The 1996 Masters still makes many Australians sick, 30 years on. It was supposed to be Greg Norman’s crowning moment. This week’s Masters marks 30 years since arguably the greatest collapse in Australian sporting history.
Norman’s Final Round Misery at Augusta
Norman raced out of the blocks with a course record-tying opening round 63. He reached the weekend at 12-under par and extended his lead over Nick Faldo from four shots to six by the end of the third round. With the cushion of that sizeable buffer, the world No.1 was finally meant to secure the green jacket that had eluded him.
What happened on Sunday 14 April 1996 was something that even Hollywood’s most twisted script writers could not have imagined. Norman himself described it as “24 hours of absolute misery”. Award-winning sports broadcaster Jimmy Roberts summed up the occasion by saying: “What was supposed to be a coronation ends up being a funeral march.”
Part of the fascination with Augusta every April is how brutal the famous course can be. While it is where dreams become reality, it is also where many of them have been crushed in the most agonising fashion.
The Weight of History at Augusta
This century Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth are two of golf’s biggest names to have collapsed under the weight of pressure that comes on the back nine on Masters Sunday. But neither meltdown is as gut-wrenching as Norman’s because after McIlroy’s triumph last year, both men get to attend the annual Champion’s Dinner. The Australian never got his redemption story.
Adam Scott banished the nation’s Augusta demons in 2013. Fox Golf expert analyst Paul Gow believes Scott’s birdie putt in the rain at the second playoff hole is “the one that’s healed us”. But Norman’s implosion is still what springs to mind first when many Australians think of The Masters.
For the scars of Nick Faldo winning his third green jacket still run deep.
The Heartache of ’96 Lingers
“I think Augusta has the most famous losses in all of major championship golf history,” former professional turned commentator Brandel Chamblee said. “But there is no loss that comes close in terms of heartache to the 1996 Masters,” he added.
Norman flirted with danger well before he missed a short putt for par on the first hole of the final round.
- The 1996 Masters was supposed to be Norman’s crowning moment.
- He held a six-shot lead over Nick Faldo after three rounds.
- Faldo went on to win his third green jacket.
The Australian was one of the most popular sports people on the planet at the time.