The Worst Collapse? Greg Norman’s 1996 Masters

On April fourteenth, nineteen ninety six, Greg Norman heads into the final round of the Masters with a six shot lead, only to watch it vanish in a stunning display of mental and physical unraveling. He is so close to victory for the first time at the Masters to let it slip through his fingers again. Today, we're going to dive into Greg norman nineteen ninety six Master's collapse and answer, wasn't the worst collapse in golf history? Today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guy. As you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. As today we're going to find out was the nineteen ninety six Greg Norman collapse the worst in golf history? So let's find out how we got to the nineteen ninety six Masters in the ground behind the golfers who came out on top in the nineteen ninety six Masters. First, let's dive into Greg Norman. He was born in Australia and he excelled in rugby and cricket, two great pastimes in Australia, but he discovered the game of golf at the age of fifteen while caddying for his mom and fell in love. Eventually turned pro in nineteen seventy six, became a global sensation on the European tour and won his first tournament in nineteen seventy seven, and he would earn the nickname the Shark due to his aggressive playing style coupled with his Australian roots, and by the nineteen eighties he became a top fixture of the leaderboard on the PGA Tour and spent three hundred and thirty one weeks as the number one golfer in the world and still his second all time for the most weeks at number one. He would win two Open Championships in nineteen eighty six and nineteen ninety three, and he was known for being aggressive and had a lot of near misses in the majors, and in nineteen eighty six he had leads in all four mess after three rounds, only to win one. In nineteen ninety five, he finished third at Augusta and he wanted that elusive green jacket and came out swinging for the nineteen eighty six Master Tournament and his buddy would become his undoing in nineteen ninety six. Nick Faldo was born in London and was inspired by Jack Nicholas winning the Masters in nineteen seventy one, and he turned pro the same year as Greg Norman did in nineteen seventy six and excelled as an amateur golfer, and during the nineteen eighties he became known as one of the most consistent and methodical players, and he would go on to win six Majors during his career, winning three Masters starting in nineteen eighty nine and three US Opens starting in nineteen eighty seven, and he was known to handle pressure extremely well, winning his eighty nine and nineties Masters by coming from behind by over four strokes, but in nineteen ninety six he had not won a major in four years, so the first round started on a prol eleventh, nineteen ninety six, and Greg Norman came out strong, having an historic start, shooting in sixty three, becoming only the second player in Masters history to achieve the score, matching Nick Price who did so in nineteen eighty six, and he finished nine under par, two strokes ahead of Phil Mickelson, who shot a sixty five, which was the lowest score ever recorded by a left hander, and in the second round, Norman extended his lead, shooting a sixty nine three under, giving him a total of twelve under for the tournament so far. And this is when Nick Faude comes into the picture and he comes in finishing the second round with an eight under, just four shots behind Greg Norman, as Phil Micklson faltered shooting a plus one and fell off the leaderboard. Coming into round three, Norman again slowed down but still shooting consistently, shot at seventy one one under, bringing his total to thirteen under heading into the final round, still maintaining his lead as Nilphaldo shot a plus one for the third round, having him at seven under, six shots behind Greg Norman. So we head into the final round on Sunday, April fourteenth, Greg has a six shot lead. Everyone thinks he is a shoein. To come back down from six shots, one player usually has played really bad and one player usued to have played really good to really have that chance, And unfortunately that's how Fate's ligne. Norman just needed to shoot an okay round. Despite how much Norman struggled in the past, everyone still thought it was impossible for him to lose. But on the first hole, Greg bogied the first one, while Faldo made par. In anything Norman would do that was good and positive, like burning the second hole, Nick would do two. Then on hold nine, with ninety eight yards to the pin, Norman took out his wedge and came up short and he just six feet below the hole on a sloped green, caused his ball roll farther away and led him to a bogie. Faldo was able to get a par, shrinking the lead to only four strokes heading into the back nine. Still a great lead heading in with only nine holes left, but on hole number twelve, a par three, Norman started to unravel. His tee shot landed in the creek and where he resulted in a double bogie, while Faldo continued to be consistent and made par, and after hole twelve, Faldo took control. Now this doesn't mean that Norman just laid back and let it happen. He fought back and matched Faldo hole for hole on thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. After hoole sixteen, he dug himself even further in a hole hole seventeen, he bogied again as Faldo powered and on whole eighteen Norman missed another par putt, finalizing his round at a seventy eight plus six for the tournament, as Faldo sank a birdie as the final one rolled in, giving him five under for the round and winning his third Master title with a five shot victory. Five shots he won by he was down by six. He made up eleven shots in one round. Now you can say their playing style really led to this. Norman was known for going one hundred pedal on the metal no matter what. He could not just play a even keel round, go part of the entire round. If he would have shot par the entire round, he would have won. But he always had to go that little extra. That's his mentality and that's what made him a great golfer. But sometimes that comes to bite you in the butt. It can make you great, but it can have consequences. And Faljo was just the exact opposite. Even keel would shoot par and Bernie would not go for the tough shot, would go for the safe shots and methodically worked his way up. And after this Norman admitted, admitted he lost the tournament, but he's not a loser. And Nick Faldo embraced Norman after he beat him on the eighteenth hole, whispering the words to him, don't let the media get you down, because it was going to happen. He would become a laughing stock. And this was the largest blown lead in Master's history six strokes heading into the final round, a record that remains unbroken to this day, and it's partly because Nick Faldo shaw a fantastic final round. Following this, Norman continued to struggle and he only won one more PGA event, the nineteen ninety seven World Series of Golf, before injuries and age took their toll on him, having surgery him to eventually retire, never winning that elusive green jacket. While Faldo would continue to have success, he wouldn't win another major as age caught up to him would eventually retire as well, with this being probably the highest moment of his career, and it wasn't until twenty thirteen when Adam Scott, a fellow Australian, won a Master's coming to the first Australian to do so, and said Greg Norman was the inspiration for his victory. That it just shows you that even in loss, you can also be a role model for somebody and a guiding light. Now, was this the worst collapse in golf history, you could say, so it's definitely on the list. There's also the twenty sixteen Masters were Jordan Spye led by five strokes after nine holes and were quadruple bogey the twelfth hole, eventually losing by three strokes. Another master's loss was Roy McElroy, who had a four stroke lead heading into the final round and would shoot it in eighty including a triple bogie and dougabul bogie on consecutive holes. And arguably you could say gene Valdee may have been the worst at the nineteen ninety nine Open Championships, where he had a three stroke lead heading into the final hole, where he tripled bogie and lost in a playoff. Tard to judge these two losses, I would say Genes may have been worse than Greg's because he had just one hole to win it and he lost, where Greg had the entire round to win and lost. I would say Greg's is the worst in the Master's history for sure, but Jeans nineteen ninety nine Open was probably the worst mentally because all you had was just one more whole. I want to thank you for listening to today's Daily Sports History. If you like this, please follow us on our socials. We're on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Blue sky Masdon, wherever you like to socialize, we're there. Links are in the description and come back tomorrow for more daily sports history