Sometimes, an 18-hole round defines a U.S. Open. More rarely, a single shot distinguishes a championship and its champion.

Jerry Pate, for example, hit a five-iron shot into the 72nd green of the 1976 Open at Atlanta Athletic Club to secure his victory.

Tom Watson’s little pitch shot at the 71st hole of the 1982 Open at Pebble Beach certainly was more modest but also more telling.

Pate already held the lead when he threw his shot from rough at the water-guarded green in Atlanta.

Watson, on the other hand, was tied with Jack Nicklaus when his tee shot on the 218-yard 17th hole came to rest atop thick rough to the left of the green. What happened next has been replayed on television more often than an "Andy Griffith Show" re-run.

Watson, 32, arrived at Pebble Beach already owning five major and 27 tour titles. He beat Nicklaus head-to-head, blow-for-blow in the 1977 British Open at Turnberry, one of the most memorable events in all golf history.

Watson led the money list four consecutive years through 1980. He had nothing to prove at this point — except that he could win the U.S. Open, a title that had eluded him during a decade on tour.

He often played "Pebble" during his college days at Stanford University and admitted to fantasizing on occasion, when playing the closing holes, that he was locked in a U.S. Open battle with his hero, Nicklaus.

Now, he would face this scenario as drama-thick reality.

Nicklaus, on the other hand, also had nothing to prove — except that he could win a record fifth Open title. With four in hand, he was tied with Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Willie Anderson. One more gold medal to go one up on the rest of history, and Pebble was his favorite course.

Jack did not look the part of champion or challenger the first day. Bill Rogers, the 1981 British Open champion, and transplanted Australian Bruce Devlin took the first-round lead at 70. Watson shot a par 72, but only courtesy of birdies on three of the last four holes. Nicklaus had 74.

Devlin, a 44-year-old who played the PGA Tour more regularly in his younger days, had a second-day 69 and led by two. Watson and Nicklaus were tied with 144 totals, five shots behind Devlin.

Watson’s third-day 68 gave him a share of the lead with Rogers, who had 69, two ahead of the nearest players.

Nicklaus was three behind and bogeyed the first hole of his Sunday round. Then he began his typical come-from-behind march. He birdied five holes in a row through the seventh, tying Rogers and one ahead of Watson.

Once Nicklaus was involved with the lead, the four protagonists (Watson, Nicklaus, Devlin and Rogers) traded it back and forth until the turn.

Devlin fell from contention with a bogey and double bogey to end the front nine. Rogers dropped out with bogeys at the 10th and 12th holes.

Watson saved par from a cliff at the 10th, a near disaster; and he birdied the 11th hole to go two ahead of Nicklaus.

Watson bogeyed the 12th and Nicklaus birdied the 15th to forge another tie. Nicklaus parred the last three holes for 69—284 and settled in the USGA scoring tent to watch Watson play the final holes on television.

Watson sank a long and dramatic birdie putt from just off the 14th green to go one ahead but gave the shot right back when he bogeyed the 16th from a greenside bunker.

Watson’s two-iron shot at the 17th drew too much and settled in rough next to the green only 18 feet from the hole.

His next shot called for delicacy to an extreme. Nicklaus estimated that Watson’s best possible outcome would be bogey four, creating a playoff.

After Watson studied the shot, his caddie Bruce Edwards said, "Get it close!"

Watson responded, "I’m not going to get it close. I’m going to make it." Only real champions or real fools call shots like that.

Watson had a real chance to win the 1974 Open at Winged Foot. He led by one with 18 holes to play and shot 79, tying for fifth place, five shots behind.

A year later at Medinah, he finished with 78 and 77, tied for ninth, but had the lead after 36 holes and again could have won.

These were still formative years for young Watson, who took his first U.S. major title at the 1977 Masters. His five British Open crowns stretched from 1975 to 1983.

He finished seventh in 1976 and tied for seventh in 1977, both times rebounding with two good finishing rounds. He tied for sixth in 1978, once again finishing strong but four shots out.

He missed the cut in 1979 but tied for third in 1980, four shots behind Nicklaus, whose opening 63 did not allow many competitors to vie for the lead. Watson tied for 23rd in 1981.

He did not want a Sam Snead U.S. Open image, the "big one that got away" from Sam after so many close calls.

Watson needed to shed that perception in a hurry; and here, the 17th hole at Pebble Beach, was the situation that would allow him to do that.

He lofted his soft sand wedge shot to the fringe and watched the ball roll quickly toward the hole. When his ball whacked the flagstick and fell in, Watson raced around the green, arms raised for a victory dance.

Nicklaus knew his chance for a fifth title realistically was dead. Yet, with a one-shot lead, Watson had to be careful with the par-five 18th hole at Pebble Beach. A lot of titles were lost by greed and carelessness, with trees and out of bounds to the right and the Pacific Ocean below and to the left.

Watson hit conservative shots, a three wood off the tee and a seven-iron for his second, leaving him a full nine-iron shot to the green. He stopped the ball 20 feet from the hole.

Watson sank the birdie putt for a final 70 and a two-shot triumph.

This was his only U.S. Open win.

Watson claimed the 1982 British Open crown in July and again 13 months later, bringing his major title count to eight. Nicklaus gained his fourth second-place finish in the Open, a curious record to have, but one he shared with Snead, Jones and Arnold Palmer. Not bad bridesmaid company.

Nathaniel Crosby, whose father, Bing, had conducted his famous Crosby Clambake on the PGA Tour at Pebble Beach since 1937, took low amateur honors, nipping collegian Corey Pavin by one shot.