Knight Ridder Newspapers

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Among the Nicklaus family, Jake was already considered the smartest of the 17 grandchildren.

Whenever he’d see “Peepaw” Jack, the boy would open his arms and run for a Bear hug. Jake loved being held by Peepaw, and until he was ready, neither mother Krista nor father Steve could pry him away.

“I’d try to give him back and he would go “uh-uh,'” Jack Nicklaus said Tuesday. “They said, “He’s the only kid who does that.’ I said, “Well, that kid is set for life.’ “

The remark drew laughter for the youngster’s unknowing wisdom of latching onto the greatest golfer of all time. No one in the room pondered the somber thought that “set for life” meant only 17 months.

Jake Nicklaus was just starting to talk, just developing a personality when he drowned in a hot tub March 1. At home in Palm Beach, Fla., the child somehow managed to slip through a fence surrounding the pool area while his nanny changed her clothes.

A week after the tragedy, Jack Nicklaus said his chances of playing in this week’s Masters were less than 20 percent.

But Thursday morning, he will tee off at Augusta National Golf Club with son Jackie on his bag and Jay Haas and Shingo Katayama of Japan in his threesome.

Nicklaus is 65 and said that it’s probably his final Masters, but that’s not the reason he’ll play.

“In the last few weeks golf has become part of the healing process,” said Scott Tolley, his trusted aide with Nicklaus Companies. “He’s spent a lot of time with Steve on the golf course, not only for recreation, but therapy. This is basically getting back to some normalcy.”

In the three hours and 10 minutes Jack and his wife, Barbara, spent jetting from Palm Springs, Calif., to Palm Beach already knowing that Jake was beyond help, Nicklaus put everything else in his life on hold. All he wanted to do was spend time with Steve.

So when Steve called and said he didn’t have anything to do and wanted to play golf, Jack went along. When Steve asked if they could visit one of the places he loved, Augusta National, Jack said sure. They played the hallowed course four times in the past two weeks.

“He could have said, “Let’s go fishing or hunting,’ ” Nicklaus said. “I guess if he would have said fishing, I’d be in a fishing tournament.”

Kaye Kessler, a retired sports writer for the Columbus (Ga.) Citizen-Journal who met Nicklaus when Nicklaus was 10 years old, figured Barbara and their four sons would convince Jack to play in his 45th Masters.

“As horrible as the tragedy was, life goes on,” Kessler said.

The tournament already has become a rallying point for the Nicklaus clan members, who live within 10 minutes of each other. Sixteen of them flew to Augusta on Monday night, and Jack and Barbara hosted all five children, most of their spouses and nine of the grandkids.

“They have an unbelievably close-knit family, a built-in support system,” Tolley said. “They all lean on each other, hug, cry on each other’s shoulders.”

Nicklaus admitted that the family remains very fragile.

“Steve and Krista cry themselves to sleep every night, which I think is understandable and probably good for them,” Nicklaus said. “They brought the little boy, Stevie, here with them yesterday and there really wasn’t anything for Stevie to do. But they were not going to leave him at home, not at this point with what’s going on. They want to spend as much time (together) … “

Because of that, Nicklaus spent the week after Jake died skiing in Beaver Creek, Colo., even though he’d hit the slopes the week before. That’s what Stevie, Steve and Krista’s son, wanted to do for his spring break, so that’s what they did.

Life goes on. So does their grief.

“They’re never going to get over something like that, and you shouldn’t,” Nicklaus said of Steve and Krista. “That’s always going to be part of their life and they have to live with that and so do we. We understand it and we’ve got great memories. But there’s nothing anybody can say and no matter what you say you always think it’s the wrong thing. You just move on to what you have to do and grieve as you would grieve and say life will get better, but it’s difficult.”

Nicklaus said he’s received condolences from every name in the PGA Tour media guide. The latest batch of e-mails Barbara showed him Monday from people around the globe was six inches deep.

“I don’t know how many thousands of letters or e-mails or calls that we got, but every one of them is special,” he said.

Amidst the outpouring, the notion of turning therapeutic golf into competitive golf might have been born when Nicklaus played 10 rounds with Steve without pain. Their four rounds at Augusta marked the first time that Jack had walked a course since back surgery Nov. 23.

“I feel as good as I’ve felt in a long time,” he said. “Since the back operation, I’ve had no pain in my legs at all.”

He has acknowledged that his July appearance at the British Open at St. Andrews will be his last. The three-time champion will lose his eligibility when he turns 66 in January. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club purposely changed its course rotation for 2005 so Nicklaus could end with a walk over the Swilcan Bridge. Steve will caddie and Krista, 41/2 months pregnant, is due not long after. Tears will certainly flow again.

But Nicklaus is fighting pomp and circumstance here. He saw a farewell to Arnold Palmer the past two years. Perhaps Nicklaus, the winner of six green jackets and 18 professional majors, knows that he can’t top his 1986 Masters victory at age 46.

“My time has passed,” he said. “When I decide to quit, I can’t think that’s any big deal, at least certainly not to me. I don’t know why it should be to anybody else.”

As he pointed out, he’s eligible for life at the Masters.

“This will be my last time somewhere in my head believing that I might be able to shoot a reasonable round of golf,” he said. “I may come back in five years, I may come back in 10 years and decide I want to tee it up. I’m not going to come back and clutter up the field if I don’t have to.”

Tolley said Nicklaus has never been one for fanfare. “He understands that’s what Augusta National and the fans would like,” Tolley said. “But he doesn’t need it now.”

What the Nicklauses need is time to heal. While they grieve in the most public of sport’s settings, they only add to their dignity.

AP-NY-04-05-05 2102EDT