‘Screw me over’: Inside golf’s most sickening choke… and why bad blood just exploded again

‘That’s probably why…’: Emotional Aussie’s fascinating insight into Tiger’s battles — Masters Daily

‘BAD KARMA’

Norman flirted with danger well before he missed a short putt for par on the first hole of the final round.

The Australian was one of the most popular sports people on the planet at the time, but he was already well-known for his losses more than his wins.

The then 41-year-old has come agonisingly close at The Masters twice before.

Norman watched in horror as Larry Mize chipped in on the second playoff hole to deny him a green jacket in 1987.

A year earlier, Norman held the lead heading into the final round but a wayward iron from the middle of the fairway at the last ensured victory for Jack Nicklaus.

It was the first leg of what was dubbed ‘the Saturday slam’ as Norman led all four majors after 54 holes in 1986 but only came away with the Claret Jug to show for his efforts.

Among many in the golf community, Norman developed a reputation as a choker.

It was a moniker to which he took offence, even clashing with spectators who yelled it out at tournaments.

There were others who believed he was simply unlucky.

READ MORE

McIlroy’s ‘pinch-me moment’ in Masters triumph that broke 10-year title drought

Prodigy’s Masters choke couldn’t have been more brutal… until a live punch-drunk moment

Bob Tway holed out from a bunker to beat him at the PGA Championship in 1986.

Three years later, he lost The Open to Mark Calcavecchia in a playoff.

The counter argument to Norman being unlucky, however, was that he had a habit of shooting over-par final rounds to open the door for his rivals.

Given his history, most people would have advised the Australian to not tempt fate before the final round.

But with the green jacket almost so close that he could feel the wool, the nerves got the better of him.

The trigger for a sleepless Saturday night was a passing remark from a veteran British journalist as he left the clubhouse.

Sitting at the bar, Peter Dobereiner called out: “Not even you could f*** this up.”

The comment did not stop ringing in Norman’s ears and his thoughts quickly spiralled out of control.

When his then wife Laura tried to get ahead of the game in organising the Sunday night celebrations, full blown panic set in.

“Right after that, when I got back to the house, I found that my plane went south to pick up people to be there for a party that had already been organised,” Norman recalled.

“So, that kind of jolted me a little bit. Just bad karma.”

After a restless night, Norman began Masters Sunday by working the phones.

He had been upset by comments made by famous instructor Peter Kostis, who mentored the likes of Bernard Langer and Australian major champion Steve Elkington and worked for CBS at the time.

Kostis sounded a warning bell.

He said after the third round that he spotted flaws in Norman’s swing.

Kostis thought the conversation was off the record, but it was broadcast on television by Golf Channel correspondent Brain Hammons.

Norman called CBS producer and director Frank Chirkinian to vent his anger with Kostis’ comments.

When Chirkinian called Kostis in to ask if he said Norman will choke, Kostis clarified that he never said choke.

But stressed that “if he is calling you to complain about me on the morning of perhaps the biggest day of his golfing life, he’s in more trouble than I thought”.

Kostis’ words, of course, came true and those close to Norman could see the downward spiral beginning before he headed to the first tee.

“The Greg Norman that left the course on Saturday night was not the same Greg Norman that showed up on Sunday,” legendary swing coach Butch Harmon, who also worked with legends Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els, said.

“He was edgy with us on the practice tee, and he was edgy with himself.

“You could just see it.”

Get all the latest golf news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!

THE ‘OH NO’ MOMENT

There were several moments that spelled doom for Norman.

Some believed it was when Faldo got up-and-down from the back of the 18th green to end the third round and ensure the pairing remained together for the final stanza.

If the Englishman had two-putted there, a 25-year-old Phil Mickelson would have joined Norman in the last group.

The up-and-coming leftie would have cut a far less daunting figure than Faldo.

With his killer instinct and his intimidating “100-yard Liam Neeson stare” – as famed broadcaster Scott van Pelt put in – Norman and fellow Australian major champion Ian Baker-Finch said Faldo was the worst possible pairing for ‘The Shark’.

“We never had any sort of relationship. We were chalk and cheese. He was a loner, I couldn’t be like him,” Norman told The Telegraph in a recent interview.

The nerves were evident early in the round.

In addition to his opening hole bogey, Norman was taking 10-15 seconds longer over the ball than he had in previous days.

But it was not until they reached the turn, that things truly unravelled.

With a big false front that painstakingly rolls balls to the bottom of a valley, every golfer knows that they must go long with their approach into the ninth green at Augusta National.

Norman did exactly what he was not meant to do.

The blunder drew Faldo within three shots of him halfway through the round, and the Australian believes that mis-hit wedge was his ‘oh no’ moment.

“That was it. Right there I knew I was in trouble,” he said.

Two holes later, Norman and Faldo were tied for the lead as their rounds went in opposite directions.

