“We saw the putter go up and we knew it was going in."

I still say the readers of this site offered the best remembrances, but there are a couple of good 86 stories filed, starting with Larry Dorman focusing on the iconic Nicklaus putt on 17.

It was then that Nicklaus knew his odds of winning had moved from possible to highly probable. The photographs show the change on his face as his last birdie putt of a remarkable final round approached the hole. With soft light from the setting sun streaming onto his face as it broke into a wide grin, Nicklaus bent his knees into a powerful, athletic crouch and raised the putter in his left hand aloft, like a scepter or Excalibur, as he stalked the putt.

This is the recollection Tiger Woods, who was 10 at the time, has said is his most vivid, “the way Jack was walking the putt into the hole.” It is what Nick Price remembers best from ’86, what he saw from the 15th fairway as he and the man who had been the leader, Greg Norman, were walking toward their tee shots.

“We saw the putter go up and we knew it was going in,” Price said. “And it was the loudest roar I have ever heard on a golf course right then and there. Incredible atmosphere and just, I don’t know how to say it, even when I won my majors, it didn’t feel anything like that, that atmosphere.”

Steve Elling talks to various golf dignitaries about where they were and what they remember about the 86 final round. Ernie Els:

"I was really coming into my own as a junior player, an amateur player in South Africa. That year, I won the South African Amateur as a 16-year-old, so I thought I knew what I was doing. So that was played in March.

"In April, I watched Jack win the Masters. It was basically a miracle happening in front of our eyes and it was really exciting to watch with my dad. It just gave me even more of an inspiration to play the game, knowing that a 46-year-old won. It was quite amazing.

"It was late. I had to ask my mom for permission to stay up."