Greg Norman is making noises for different reasons in the modern golf era, but the ghosts of the Australian legend’s past still haunt him.
Norman, the parochial voice of the rebel Saudi golf league, has remained a polarising presence on the PGA Tour long after his playing days, yet his career on the course, while successful in many facets, still gives the former world No.1 reason to cringe.
In a new ESPN 30 for 30 documentary titled Shark, the Australian’s frustrations are laid bare over his numerous final-day collapses, most notably his infamous spiral at the 1996 Masters.
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Norman finished second at the Masters in 1986, 1987 and ’96 – but his loss to Faldo at Augusta will forever be etched into the minds of golf fans and further solidified Norman’s reputation as the king of the “Saturday Slam” because he couldn’t finish off tournaments on the final day.
Norman held a six-shot lead over the Englishman going into Sunday, But Faldo’s charge, along with Norman’s second-nine collapse, led to Faldo winning his third green jacket, five strokes ahead of the Aussie.
In some difficult viewing for Norman, the documentary airs vision of him watching the final round of the 1996 Masters for the first time. The look on his face said it all when he’s shown footage of his shots going in the water, falling short of the green, or just missing the hole.
Perhaps one his most famous shots at Augusta came when he missed an eagle on the 15th during that fateful final round, crashing to his knees in frustration, further paving the way to a Faldo victory.
Norman revealed his confidence started to falter when he bumped into British journalist Peter Dobereiner in the car park after finishing the third round with a six-shot lead.
“Not even you could f— this up,” Dobereiner quipped.
Norman recalled: “That was the first I thought, ‘Oh my gosh'”.
“Something got inside me. Why did you say that, Peter? Something got inside of my head.
“When you look at it, of course you feel gutted about it all because that’s not the golfer I know, right?
“It’s just a moment in time where it was a confluence of crap in that period of time — that Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon — absolute misery.”
In the documentary, producers organised for Norman to play the course at Augusta National and the 63-year-old nailed an approach shot on the ninth hole, when he says: “I would have taken that on Sunday in ’96. What a difference 25 years makes.”
Faldo even chimes in: “I don’t think I would be willing to be dragged back to somewhere where I really lost it,” he told producers of the documentary.
“Would you pay to watch a bad movie again? You wouldn’t pay another 20 bucks if you thought it was a bad movie. That’s putting yourself through the ringer, I would’ve thought.”
Norman has finished second place the fourth most of any player in history, behind only Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Arnold Palmer.
There’s also a theory among golf’s fraternity that the Aussie was “snakebit” on several occasions and was the victim of bad luck. That theory stems from the fact journeymen golfers made miracle shots on more than one occasion to steal his thunder at majors.
Norman said he cried when Larry Mize’s impossible chip sunk in at the 1987 Masters.
“It was tough, it was really tough,” Norman said of the result.
“I went home and I cried on the beach. All these questions go through your head for months and months.”
Norman recalls having lingering thoughts after so many second place finishes.
“God what did I do wrong? Did I do something wrong? Why is it happening to me on a regular basis and nobody else?” Norman asks.
“All these stupid things come rushing into your mind and it was very difficult for me.
“(But) if people want to look at it from a snakebit standpoint, maybe there are other things in life that have been pretty good for me too. What you lose on one hand, you might pick up on the other.”
Greg Norman bares all in ESPN magazine
Norman strongly rejected claims he’s a “choker”, saying the record shows just how many tournaments he won.
“’86 was a year I played 27 tournaments and I won 11 of them,” he said.
“If I won two of the majors, was I still going to be a choker? I don’t know.”
He won two British Opens but never won the Masters. The 67-year-old says he’s now at peace with his misstep in 1996.
“Would my life be different today if I had a green jacket? No. It would 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,” he quipped.
“What happened in ’96, it’s 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.”
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