June 18-21 at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.
“The invitation was a surprise to Jack,” Nicklaus spokesman Scott Tolley said from Golden Bear offices in North Palm Beach, Fla.
Tolley said Nicklaus felt the position he was being offered was an important spot for a young golfer and that he wanted to feel certain he was physically able to play before accepting.
Scott Simpson, the 1987 U.S. Open winner who took the Buick Invitational in February for his first PGA Tour victory in five years, was also granted a special exemption.
Nicklaus has played in every Open since he was a 17-year-old amateur in 1957.
Nicklaus has won 18 major professional championships and two U.S. Amateur titles. He won his first U.S. Open at the age 22 in 1962. Only Nicklaus, Bob Jones, Willie Anderson and Ben Hogan have won the U.S. Open four times.
