Tom Watson was center stage in golf’s most beautiful theater. Here he was on the 17th tee of the Pebble Beach Golf Links – a course a he treasured, a course he stole away to as a Stanford University student, a course he knew defined great players – with the 1982 U.S. Open championship within his reach.

It was a gray Sunday at Pebble Beach, but the atmosphere was electric. Watson was tied for the lead with the mighty Jack Nicklaus with two holes to play. Nicklaus was sitting in the scorer’s tent, finishing with a 69, his fate in Watson’s hands.

With the tee markers only a few paces up from the farthest possible setting and the pin tucked as far back and left as possible, Watson struck his 2-iron trying to find any piece of the small target. When the ball finished in the gnarly rough off the left side of the green, leaving Watson a chip he would do well to get within 10 feet of the hole, Jack Nicklaus was feeling pretty good about his chances.

After assessing the shot, Watson took his stance. His waggle was as smooth as it was abbreviated. Then, he opened the face of his Wilson Dyna-Powered “Fluid Feel” sand wedge, and took the club back with a little extra cock to the right wrist. His ball, a Golden Ram No. 1, came out as high and soft as standard-issue human nerves would allow. The ball took two bounces and then started to roll like a putt. It broke to the right as it tracked towards the hole, Watson moved to his left to get a better view. When the ball was about a foot from the hole, he knew it was in.

On that Sunday afternoon, my wife and I were visiting my parents at their home in Dublin, Ohio. Dad and I were in the den watching the tournament. When Watson’s shot went in the hole, my father leaped out of his favorite chair and raised his right leg to seemingly kick the television screen. While he didn’t actually follow through with his shoe, he did say something like “the little SOB robbed him again!”

With one of the most dramatic shots in golf history Watson had once again caught lightning in a bottle! The shot and the United States Open title were made immeasurably grander by his defeat of the legendary Nicklaus and by the grandeur of the setting. To win it at Pebble Beach, a course that Nicklaus himself cherished and championed, was to win at the very pinnacle of golf in America.

NICKLAUS, EXPRESSION DRAINED FROM HIS FACE, STARED AT THE MONITOR. “I CAN’T BELIEVE HE DID IT AGAIN.”

This was the fourth time Nicklaus had been runner-up in the United States Open. It was also the fourth time Watson had beaten him for a major championship. Watson held off Nicklaus in the 1977 and 1981 Masters Tournament. In the 1977 British Open at Turnberry, Scotland, Watson beat Nicklaus in their “Duel in the Sun”- one of the greatest head-to-head matches in the history of golf. They shot identical scores the first three days: 68, 70, 65. During the final round Watson made an extraordinary 60-foot putt on the 16th green for the ultimate 1-stroke advantage. He finished with a round of 65 to Nicklaus’s 66.