AUGUSTA, Ga. — Greg Norman will be back in circulation at the Masters this weekend. His last appearance at Augusta National was two years ago, when he bought a ticket and made the scene as a patron, cheering on his LIV Golf players. He was the CEO of the rogue golf league then. Patrick Reed was one of his star golfers. Rory McIlroy was a nemesis. For a while there, dissing Norman and LIV Golf was like a hobby for McIlroy. Norman returned volley as required.
Norman’s return to the Masters this weekend will be in spirit, not in body. At the 1996 Masters, through 54 holes, Norman had a six-shot lead. On Sunday, in the final round, he played with Nick Faldo, his closest pursuer. Norman struggled mightily through the so-called Clubhouse Turn, making bogeys on 9 and 10 and 11. The last three holes felt more like a winter funeral than a springtime golf tournament. The Englishman shot 67. He won not by 1 or 2 or 3 or 4. He won by FIVE. Norman shot 78. An 11-shot swing.
And now McIlroy, the defending champion, has a six-shot lead over his two closest pursuers. One is Reed, the 2018 Masters winner and now former LIV golfer, in the process of rejoining the PGA Tour. The other is Sam Burns, looking to win his first major title.
There’s a theory, and it’s a legitimate one, that says it’s easier to win a second green jacket than a first, because if you have one you’re already in the Tuesday Night Supper Club forever. You have your golfing immortality all sewn up. Now you’re piling on, and you’re swinging freely. If you played out that bit of string theory to its end, you’d be looking only at Reed and McIroy, the only two former Masters winners who are under par. Reed, at six under, and Justin Rose, last year’s runner-up and now at five under, are off at 2:40 p.m. on Saturday. McIlroy, 12 under through two rounds, goes off with Burns, six under, at 2:50 p.m.
Everyone is asking the same questions: Can Rory McIlroy do anything other than win this Masters? And is a six-shot lead bulletproof?
Six, not nine. In 1997, the year after the Norman-Faldo finale, Tiger Woods had a nine-shot lead through 54 holes. Six, not four, which was McIlroy’s lead through 54 holes in 2011.
“There is no chance humanly possible that Tiger is just going to lose this tournament,” Colin Montgomerie said Saturday night in 1997. He compared the event to the previous one, the famous/infamous 1996 Masters. “This is different — this is very different. Faldo is not lying second for a start. And Greg Norman is not Tiger Woods.”
Unless we’re talking about Woods and a nine-shot lead, the question in these situations is not whether a six-shot lead is safe, because we know from history that a six-shot lead is not close to safe. Faldo did what he did over 18 holes. Reed and Co. have 36 to chip away. The real questions are what will be the winning score and who can get there? If 12 under is the winning score, Reed of course can get there. (So can Burns.) Two rounds of 69 will do it. If McIlroy goes flat — it’s not likely but golf is a funny game — and shoots even par today and goes out in 36 on Sunday, the tourney will be wide open.
Again, not likely. But possible.
Greg Norman has been paying attention. In a text exchange, he was asked (in a manner of speaking) about what he had learned from his 1996 experience. Along the way, he was offering insight into this 90th Masters and where McIlroy is now.
“In any circumstance, all you can do is run through the finish line, no matter where one stands,” Norman said. “An impressive lead after 36 holes. Good for him.”
They both know how hard it is. How glorious, too.