Greg Norman will be at the Masters this weekend, but in spirit only. His last appearance at Augusta National was two years ago. He bought a ticket and made the scene as a patron, cheering on his LIV Golf players. He was the CEO of the rogue golf league then.
At the 1996 Masters, Norman had a six-shot lead through 54 holes. On Sunday, in the final round, he played with Nick Faldo, his closest pursuer.
Norman’s 1996 Masters Meltdown
Norman struggled mightily through the so-called Clubhouse Turn, making bogeys on 9, 10, and 11. The last three holes felt more like a winter funeral than a springtime golf tournament.
Faldo shot 67. He won not by 1 or 2 or 3 or 4, but by five. Norman shot 78, an 11-shot swing.
An image from that day shows Greg Norman collapsing on the ground after a chip on the 15th green during the final round of the 1996 Masters.
McIlroy’s Lead and the Weight of History
Rory McIlroy, the defending champion, currently has a six-shot lead over his two closest pursuers. One is Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters winner and now former LIV golfer, in the process of rejoining the PGA Tour. The other is Sam Burns, looking to win his first major title.
Everyone is asking the same questions: Can Rory McIlroy do anything other than win this Masters? And is a six-shot lead bulletproof?
The Unpredictability of a Six-Shot Lead
Six, not nine. In 1997, the year after the Norman-Faldo finale, Tiger Woods had a nine-shot lead through 54 holes. Six, not four, which was McIlroy’s lead through 54 holes in 2011.
“There is no chance humanly possible that Tiger is just going to lose this tournament,” Colin Montgomerie said Saturday night in 1997. He compared the event to the previous one, the famous/infamous 1996 Masters. “This is different — this is very different. Faldo is not lying second for a start. And Greg Norman is not Tiger Woods.”
Unless we’re talking about Woods and a nine-shot lead, the question in these situations is not whether a six-shot lead is safe. We know from history that a six-shot lead is not close to safe. Faldo did what he did over 18 holes. Reed and Co. have 36 to chip away.
The real questions are what will be the winning score and who can get there? If 12 under is.