{"id":563513,"date":"2026-04-04T05:15:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/563513\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T05:15:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:15:23","slug":"greg-norman-and-grace-in-defeat-at-the-1996-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/563513\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Norman and Grace in Defeat at the 1996 Masters"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a different timeline, Greg Norman would be arriving in Augusta next week and slipping on a green jacket to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his greatest triumph, the moment when he won the 1996 Masters. <\/p>\n

We do not live in that timeline, of course. We live in a world where Norman woke up on that Sunday morning with a six-shot lead thirty years ago and proceeded to slowly collapse over the course of five hours, like a balloon gradually losing air before plummeting to the ground. If you are a golf fan of a certain age, you remember it well, or at least you remember the picture of the Shark collapsing to his knees in anguish on the 15th hole when he just missed an eagle chip, effectively ending his chances. <\/p>\n

I can\u2019t say that I find Norman to be an honorable man, but in this instance, I come to praise him, not to bury him. It\u2019s likely that there won\u2019t be much of a fuss kicked up about the 1996 Masters next week, and if there is, it will be to honor Nick Faldo and the 67 he shot that day to win his third green jacket. But it\u2019s worth pausing for a moment to acknowledge something Norman did that day, something that set an example for a generation of men that followed. <\/p>\n

He lost with grace and dignity. <\/p>\n

Every year, someone leaves the Masters feeling empty and broken. It\u2019s a tournament that haunts far more golfers than it rewards. And you can make a case that it haunted Greg Norman more than any man. It\u2019s not hyperbole to say that with a little better luck, Norman could have won three, maybe even four green jackets. He had real chances in 1986, 1987, 1989, 1995, 1996, and 1999. Every time, he came up empty. None of them hurt worse than 1996, when an even-par final round would have been good enough, and instead he shot 78. <\/p>\n

Despite all that torment, Norman walked into the interview room with a smile on his face and greeted the press \u2014 and by proxy, the world \u2014 with humor and charm. <\/p>\n

“I played like shit today,\u201d Norman said, laughing as he did it. \u201cI don’t know, that’s probably the best way of putting it. It was all my mistakes today. I really didn’t do the right things. And Nick played very good, I must admit that. I just got a good old ass whipping.”<\/p>\n

Years later, when he was a guest on the Graham Bensinger Show<\/a>, Norman explained his reasoning. <\/p>\n

\u201cI could have not gone in that press conference and walked away in the locker room and said forget everybody, I\u2019m going to go home and cry,\u201d Norman said. \u201cBut no. I\u2019ve got to take it on the chin. That\u2019s the responsibility that you put yourself in if you want to be in the arena. If you want to go out there, you\u2019ve got to accept the accolades just as much as you accept the punch in the stomach that you self-inflict. You\u2019ve got to step up and be man enough to do it. And if you don\u2019t, shame on you.\u201d <\/p>\n

I have criticized plenty of Norman’s motivations and decisions in recent years. But that doesn\u2019t detract from the admiration I have, even to this day, for how he handled the pain of his various Masters defeats. When Larry Mize chipped in on the 11th hole to stun him in a playoff, he walked directly toward Mize to shake his hand right after his own birdie try ran by the hole. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople could see I put the game and its values first,\u201d Norman told Golf.com<\/a> years later. \u201cFor every golfer, that is our ultimate responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

You might think it\u2019s corny to praise this stuff, but I don\u2019t care. It resonates with me. Someone will win the Masters next week. And someone else will walk away bitterly disappointed. How they choose to act in both instances can resonate for years to come.<\/p>\n

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