All week, we're looking back at some of the most significant British Opens in history. Today, we consider Jack Nicklaus's second victory ... and what should have been Doug Sanders' first.

Three feet. That's all it was. A three-foot putt. You knock those down every day. Shoot, your buddies might even give you that one if they're feeling generous. Three feet were all that separated Doug Sanders from the British Open in 1970. You can see him there at right, the putt on the way.

Anyway, let's set the stage. Sanders was always one of golf's great dressers, and had a flair both on and off the course. In 1970, with the Open at St. Andrews, he played the tournament of his life. For the final round, he held off Jack Nicklaus all day long. Finally, on 18, he faced a par putt of three feet to win the Open.

He missed. I can understand it, I can see it happening, but still ... he missed.

Sanders and Nicklaus would go on to play another complete round the next day. And while Sanders hung with Nicklaus all round, Jack ended up winning on the final hole, tossing his putter into the air in triumph.

While Sanders would go on to a respectable golf career, he would finish second in four majors and third in two more without ever winning one. Three feet, that's all it would have taken. Oh, man ...

(A bit of trivia that I found while trolling the Internet: Sanders suffered from a debilitating back/neck condition called torticollis, and sought medical aid to cure it. A doctor told him the operation wasn't guaranteed to cure Sanders' pain, and Sanders apparently -- according to an interview he gave Golf Digest in 2003 -- offered a hitman $40,000 to kill him if the operation failed. The operation did succeed, however, and Sanders called off the hit. (That's a phone call you'd better hope goes through.) True? Who knows, but it's a good story.)

Anyway, back to the Open: congratulations to Nicklaus, and condolences -- forty years later -- to Sanders. Play us off, Golden Bear: