AUGUSTA – This is going to be an unpopular theory, but sometimes the truth hurts.
It’s more apparent now than ever that Greg Norman will never win the Masters.
Norman has now exhausted everything in his desperate quest to win the title he covets most, and there are indications after his third-place finish behind Jose Maria Olazabal and Davis Love III this past weekend that the window has closed on him.
It is, by no means, impossible for Norman to win a Masters someday. It’s just highly unlikely, and the reason is not his age (44), recovering shoulder from surgery, stiffer competition or anything else that tangible.
No. Norman simply craves that Masters green jacket too much and that has become a serious hindrance. It’s been proven time and again in all phases of life that if you want something too much, more often than not you’ll never attain it.
There were apparent signs on Sunday that Norman’s incredible desire for the title got in his way. Though ardent supporters wanted to glaze them over because of the emotion of the day, there were signs of weakness that cost Norman the green jacket.
Firstly, Norman never appeared to be the same after Olazabal made a colossal answer putt for birdie just moments after Norman has experienced his most euphoric moment, holing a 25-foot eagle putt on 13 that gave him the outright lead and sent the Augusta galleries into an utter frenzy.
When Norman made that eagle to take a momentary one-shot lead over Olazabal, the searing look in his eyes could burn a hole through sheet metal. With five holes to play and having climbed the mountain to the top of the leaderboard, he smelled the championship.
Two holes earlier, he drained a 25-footer for birdie on 11 and had transformed the Amen Corner gallery into a rowdy soccer crowd, sensing an historic finish.
But the mentally-forged Olazabal stared at Norman’s eagle on 13, calmly stepped up to his 18-foot birdie try and poured it in the cup, seemingly turning Norman’s nerves to mush.
On the very next tee, Norman pushed his drive toward the right rough, leading to a bogey and sending him a stroke back of Olazabal.
On the par-5 15th, Norman again pushed his tee shot right, forcing him to lay up instead of going for the green in two. After his layup, Norman had 94 yards to the green with a wedge in his hand and he again pushed his shot to the right into a front bunker.
Moments later, Norman would lip out a par putt and bogey his second consecutive hole after that emotional eagle seemingly was propelling him to victory. Olazabal parred the hole to take a two-shot lead on Norman with three to play. Norman’s quest, essentially, was over.
To make it official, after Norman left his birdie putt weakly short and to the right, Olazabal birdied 16 and led Norman by three shots entering 17.
It is a researched fact that most amateurs are faders of the ball. And, when nerves come into play, the typical way for the ball to go, for right-handed players, is to the right because the swing is not finished, perhaps not completely trusted.
The end result was an all-too-familiar one for Norman.
Norman’s first Masters runner-up came in 1986. He led entering the final round and was obliterated when Jack Nicklaus shocked the world at age 46 to become the oldest Masters winner.
His second runner-up came the following year when Larry Mize chipped in from 140 feet away in a playoff.
In 1988, Norman tied for fifth when Sandy Lyle won the jacket, and in 1989, the year Nick Faldo won the first of two in a row and three overall (more on that in a moment), Norman finished in a tie for third.
And then there was 1996, when Norman, leading by six shots entering the final round, authored one of the most dramatic one-day collapses in all of sports, losing to Faldo by five shots to finish second for a third time.
Before that ’96 Masters, Norman had arrived to Augusta National openly admitting an association with freakish power-of-positive-thinking mind-manipulator Tony Robbins. We laughed, Norman insisted his outlook had changed for the better. then proceeded to fall harder than he ever had.
This year’s theme was his “lack of a sense of urgency” to win the Masters or anything else, because, during a 12-month layoff following shoulder surgery, he discovered “there is more to life than golf.”
Just as it did with the talk of Robbins three years ago, it all seemed like grasping at straws, searching for the answer that would finally bring him the jacket by talking himself into an inner calm.
In the end, though, that didn’t work, either. Though there are few who don’t root openly for him to win a Masters, sadly, Norman’s strategies seem to have finally run out.
