1996 Masters Tournament, Azalea, R4

[OBbogey5]

Too Long to Read: suffer or leave! 😁
 

Hot damn, I don’t think I could’ve kept my mouth shut if I were a patron in the pine straw down the 13th fairway on Sunday. 
 

Greg is dying to hear somebody, anybody!, other than himself, cry, “Go for it!” But nobody did. His caddie was nothing more than an audio data sheet, pushing numbers that favored layup; Addressing what Greg wanted to do: “213 to the front.” There seemed to be no further strategy discussed for going for it.. landing spot, shot shape, green contours, pin location, etc. The weather report was “straight left to right”. Greg was the sole accessor of the lie. And he wanted to go for it.

 

Kenny unfortunately yapped over very KEY player-caddie discussion during the five minutes Norman thought aloud through his wrong decision. That is quite unfortunate (would love the on-course broadcast audio from that shot).

 

Norman wanted to go for it the whole time, but on that day he just didn’t believe a word he was saying to himself. What a shame. If someone, anyone!, would have blurted out from the gallery, “Greg, just go for it, and win this thing!”…? Maybe, he does. Maybe his entire mindset clicks back to Greg, just go for it.. Maybe his inner struggle would have been straight-jacket’d by a simple, on brand, reminder.. from anyone, OUT LOUD, other than his fading self-belief’s cries for existence quietly becoming unintelligible. Man, Greg must have been thinking… Who am I right now…??

 

The “shot” in this beer-and-a-shot snapshot, is that Greg birdied #13 anyways. But oh-my-god that was work. His brain was completely mush after that hole, and so was his golf heart. A brilliantly executed four, for sure, but forcing Greg all the more catastrophically impotent was his foe, Faldo..! NF6 birdied #13 with absolute ease : Here we have Norman visibly wrestling to rediscover Greg Norman….for five full minutes! (for five minutes, he couldn’t find himself at the exact physical spot destiny was supposed to define him). He ‘finishes’ laying up (well should I say, pulling out and lying about finishing) and emasculating himself, and he looks over to see Faldo toying with the idea of hitting a soon-to-be iconic skying 5W, or demon core nuked 2 iron to the EXACT center of the green. (I mean, seriously.. what was Greg doing laying up??.. not what was he thinking.. we know what he was thinking.. but what was he doing?!—Faldo was in perfect position, and Greg has to push the issue!.. he’s losing..!!) After much deliberation, Faldo did exactly what he wanted to do; he did exactly what Greg wanted to do. That day, Faldo had enough to feed the needy when it came to championship golf at Augusta National. When asked about his strategy in the moments he took the lead, he responded, “…I just tightened everything up.” Yeah he did. f****** flawless golf.
 

Soooo, Greg’s alien imposter birdies #13. Then they both had to watch Faldo’s foot blade slowly lean into their neck until no air. When Faldo got the lead, and Greg didn’t eagle #13 or #15, Faldo’s display of being loose and jovial on the front 9 (to his true inner self in 1996, I think) seemed clearly to be some sort of ingredient for Norman’s puckered xxxx. So once that lead was handed over on the side of a river, Faldo was simply incredible. He’s called that 2 iron the best shot he’s ever hit. No doubt because of what it was, not how he did it. 
 

If Greg goes for it on #13, that would’ve meant more to his self-belief than birding the hole whichever way. I bet,, going for it would’ve meant more for his game that day even if he hole’d his wedge..! I do believe that. Hypothetically alternatively,  if he dunks the Maxfli in Rae’s, who cares—the man was toast at that point. …Who knows.. if Norman picks up a shot there, and his mindset is reset, and game on.. I wouldn’t except Faldo to choke, but at least Norman would’ve given himself a chance to win, which would’ve also made this the greatest Masters Tournament of all time. 
 

 

[JD3]

He made the correct decision there. If his mind were fried then he would have just gone for it without much thought. The life that round was drained out of him on the other par 5 on the back, #15 when he missed the eagle chip. He said so himself.

