Jack Stephens wasn't kidding.

During a Tuesday ceremony to honor Jack Nicklaus on his 40th appearance in the Masters, the Augusta National chairman said the club was leaving room at the bottom of his plaque, ``just in case.''

Nicklaus almost sent the plaque back to the engravers, electrifying the crowd with a final-round 68 on Sunday.

The six-time Masters champion used the comment as inspiration, finishing in a tie for sixth place at 5-under-par 283. At 58, he's the oldest player to ever finish in the top 10 at the Masters, surpassing Sam Snead, who was age 54 in 1967.

``He sort of gave me a little bit (of inspiration), he said there's a little room at the bottom,'' Nicklaus said. ``I thought that was a very nice comment, and I appreciate that. I said I'll try to see if we can fill it.''

With birdies on four of his first seven holes, the Golden Bear whipped his huge gallery into a frenzy. With cries of ``Go, Jack!'' and standing ovations at every hole, Nicklaus quickly went from a stroll down memory lane to serious contention.

His front nine was punctuated with a near-eagle at No. 2, a 40-foot chip-in for birdie at No. 3, a short birdie at No. 6, and a sidehill putt that fell for birdie on No. 7. A lone bogey, on the difficult fourth hole, sent him out in 3-under 33.

As Nicklaus and playing partner Ernie Els approached the eighth green, Els spoke with Tiger Woods and Davis Love III as they walked down the adjacent ninth fairway.

``You guys got any earplugs,'' Els said.

A back-nine charge, however, didn't materialize. Nicklaus three-putted the 12th hole, but birdied the 13th and 15th holes to wind up with a 35 on the back.

With memories of 1986 in his mind -- ``I may have old timers, but I don't have Alzheimer's,'' he quipped -- Nicklaus felt he needed to eagle the 15th and birdie two of the last three holes to have a chance.

After the round, he lamented what could have been -- he missed birdie putts inside of 20 feet on the last three holes.

When asked to compare if Sunday's performance was better than winning in 1986, at age 46, Nicklaus said, ``There's no greater accomplishment than winning.''

Hinting all week that this might be his last ``competitive'' Masters appearance, Nicklaus didn't disappoint. He progressively got better with each round, shooting scores of 73, 72, 70 and 68.

``I don't know whether this will be my last Masters or not be my last Masters,'' he said. ``That will remain to be seen. Could well be. But anyway, if it is, then I've certainly had a pretty good one to finish up.''

Nicklaus will play in the PGA Seniors Championship this week in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. From there, he will definitely play in the tournament he founded, the Memorial, and the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in June. After that, he's taking a wait-and-see attitude on whether he will keep his streak of playing in 146 consecutive majors intact.

Among those following Nicklaus was his wife of 38 years, Barbara. Other family members in attendance Sunday were son Steve, who caddied for his father, and youngest son Michael.

``It's really fun,'' Mrs. Nicklaus said as she watched on the 11th hole. ``I've never seen Steve so excited. He was off the ground before the putt went in at 7. It's fun to watch them out there.''

Incidentally, the last time she missed a Masters was the year Steve was born.

``It was very nice,'' Nicklaus said of the encouraging words from the gallery. ``You know, I think that the majority of people that have got tickets to the Masters have probably had them for 40 years. There are no new ones out, you know. So I guess that's because most of them knew me.''

Coming up four shots shy of winner Mark O'Meara, Nicklaus could only wonder ``what if?''

``I would probably be stupid to say that I wasn't thrilled,'' he said. ``But, also, I would be pretty dishonest if I didn't tell you that I was disappointed ... I'm not going to have a lot of opportunities, so I'm disappointed from that standpoint.''

Coming up the 18th hole, Nicklaus received his final standing ovation of the day. His bid for birdie came up an inch shy, bringing a huge groan from the spectators ringing the green. After letting playing partner Els finish up, Nicklaus feigned lining up the short putt for par, much to the crowd's delight.

``If it is my last round at Augusta, I couldn't have had a nicer way to go out,'' he said.