returns of 63 and 69. That’s 24 under par for 90 holes at Augusta. The first four of those rounds, and the last four, would have broken the 72-hole scoringrecord for the Masters of 18 under par by Tiger Woods in 1997 by three, and two, shots respectively. No further proof is required of Norman’s ability to master Augusta National but it was his failure to find the right sequence in any one tournament that left him without a green jacket.
On Friday Norman was one of only seven players to break 70. He birdied the 2nd hole to get to ten under par and then had his first bogey of the tournament at the 3rd. He immediately had another at the short 4th, the first of three successive fours at the opening par-three. He failed to get up and down from the left bunker but it was his last significant mistake. He got back on track by birdieing the 8th and then completed four fours at the par-fives with birdies at the 13th and 15th holes. He finished the round in style by hitting a sand wedge to four feet at the last.
Yet the real drama of the round came at Amen Corner. Norman hit a fine eight-iron to four feet at the 11th but left the ball in the wrong spot, just above the hole. A shot struck marginally softer might have stayed below the hole, or rolled back down past the hole. ‘When you looked at it, all the spike marks were ten feet below the hole and no one was above it, so you know where balls were finishing,’ Norman said. The pin was cut on the front-left of the green, only four yards from the left (where the pond is) and seven yards from the front of the green. The surface slopes down to the front edge.
So Norman was left with a short putt but a devilish one. ‘That was the quickest putt I’ve ever had in my entire life and ever will have for the rest of my golfing days,’ he said. ‘I took the putter back maybe half an inch. There was no tension in my fingers. There was no pressure on my putter grip. The cops would have had a hard time getting a fingerprint. I hit it and it either had to go in or I knew I was going to have a six-footer.’ Six feet for the return putt might be generous, it might have been nearer eightbut he sank the par putt so there was a happy ending. ‘I’d like to go back there now and knock it with my finger, move it a dimple and see what would happen with the ball,’ he added after his round. ‘That’s why we love playing here. I suppose we get situations like that that we’ve never gotten before in our lives.’
Not everyone was loving it and to some the testing pin positions for the second round, combined with a breezy day and greens that continued to be firm and fast, were a reaction to Norman’s course record-equalling 63 the day before. ‘That must have rattled their cages a bit. The pins could be in the traps by the weekend,’ said Masters rookie Mark Roe. The Englishman would not find out since he missed the cut, a premature end to his tournament and his fund-raising efforts on behalf of Rainbow House, for whom he wore a sunflower in his cap. Will Nicholson, the chairman of the Augusta competitions committee, was not going to do anything other than state that the pins were ‘difficult but fair’ and that they had nothing to do with the 63 on Thursday. ‘We get accused of that all the time,’ Nicholson said. ‘There are some more difficult positions but they weren’t in reaction to nine under. Friday’s pin positions had all been decided before the first player teed it up on Thursday.’
Roe might have benefited from the sort of insight into the greens Czech-born Alex Cejka, another making his debut at Augusta, received from Bernhard Langer during their Monday practice round. Cejka, who had won the Volvo Masters at the end of 1995, took it all on board as he safely made the cut and explained: ‘He showed me some crazy chips and putts. He showed me so many it took about eight and a half hours.’ Older hands were not surprised with Friday’s pin positions. ‘They were a
On Friday Norman was one of only seven players to break 70. He birdied the 2nd hole to get to ten under par and then had his first bogey of the tournament at the 3rd. He immediately had another at the short 4th, the first of three successive fours at the opening par-three. He failed to get up and down from the left bunker but it was his last significant mistake. He got back on track by birdieing the 8th and then completed four fours at the par-fives with birdies at the 13th and 15th holes. He finished the round in style by hitting a sand wedge to four feet at the last.
Yet the real drama of the round came at Amen Corner. Norman hit a fine eight-iron to four feet at the 11th but left the ball in the wrong spot, just above the hole. A shot struck marginally softer might have stayed below the hole, or rolled back down past the hole. ‘When you looked at it, all the spike marks were ten feet below the hole and no one was above it, so you know where balls were finishing,’ Norman said. The pin was cut on the front-left of the green, only four yards from the left (where the pond is) and seven yards from the front of the green. The surface slopes down to the front edge.
So Norman was left with a short putt but a devilish one. ‘That was the quickest putt I’ve ever had in my entire life and ever will have for the rest of my golfing days,’ he said. ‘I took the putter back maybe half an inch. There was no tension in my fingers. There was no pressure on my putter grip. The cops would have had a hard time getting a fingerprint. I hit it and it either had to go in or I knew I was going to have a six-footer.’ Six feet for the return putt might be generous, it might have been nearer eightbut he sank the par putt so there was a happy ending. ‘I’d like to go back there now and knock it with my finger, move it a dimple and see what would happen with the ball,’ he added after his round. ‘That’s why we love playing here. I suppose we get situations like that that we’ve never gotten before in our lives.’
Not everyone was loving it and to some the testing pin positions for the second round, combined with a breezy day and greens that continued to be firm and fast, were a reaction to Norman’s course record-equalling 63 the day before. ‘That must have rattled their cages a bit. The pins could be in the traps by the weekend,’ said Masters rookie Mark Roe. The Englishman would not find out since he missed the cut, a premature end to his tournament and his fund-raising efforts on behalf of Rainbow House, for whom he wore a sunflower in his cap. Will Nicholson, the chairman of the Augusta competitions committee, was not going to do anything other than state that the pins were ‘difficult but fair’ and that they had nothing to do with the 63 on Thursday. ‘We get accused of that all the time,’ Nicholson said. ‘There are some more difficult positions but they weren’t in reaction to nine under. Friday’s pin positions had all been decided before the first player teed it up on Thursday.’
Roe might have benefited from the sort of insight into the greens Czech-born Alex Cejka, another making his debut at Augusta, received from Bernhard Langer during their Monday practice round. Cejka, who had won the Volvo Masters at the end of 1995, took it all on board as he safely made the cut and explained: ‘He showed me some crazy chips and putts. He showed me so many it took about eight and a half hours.’ Older hands were not surprised with Friday’s pin positions. ‘They were a
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