Jack Nicklaus’ 1969 Ryder Cup concession sparked controversy long before Mickelson-Watson feud

With the fallout over the Americans’ drubbing at the hands of the Europeans and the Tom Watson-Phil Mickelson feud reaching near-nuclear proportions, we wondered how such drama played out back in the day — specifically the 1969 Ryder Cup match that ended with Jack Nicklaus conceding a knee-knocking putt to Tony Jacklin for an unprecedented tie.

Last month’s event at Gleneagles hardly came down to the last hole (the Euros won 16.5-11.5) but the match of 45 years ago did and though Nicklaus’ concession rankled U.S. captain Sam Snead, the 18-time major champion would repeat his act of sportsmanship today, says the author of a spirited new book about that long-ago tournament.

“It would be controversial and divisive, but, from what I know about him, Jack wouldn’t waver,” Neil Sagebiel, who wrote “Draw in the Dunes: The 1969 Ryder Cup and the Finish That Shocked the World,” told SBNation earlier this week via email. “He said to me, ‘Would I do it again? Absolutely.’”

After the firestorm of controversy that Mickelson ignited with his post-defeat criticism of Watson’s leadership style, it’s not difficult to imagine how a Snead-Nicklaus dispute over The Concession would play out in the era of 24x7 news cycles and Twitter.

With Ryder Cup rookie Nicklaus in the house after draining a five-foot putt on the 18th hole of the final match of an already testy Ryder Cup, Jacklin needed to make a two-footer to halve the match and notch the first tie in the history of the event.

Since the U.S. had won in 1967 (for the 14th time in 17 lopsided contests since the Ryder Cup began in 1927), the tie meant the Americans retained the trophy. Still, the moment was one of consternation to Snead and his band.

“He picked up Jacklin’s coin. We were all shocked,” Sagebiel quoted Nicklaus’ teammate Tommy Aaron as saying afterward. “We couldn’t believe that he had done this.”

Other members on the visitors’ roster were similarly stunned.

“We worked so hard to get to where we were, and then to have that be the finalization of the Ryder Cup,” said Billy Casper. “It was quite a sensation for everyone concerned there.”

Raymond Floyd, also making his Ryder Cup debut, noted his skipper’s reaction.

“[Captain Sam Snead] didn’t like any part of it,” said Floyd. “He wasn’t happy with the whole thing.” Snead would later deliver this memorable quote slamming Nicklaus’ decision: “When it happened, all the boys thought it was ridiculous to give him that putt. We went over there to win, not to be good ol’ boys.”

Nicklaus’ picking up Jacklin’s marker was indeed a stunning finish to a tourney rife with countless controversies that would dwarf the Watson-Mickelson tiff. Though he rescinded his edict before play began, European captain Eric Brown (a “fiery Scot,” according to Sagebiel) directed his players not to help opponents look for their golf balls in the deep rough at Royal Birkdale, where a rules dispute between two players in Friday afternoon’s fourballs nearly ended in a fistfight.

Few outside the confines of the English track would have paid such squabbles much mind, however, since live coverage was limited to BBC on TV and radio. British and U.S. newspapers as well as golf and sports magazines also gave the event play.

Today, of course, every occurrence (Patrick Read shhhh’ing the crowd, the melancholy demeanors of Watson and PGA prez Ted Bishop) immediately goes viral, though history may look more kindly on the 2014 post-Ryder Cup ruckus than today’s pundits.

“Social media spreads golf news instantaneously, and also magnifies it and pumps up the volume. Look at the Phil Mickelson-Tom Watson aftermath of the recent Ryder Cup,” Sagebiel, who also wrote “The Longest Shot” about the 1955 U.S. Open, said. “It drowned out other aspects of that event (at least in America), including how brilliant Europe was in every department.”

The passage of years has certainly put The Concession in perspective for those who witnessed it firsthand.

‘“As time went by, we became much more appreciative of the sportsmanship which [Nicklaus] displayed when he did that,” Casper said. “It really was one of the great things that happened in the Ryder Cup matches.”

That moment long ago, by the way, was the start of a beautiful friendship between the two protagonists, with Jacklin providing his guidance to the Nicklaus-designed Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.

Golf certainly can make strange bedfellows, but somehow we’re not expecting to see an Altercation Country Club from a Mickelson-Watson partnership any time soon.