50 Years Ago, Arnold Palmer Let the U.S. Open Slip Away Arnold Palmer couldn't miss winning the 1962 United States Open. Two months earlier he had won the Masters for the third time in five years. He had won the 1960 Open with a final-round 65 and also the 1961 British Open. More popular than ever at age 32, the charismatic commander of Arnie's Army made the cover of Newsweek with the caption "Arnold Palmer: Perfection Under Pressure." In the cherrywood-paneled basement of his Latrobe, Pa., home a coffee table was inlaid with 24 gold medals, each representing a tournament he had won. But one space was empty. "That," he told Newsweek, "is for my Open medal." Arnold Palmer couldn't miss. With the Open at Oakmont, a half-hour drive from the Latrobe Country Club where he played as the son of the pro, he knew the nuances of its treacherous greens from having played there dozens of times in teenage tournaments and now as a dues-paying member. He would have thousands of his Pittsburgh-area fans cheering for him. He would surely win a second United States Open, then try to add the British Open and the P.G.A. Championship to complete the Grand Slam that had eluded him in 1960. And when he drove the green of the 292-yard 17th hole and made his 12-foot eagle putt in the Saturday morning round of the 36-hole final that the Open demanded half a century ago, he had the lead all to himself. But the golfer who couldn't miss winning that Open began to miss. After backing off a two-and-a-half-foot par putt on the 18th when a single-engine plane buzzed above, he missed it and fell into a share of the 54-hole lead with Bobby Nichols. "If I had a BB gun, I'd have shot down that plane," he told reporters. In the afternoon, Palmer soon led by two, but when he bogeyed the 480-yard ninth hole after flubbing a chip and also bogeyed the 161-yard 13th hole, he was suddenly tied with a 22-year-old rookie pro, the beefy blond Jack Nicklaus, the two-time United States Amateur champion from Columbus, Ohio, who had finished second in the 1960 Open that Palmer won at Cherry Hills near Denver and had tied for fourth in 1961 at Oakland Hills outside Detroit. One pairing ahead, Nicklaus parred in for two-under-par 69 and a total of 283, but Palmer had a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th to win. His gallery hushed. But he missed, then tapped in for a 71 and 283, creating an 18-hole playoff. "I putted poorly," Palmer, a cigarette dangling from his lips, told reporters. There's no question about it. I never played so well in a championship and putted so poorly. Is there a good putter in the crowd? I could use a lesson. Looking to Sunday's playoff, Palmer smiled and told Nicklaus, "I thought I'd gotten rid of you," referring to their having played the first two rounds together as Palmer beat him by three strokes, 71-68 to 72-70. I would rather be playing someone else. When Nicklaus said, "You really don't mean that," Palmer responded: "Oh, yes, I do. You great big strong dude you. Nicklaus, meanwhile, was looking forward to the challenge of going head-to-head with the world's best golfer. "It's a privilege," he said. It became Nicklaus's coming-out party. Despite occasional boos and insulting remarks from the Palmer-loyal gallery loud enough to hear, he opened a four-stroke lead through six holes before Palmer charged with birdies at the 9th, 11th and 12th to trail by one. At the short 13th, Palmer considered a 5-iron but chose a 4-iron that left him about 60 feet from the cup. Three putts, another bogey, again two strokes behind. Nicklaus parred in for par 71. With another bogey at the 18th, Palmer stumbled to 74. "I won it on the greens," Nicklaus told reporters. I took my time putting. I didn't want to waste a stroke. I three-putted only one green in 90 holes. At Cherry Hills two years ago, I three-putted nine greens, and last year at Detroit I three-putted half a dozen. Palmer, for all his local knowledge of the greens, three-putted 10 times over 90 holes. He played with three stitches in the fourth finger of his right hand, cut the previous Sunday removing luggage from the trunk of his car, but never mentioned it. He had lost to a rookie pro with a name some in the Oakmont gallery purposely mispronounced Nick-louse or Nick-loss. Nicklaus's victory is the subject of a one-hour documentary, "1962 U.S. Open: Jack's First Major," that will be broadcast on NBC at 2 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, the 50th anniversary of the playoff. The win launched the golfer soon known as the Golden Bear to his record total of 18 major titles. Palmer rebounded a month later, winning his second British Open, then added the 1964 Masters for a total of seven major titles. But the golfer who couldn't miss winning the 1962 Open had missed. He lost two more 18-hole Open playoffs, to Julius Boros in 1963 at The Country Club outside Boston and to Billy Casper in 1966 at Olympic in San Francisco, the site of this year's Open. The space on his coffee table for the Open medal from Oakmont remained empty. "Not winning this one," he said after that playoff 50 years ago, "probably was the biggest disappointment of my life."