At Amen Corner’s famous par 3 12th, Norman once again came up short.

His ball trickled down the hill and cruelly came to rest just inside Rae’s Creek.

The ball was basically teasing him as it was clearly visible on the edge of the water and could be easily picked up without getting your feet wet.

A double bogey was the result, but that cruel moment was not what would become the defining image of Norman’s disaster.

READ MORE

One image caused a stir in the golf world. It exposed a glaring problem that must be fixed

‘Stop pretending’: Legend’s anger at ‘weak’ response to Tiger’s car crash scandal

A mistake, then family disgrace: Why brutal snub could be final straw in Masters feud

THE INFAMOUS PHOTO

Norman looks like he is praying in the photo that has become most synonymous with his final round collapse.

On his knees, wedge held in both hands in front of his chest and with his head tilted back and eyes looking to the heavens.

Norman’s expression was one of frustration with the golfing gods.

Almost as if he was asking them, ‘why is this happening to me?’.

The moment did not come after a mis-hit that plonked in the water.

Nor was it after a putt that teased the edge of the cup and did not drop.

It came after one of his better shots for the day.

At the famous par 5 15th, Norman gave himself a chance to mount a comeback.

Faldo led by two, but the door was open for a thrilling final stretch as the Australian cleared the pond that guards the front of the green with his second shot.

He missed the green to the right but left himself plenty of room to work with on a chip that could swing the momentum back in his favour.

It came off the club face a little hot, but the line was good.

Everyone held their breath for a few seconds before Norman fell to the ground as it raced past the edge of the cup and the photographers captured the image that would sell newspapers across the globe the following day.

Norman admitted that his mind did go towards the heavens in that moment, cursing how things had unfolded.

“I do remember saying this to myself, when I hit the ground, I said: ‘Oh my f***, these golfing gods’,” he recalled.

“Picked myself up and after that it wasn’t meant to be because if it was meant to be, that would have gone in.

“Things like that they’re indicators of the golfing gods are saying ‘not today’.

“It’s not them. It’s me, obviously. But that’s the feeling I had as I hit the ground.”

The door to a green jacket slammed shut as Norman fell to the ground.

It was then bolted shut at the next hole.

At the par 3 16th where players delight patrons in practice round by skimming their tee shots across the pond, ‘The Shark’ drowned another ball in the water.

“When you look at it, of course you feel gutted about the whole process because that’s not the golfer I know,” Norman said.

“It was a moment in time where there was a confluence of crap in that period of time from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.

“24 hours of absolute misery.”

WHY BAD BLOOD REMAINS

The final half an hour of the round had an eerie feel to it.

Once the arrived at the 18th green, Norman putted out to give Faldo his winning moment, but the joy for the champion was clearly overshadowed by the overwhelming sense of sorrow for the Australian.

“Never have I ever felt as deflated for one of my players as I did for Greg that day,” Norman’s coach Butch Harmon said.

The players felt it too.

“That was tough man. We wanted a jacket for Shark,” fellow Australian Steve Elkington said.

So, did the broadcasters.

“There was an overwhelming feeling of sadness. It was not supposed to be this way,” esteemed commentator Jim Nantz said.

“This script was not supposed to end this way.”

Norman and Faldo embraced on the 18th green.

It was a rare showing of emotion from the Englishman, who was renowned for being stone cold on the course.

Faldo also took the chance to mutter some words of encouragement in his rival’s ear.

“Nick came up to me and gave me a big hug and said, ‘don’t let the bastards get to you’,” Norman recalled.

“I knew exactly what he meant.”

But thirty years on, the good feelings between the rivals have evaporated.

That much was made clear this week when Norman, while recapping the horror show, used portion of his interview to take a stunning swipe at Faldo.

“What I got in those moments was a very narrow window into the other side of Nick Faldo,” Norman told Telegraph Sport. “There is something about Nick. It’s in him. There’s the public side of Nick.

“You know, he was the one who came up to me, he’s the one who hugged me. He’s the one who said, ‘don’t let those bastards get to you’. But it didn’t really mean much to me, because I knew he’d soon go back to being the way he was before.”

With Faldo’s words ringing in his ears, what Norman did next enhanced his reputation.

Despite the disappointment of the day, the Australian did not hide.

He emerged from the clubhouse and fronted the press pack.

Before any question was asked, he got on the front foot with an opening line that has gone down in folklore.

“God, I hate green. Who likes green?” Norman said.

The remark drew plenty of laughs and removed any tension.

There was no hiding from a six-over par final round 78 to lose to Faldo by five shots and come runner-up at Augusta for the third time.

But Norman could at least have his comments circulating rather than purely the opinions of golf analysts the world over.

And as a superstar of world sport, he also felt obliged to his legion of fans to front up for them.

“Well, it’s part of what you’ve got to do,” he said.

