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Jack and Gary in the 2003 Bay Hill Invitational
Jack and Gary Nicklaus will be competing this week in the Bay Hill
Invitational being held at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Club and Lodge in
Orlando. This week not only marks Jack's first visit to Bay Hill since 1995
(13th appearance overall), it could be the last time the Golden Bear and
long-time friend and rival Arnold Palmer share the same PGA Tour field. This
will be Palmer's 50th consecutive year playing in at least one PGA Tour
event.
"I was playing (last) Tuesday with Arnold at the Gary Player Invitational,
and he said to me, 'Why don't you just come back to Bay Hill?' " Jack said.
"I said, 'Oh Arn, I don't want to clutter up your field and also take a spot
from a young kid.' He said, 'No, you coming wouldn't do that. And if you
play, I'll play. We'll just be added to the field and won't take any spots
from the field.' Being an invitational event, Arnold had that flexibility
and he got it cleared with the PGA Tour.
"Once I rearranged things on my schedule, it worked out, and I called Arnold
back and told him I could play. I'm delighted about it. This gives me an
opportunity to hopefully play four rounds of golf. It's been a while since
I've played Bay Hill, and I am looking forward to getting back there. I'm
sure Arnold and I will have a great time. We don't get the opportunity to
see each other and spend time together as much as we used to, so Barbara and
I are looking forward to it."
Jack will be grouped the first two days with Augusta native and Orlando
resident Charles Howell III. Nicklaus, Howell and fellow young PGA Tour
start Luke Donald all represent the Royal Bank of Scotland, and just last
week announced the creation of "Team RBS." Nicklaus and Howell will be
grouped with Tom Pernice, Jr. from Murrieta, Calif. On Thursday, the trio
will start from the first tee at 1:00 p.m. On Friday, they start from the
10th tee at 8:30 a.m.
Gary will be grouped with Brenden Pappas from Ocala and Aaron Barber from
Maple Grove, Minn. On Thursday, the trio will start from the 10th tee at
1:20 p.m. On Friday, they will start from the first tee at 8:50 a.m.
The Bay Hill Invitational started in 1966, and was known then as the Florida
Citrus Open Invitational. It has been played at Bay Hill since 1979. This
year's field will be competing to take home the $810,000 winner's share of
the $4.5 million purse.
USA network will air the 2003 Bay Hill Invitational on Thursday and Friday
from 4:00-6:00 p.m. NBC Sports will pick up weekend coverage on Saturday
from 3:00-6:00 p.m. and on Sunday from 2:30-6:00 p.m.
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