It was a coronation.
Nicklaus' line and Woods' deeds took care of it, but not before unheralded Bob May pushed Woods to a three-hole playoff, which Woods won by one shot. Woods became the first man to win back-to-back PGA Championships in 63 years and the only man other than Ben Hogan to win three major championships in one year. After the first hole Sunday, Woods never led until the first playoff hole.
Nicklaus' comments about Woods were significant because they weren't original. He remembered them from when they were used to honor him.
The time was the 1965 Masters. Bobby Jones, the first great legend of golf and its grand old ambassador, used it to describe Nicklaus' victory there and his powerful game that overwhelmed competitors.
Nicklaus was 25 at the time, and he would use that power and determination to win 70 PGA tournaments and 18 major championships, the latter more than anyone.
Like Jones in 1965, Nicklaus is long past his prime. His last PGA Tour win was the Masters, in 1986.
Asked whether he was handing over the baton to Woods this weekend, Nicklaus said, "I think it has been handed over long before this."
But the official ceremony came last week. Never before had the two played together in anything more than a practice round. For the first time, Nicklaus saw firsthand the present and future of golf challenge its past.
Woods' victory Sunday was his fifth in one of professional golf's four majors: the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA. The total puts him in elite company, tying him with five others who have won five, including Roanoke's Byron Nelson.
Next up the ladder at six: Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino. Then, at seven, are Jones, Arnold Palmer, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead and Harry Vardon. Tom Watson has eight. Hogan and Gary Player are at nine, and Walter Hagen has 11.
And then there is only Nicklaus.
Woods has already shown he is capable of challenging history. His were the first back-to-back PGA victories since Denny Shute in 1936-37. He also is the only man other than Hogan to win three majors in one year. Besides the PGA, Woods won the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and the British Open at St. Andrews, Scotland.
In 1953, Hogan won the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open.
Only 15 players have won more than one major in a calendar year. Even if Woods were to duplicate his spectacular 2000 season every year for the next four years, it would still leave him one shy of Nicklaus' total of major championships.
Time is on Woods' side, though. At 60, Nicklaus concedes he will not add to his totals. He says he may have played in his last major. Certainly, he has played his last full schedule of all four majors.
When he was Woods' age, 24, Nicklaus had won three majors; he wouldn't win his fifth until he was 26.
Nicklaus thought Woods was great before.
Now, he's certain.
"I never watched him play, other than a practice round," Nicklaus said. "And I think he is better than I thought he was. And I was pleasantly surprised with that."
What surprised Nicklaus was Woods' incredible strength with his irons. On No. 8, a par-3 208-yard hole, Nicklaus and Woods hit their balls to within inches of each other.
Nicklaus hit a 6-iron on the shot. Holding up fingers, he signaled Woods across the tee box, asking what club he used to reach the green.
Seven fingers? Woods shook his head.
Eight? Another shake.
Nine? Woods smiled and buried his head in his hands.
Nicklaus was stunned. "I never did that," he said later. "That is just a different way of playing."
The similarities are there, too. Nicklaus always was known for his power and great ability to focus.
Woods has that. "He is doing it with such regularity and he is doing it with so much extra left in him," Nicklaus said. "So much more power to use. I don't think I have ever seen anybody do what he is doing that much within himself. He doesn't have to extend himself at all to do what he is doing."
Nicklaus also admires Woods' fearless play. Nicklaus said he always aimed anywhere from the center of the green to the flag.
Woods generally goes for the hole. Equipment changes over the last decade have made that kind of shot selection easier, Nicklaus conceded.
But no one else does it like Woods, either. Somewhere along the line, Nicklaus said he expects Woods to back off on his irons. He can't hit them that long forever, so Nicklaus thinks he will eventually come back to the field.
"I'm saying 20 years from now," he said.
Twenty years is about how long Nicklaus dominated golf in his prime. Few in golf ever expected anyone to challenge any of his records, but Woods seems capable.
By winning three majors in one year, he already has done something Nicklaus never did. Now, speculation will center on something no one has done: winning all four majors in one calendar year.
The task once was unthinkable. But Woods has changed expectations in golf, and now he has the old king's blessing.
"At this point, with what he is doing right now, I think he is a better player than I was," Nicklaus said.
Woods appreciated the compliment, but he tried to put it into perspective.
"The statement might have been different if he were closer to his prime," Woods said.
Maybe so. Golf, and Nicklaus, have been waiting a long time for this coronation.