“You’ve got to face the responsibility and the responsibility of being one of the top players in the world is win, lose or draw, you have to come face the music.

“It’s my duty as a sportsman to face the music.”

The Australian was revered for displaying an old-fashioned attitude of copping your lot on the chin and doing your best to move on.

“I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a situation where somebody who has suffered such heartbreak, and such disappointment, has behaved with such grace,” sports broadcaster Jimmy Roberts said.

In the days before social media, fans instead spoke with their pens.

In the weeks following The Masters, Norman received thousands of pieces of fan mail.

He read every single one of them and he has kept them all.

“I think I got more support for that, losing, than I probably would have got from winning,” Norman said.

Commentator Jim Nantz agreed: “It made him more popular. It made him a sympathetic figure in a way.”

Norman used that support to not let that infamous final round break him.

The two-time Open champion never won another major, but he returned home to win his fifth Australian Open crown that year.

He also ended the year as world No.1, a title he also finished 1997 with.

After 1996, Norman spent more than a decade at the top level of the game before eventually retiring once in his mid-50s.

The Australian ended his career with 88 professional victories around the world and only Tiger Woods has spent more time as the world No.1 than the 331 weeks Norman held the moniker for.

It is undoubtedly the resume of a legend, and when you add in that the Queenslander boasts a net worth of roughly $400 million courtesy of his business ventures, life has been pretty good to Norman.

“Would my life be different today if I had a green jacket? No,” he said.

“It’d be beautiful to have in my trophy case, but it would not have changed one bit of my life.

“I was lucky and I was unlucky.

“What happened in ‘96, part of history. I’m good with it now.

“It did sting for quite a while, but now I can speak very openly and emotionally about it.”

LIV LEGACY, GRUDGE THAT WON’T GO AWAY

As for Augusta, 1996 was not his final chapter at the iconic venue.

Norman missed the cut the following two years, but in 1999 he was in contention once again, finishing third, three shots behind champion Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain.

Augusta has simply never been able to shake Norman.

The Australian’s time at the famed club appeared to be over in the early 2000s before making a surprise return in 2009.

Having not played in The Masters for seven years, Norman earned a place in the field via his third-place finish in The Open the year prior – despite not having played a major for three years due to knee and back surgeries.

He missed the cut in his swan song, but as always, he was not yet done with Augusta.

In recent years, Norman caused a stir by patrolling the fairways in his former role as LIV Golf CEO.

He threatened to storm the 18th green with LIV players if one of their own won the green jacket.

It did not happen but could have added a remarkable chapter to Norman’s relationship with Augusta, and the game more broadly.

He was always a polarising figure.

Adored by generations of golfers who adorned ‘Great White Shark’ branded wide brim hats and polo shirts on courses around the globe — but most regularly in Australia — while being mocked by others who pointed to his tag as a choker.

A player who is undeniably of the greatest in the history of the sport, but had to potential to be among the very best.

Many believe Norman should have been not quite on the level of Nicklaus or Woods, but up there with the likes of Arnold Palmer, Faldo, Mickelson and McIlroy, who boast seven, six, six and five major titles respectively.

The emergence of LIV and Norman’s role in it as CEO made the detractors even louder.

The Australian was viewed as bitter towards the game that made him a superstar but robbed him of the chance to be even bigger.

Faldo was one of many anti-LIV figures who threw stones Norman’s way.

He routinely called LIV “the 54 tour” and back in 2022 addressed rumours of joining LIV following his retirement from being CBS’ lead analyst with a barb at Norman.

“Do you think Greg wants to see my boat race, my face, around for about 10 weeks a year or more. I don’t think so,” Faldo said.

The six-time major champion also has poked fun at Norman in the past on the social media by referencing the 1996 Masters as his last ‘shark hunt’.

The bad blood between the pair is clear and the Australian says he still holds a grudge.

“Too right, I’ll bear a grudge, if somebody crosses paths with me, says something derogatory, tries to screw me over,” Norman told Telegraph Sport.

“Nick said some things about me during my time at LIV, some really nasty things. I don’t have any respect for someone who gives their opinion on something in that sort of manner when they don’t know both sides.

“Come on, we have a history, he could have called me and asked for the other side of the story and I’d have gladly given it. And if he still hadn’t agreed then fine – his opinion and as he knows the facts, he would have been entitled to say anything he likes. Happy days. But just to sound off? Like I said, no respect for him.

“He still comes out with stuff that’s interestingly stupid, to be honest with you.”

The lasting feud between Norman and Faldo is just one aspect of ‘The Shark’s’ complicated relationship with the game.

Like Norman’s own connection with Augusta, love him or loathe him, the Australian superstar has a legacy like no other.

“I have a place there even though I haven’t won the green jacket,” Norman said.

“I think my history there is probably more entrenched than some guys who have won a green jacket to be honest with you.”