Great White hype greets Masters icon

FOR a man whose Augusta National experiences have been shaped by his spectacular failures there, Greg Norman’s return to the Masters has been met with an amazing amount of hype.

For a golfer whose time as the world number one came in the 1980s and 1990s, whose second and final major win came in 1993 and whose last tournament win came in 1998, the attention may appear unseemly.

Yet, even in his golfing dotage at the age of 54, the Australian two-time Open champion is still a great draw, and as fascinating as the Great White Sharks, whose moniker he shares.

For starters, those weeks at number one ran to 331 and his worldwide victories numbered 91.

Then, less than a year ago, he rolled up at Royal Birkdale fresh from his honeymoon with tennis legend Chris Evert and played himself into contention after 54 holes, an improbable third Open denied by the final-round brilliance of Pádraig Harrington.

In short, Norman is a phenomenon every bit as remarkable as the teenage sensations who will make their debuts at Augusta National this week – Ryo Ishikawa, Danny Lee, and Ireland’s own Rory McIlroy. After all, how many athletes in their mid-50s have had new endorsement deals trumpeted as loudly as Norman’s was last week by TaylorMade? That tie for third place at Birkdale last July earned Norman his first trip back to the Masters since 2002 and the Aussie has heard about very little else since, putting his Open experience into sharp perspective.

“Two totally different weeks,” Norman said last week as he made his final tune-up at the Shell Houston Open.

“My lead up to the British Open was: got married, had a honeymoon, had a great time. Who cared?

“The lead up since the British Open has been everybody talking about Augusta, Augusta, Augusta.

“Can I get away from Augusta just for one day? It has been a totally different build-up.”

For those reasons, Norman downplays hopes he is about to play a major part in a tournament for the ages.

“I just want to make sure that everybody manages their expectations, and I manage my expectations going into this event,” he said during a recent media conference call to tee up his return to Augusta.

“There’s a lot of interest involved in my return and I think that’s wonderful, but at the same time, I’m going to be going into this tournament trying to enjoy myself and have fun without putting any expectations on myself.”

To that end, Norman is keeping his objectives, in public at least, very low key on a course that came back to bite the shark on a recent visit.

“I’ve been to Augusta, I’ve played it, and it’s one of the longest golf courses I’ve ever played. Mind you they had three inches of rain two days before and the fairways weren’t mowed because of the saturation of the ground. I played it off the tips and played it the full length, and my gosh, it was brutal. It makes Bethpage Black look like a pitch and putt course. And I thought Bethpage Black was one of the longest we’ve ever played.”

When Norman earned his invitation to the Masters at the 2008 Open he was initially reticent about committing to playing the tournament until his new wife, among others, persuaded him it would be a good idea.

“It’s the Masters, and I wanted to get back there for a lot of reasons. Firstly I wanted to see the changes and the conditions of the golf course.

“A couple of people really wanted me to go there, and also, Chrissie has never seen the Masters. So to get her there and to see what I think is the greatest golf championship and my favourite golf tournament of all time was another factor.”

Quite how the Masters became his favourite tournament is mystifying when you consider the heartbreak Norman has suffered in the event.

In 22 visits there dating back to his debut in 1981, it is not the five missed cuts that have given him the most anguish but the three runner-up finishes among his nine top-10 placings.

THE first came in 1986 when, tied in the lead with the 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus, Norman, who had been a one-stroke overnight leader and four shots ahead of the Golden Bear, reached the fairway on the 72nd hole.

Norman sliced his approach shot into the gallery on the way to a bogey and lost to Nicklaus by one shot.

Twelve months later and the Aussie met with disaster at an even later stage of the tournament as hometown pro Larry Mize chipped in at the 11th from 45 yards on the second hole of a sudden-death play-off.

In 1996, Norman was set fair at last for his and Australia’s first Green Jacket as he took a six-stroke lead into the final day, only to shoot a 78 as Nick Faldo hunted him down with a 67 to defeat the Great White Shark by five shots in what became renowned as one of the greatest chokes in sporting history.

Those are the moments that have defined his career and continue to haunt his visits to Augusta National.

“Matter of fact I went to Augusta recently to play,” he recounted last month, “just to get a feel of what the golf course changes are like, I was playing with one of my member friends and two other guests.

“You walk back and they say, ‘where was Larry Mize when he chipped in’? Eleven has changed a little bit but I said — ‘that’s where he was’. As a matter of fact when we played that day, the pin position was almost identical to where Larry chipped it in.

“I said: “That’s where he was. Now you go over there and try to hit this shot’.

“It was one of those situations that sticks in your mind. It was a phenomenal shot and you never expected it to go in, and it went in.

“I made the comment many times: ‘I never expected him to get up and down in two, and he gets up and down in one.’

“And the other bad loss to me was when I lost in ‘96, when I had the six-shot lead.

“That was another one of the bad ones. I put those two on an equal but for different reasons.”

Norman, though, tries not to dwell on those darkest moments and will approach this week’s Masters with son Greg on his bag and wife Chrissie in the gallery with same enthusiasm for the place he always had.

The 54-year-old looked sharp yesterday and aced the 140-yard sixth.

“I love the tradition and the heritage of Augusta,” he said.

“I love the way the establishment is up there, their rules and their positions and their implementations.

“And I love the golf course. My length was really a huge advantage for me in the early 80s. So that’s why every time I go back there, I put away all of the negative stuff, because I love all of the positive stuff.”