Back trouble puts Nicklaus out of Masters

Jack Nicklaus, who has won the US Masters six times, has pulled out of this month's tournament in Augusta because of lingering back problems.

The 62-year-old has also withdrawn from this week's Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf event.

He said: "I have tried over the last couple of months to get my body and my game in shape to play at the Legends and the Masters. While encouraged, I decided that neither is at the point I hoped they'd be at this stage.

"I will continue to focus on my strengthening and conditioning programmes with the hope that I will continue to improve.

"Hopefully my back will come round to the point where it will allow me to play golf in the future.

"I really miss competitive golf. It's in my blood and I very much look forward to playing again soon."

It will be only the second time since 1959 that Nicklaus has missed the Masters.

He also skipped it in 1999 when he was recovering from hip replacement surgery. While the 62-year-old Golden Bear has expressed concerns about competing against players half his age on an Augusta National course that has added nearly 300 yards to its length, it was finally the back injury that has plagued him for nearly a year that forced him to withdraw.

He hopes to play in The Tradition, the first major on the senior tour, to be played in the last week in April in Arizona on a course he designed.