Overland Park ? Applause rolled out of the gallery as Jack Nicklaus slowly walked down the fairway of what might be his last hole of tournament golf on American soil.

People sensed this could be history. So did his buddy and playing partner, Tom Watson. As the applause lengthened, Watson came to a respectful stop on the fairway and let Nicklaus walk onto the green all by himself, making sure the moment belonged entirely to the Golden Bear.

Will Jack ever be back? Or did the man, who many consider the greatest golfer of all time, play his last American tournament in the Champion Tour’s Bayer Advantage Classic?

He said all week he would retire after next month’s British Open, but also held out the possibility of competing again in the Memorial, the tournament he hosts each year in Dublin, Ohio.

Nevertheless, after shooting a second straight 73 on the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate, the winner of six Masters, five PGAs, four U.S. Opens and three British Opens looked tired.

“As I walked to the 18th hole, as I hit my tee shot, I thought, ‘Yeah, this is probably going to be the last tournament round of golf I play here in the United States,”‘ he said.

The man whose golf has brought so much pleasure to so many millions no longer enjoys the game himself.

When his final round was suspended by rain Sunday, he was 3-under par – and excited. His goal was to shoot 65 – his age.

Jack Nicklaus waves to the gallery on his final hole at the Bayer Advantage Classic. Nicklaus finished the tournament at 2 over par Monday in Overland Park. He has hinted this tournament could be his last on U.S. soil.

“I’d like to have people see me play my best, or at least reasonable,” he said. “But I managed to go out and three-putt, and make bogey, then three-putted the third hole and three-putted the sixth hole and played my way off into oblivion. It’s not a whole lot of fun to do that.”

It’s not as though he feels he must win every time.

“I think it’s very sad watching old boxers getting blown around in the ring and things like that. That’s why I’m wanting to quit while I still have the semblance of a golf game.

There is no possibility, he said with a laugh, of somehow recapturing that old magic and deciding to return to tournament golf.

“No,” he said. “I’m going to win the British Open and then retire.”