[OBbogey5]

6 minutes ago, JD3 said:

He made the correct decision there. If his mind were fried then he would have just gone for it without much thought. The life that round was drained out of him on the other par 5 on the back, #15 when he missed the eagle chip. He said so himself.

Love it. You could say that #13 was the best hole he played all day. It probably was!

 

I just don’t see how what he did on #13 changed anything that was going on the entire round. It was a complete sinking ship at that point. Faldo was going to birdie for sure (that’s the only thought he should’ve had on that matter), and here lies an opportunity to get one back, and at the same time BE Greg Norman for the first time all day.
 

What he needed to do was eagle #13 and birdie #14.. I mean, hindsight.. this is obvious. So I don’t believe he did the right thing. In the moment, in hindsight,, not at all. He was a mental train wreck that day. Self admitting that laying up was not what he wanted to do,,,, so what..? ..was he intend on adding one more thing to the heap of things already going not the way he wanted… It was do or die, right there.

 

He says #15.. Okay, that’s when he knew he definitely lost the tournament. Which is pretty sad. I understand what he’s saying. But at that point, he’s a total mental disaster and like 5 over par on the round, and losing badly. It’s not like he was “in it” as the ball rolled towards the lip out on #15. He knew that if he made it, then maybe…

 

But I’m saying his “maybe” moment was over there standing in the straw on #13. He didn’t deserve to eagle #15.. He fanned an iron approach and was LUCKY to even have a dry ball. All day, he hit solid drives, sub par irons, and dooming weak putts. He did that from holes #1-18. Something needed to change during that round INSIDE of him. A lucky chip-in on #15 absolutely would not have done that. The proof.. his well deserved birdie in #13 didn’t change a thing either.. He probably would’ve have completely whiffed on the #16 if he felt the pressure again if ‘winning’ the tournament was game on. He was quite content with ‘losing’ the tournament all day, #1-18. 

[Hawkeye77]

 

I'm not hearing the same things, but it's an interesting listen and I sure remember watching and at that time . . . . was gutted he was choking it away.

 

His caddie is clearly heard to counsel him about not needing to get it all back on one hole, maybe it's not the good play, make 4 the other way, let's Norman sort it out and backs up Norman when he decides what to do.  He knows his man and what's been happening - he's calm and has plenty to say, it is not true all he did was push numbers, quite the opposite.  Norman had steadily blown 5 shots, was completely shaken, three bogeys in a row including a missed short putt on 11, complete devastated on 12 and blew another putt badly on 12, hit the Norman weak right miss tee shot on 13, was in the pine straw looking at a fairway wood shot he probably had to send to the left part of the green if not over or missing left, assuming he got decent contact out of the pine straw, and his goal was to make birdie.  You make eagle when the opportunity to go for the green presents itself, Kenny thought he was only 50-50 to hit the green, let alone make birdie from there and he was probably right.  

 

Then he makes a putt nobody else had made all day and was a really difficult putt - plenty to instill some confidence.  About the only decent shot he'd made under pressure for 13 holes. 

 

Faldo won it late, Norman wasn't out of touch at that point at all.

 

He absolutely made the right play and smart play to try and win (and not blow) a major on 13 with that shot. 

 

Thank God for a thread that isn't about you know what and various you know who's, lol, even though Greg is in this one, haha.

 

 

Edited March 16 by Hawkeye77

[Hawkeye77]

Norman had a reputation and it's been reported he could be absolutely brutal to caddies during rounds (let alone anyone else) when the cameras weren't rolling.  So I was impressed Navarro was (albeit) pretty quietly getting some thoughts out there at the time.

 

But . . . you've got to leave it as Norman's decision and he was the smart one, lol: 

 

"Even after the 1996 Masters debacle, he assured the assembled media that he was one of life’s winners: 'If I wanted to be a brain surgeon and took the time to study that, I could.'"

 

I still agree with Dr. Norman on 13!

[PJE]

“…His brain was completely mush after that hole, and so was his golf heart….”

You have summed up Norman in one sentence. 

Norman was a man of peerless arrogance. His dismal failure was schadenfreude. 

 

( I have a friend who had an interaction with him. )

Edited March 17 by PJE