The number one golfer in the world stood at the first tee at the Augusta National Golf Club, on the final day of the 1996 Masters, armed with a very useful six shot lead.
The man in question, Greg Norman, had even equalled the course record in the opening round with a 63, which at that point in time had only been matched by Nick Price, a decade earlier. The Great White Shark stood upon the cusp of becoming the first Australian winner of the Masters. A near certainty for the legendary green jacket.
On the 18th green on day 3, Nick Faldo sank a nervous putt to par the hole. Given the lead that Norman was holding, it seemed no more than a relatively inconsequential incident, yet one which kept the Englishman in second place, one shot clear of third placed Phil Mickelson.
Most importantly, it meant that Faldo would be in the final pairing on the Sunday, alongside the runaway leader Norman.
While it was widely thought that Faldo had earned no more than a close-up view of the coronation of Norman as champion, fate had other ideas.
1995 might have been a poor year by Faldo’s high standards, but at Augusta in 1996 he had the experience of five major successes to his name, two of them at the Masters, and was equipped with the knowledge of how to successfully navigate the final day to glory in Georgia.
Conversely, Norman, despite having two majors to his name - both obtained at The Open Championship – had been an eternal bridesmaid at the Masters. Twice runner up, he had finished in the top 6 at Augusta no fewer than seven times, as he stood there, on the final day, with victory in the palm of his hand.
It was with a strange symbiosis that Norman and Faldo strode onto the first tee on that eventful Sunday afternoon. Norman with the seemingly unassailable lead, but none of the previous green jackets that would have eased his mind about the task which lay ahead, and then Faldo, who had seen it, done it, and then retained it at Augusta, when he drove, chipped and putted his way to the Masters title in 1989 and 1990. Faldo had the six-shot gap to make up, but he also had the winning experience and none of the pressure.
On the opening hole Norman dropped a shot.
It was a sign of things to come, despite picking up an immediate birdie in reply at the 2nd. Unfortunately for Norman, so did Faldo.
When Norman dropped another shot at the 4th, the gap between him and Faldo had drifted in to four shots. The consummate ease with which Norman had plotted his way around Augusta during the first three days had suddenly deserted him. The sense that there might be something interesting unfolding began to take hold.
Some respite came Norman’s way on the 5th however, when Faldo picked up a bogey of his own, gifting his rival a five-shot lead once again.
Norman then opted quite reasonably to play the percentages over the course of the next four holes. Four pars kept him at 12-under, with the outward nine almost completed. Yet, birdies for Faldo at the 6th and the 8th eroded Norman’s lead from five, to three-shots. With ten holes left to play, the game was very much alive.
It was during the next four holes that the whole tournament was turned on its head, as Norman simply crashed, while the focussed Faldo zoned on his own game so much, that he barely realised what was happening to Norman’s game.
Norman bogeyed holes 9, 10 and 11, following that with a double-bogey at the 12th after hitting the water with his tee-shot. Meanwhile, Faldo took his turn to play the percentages, with a par on each of those holes.
It all made for one of the most hypnotic of about-turns a major golf tournament has ever seen, as Norman went from a three-shot lead, to a two-shot deficit within the blink of an eye.
Admirably, Norman managed to steady himself, as he then matched Faldo on 13, 14 and 15, as they went birdie-par-birdie.
At the 16th however, Norman again hit the water, going on to pick-up a second double-bogey of the day. With just two holes left to play, Norman now, inexplicably, found himself four-shots adrift of Faldo.
It was a stunned gallery which welcomed Faldo and Norman onto the 18th green. As Norman closed out with two pars, Faldo ended the day with yet another birdie, stretching his winning margin to five-shots. On a day when the two main protagonists swapped an eleven-shot swing, instead of slipping into a green jacket, Norman was eventually holding off Mickelson for the runner-up spot by just one-shot.
Essentially upon the eve of Tiger Woods, who would claim the first of his 14 major titles at the Masters 12-months later, the 1996 event marked the end of an era.
Neither Faldo or Norman would win another major title, and a new generation came to the fore. Yet, in the 22-years which have passed since that unforgettable day, there has certainly never been a more dramatic and poignant final day meltdown as Norman’s in 1996, on a day when even Faldo himself professed to feeling sorry for the Great White Shark.
