The Masters : Ballesteros and Norman Are the Favorites

It is a measure of their stature in golf that Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman are considered to have failed in the last two Masters.

Didn’t they let it get away, each of them, in each of the last two gatherings of the greats for golf’s annual spring rites?

Doesn’t Ballesteros have a deeper, longer history of frustration on the flowered hills of the Augusta National Golf Club course?

The answer to both questions is yes.

But identical performances by almost any other players would be construed as a bright promise of more positive things to come.

Only their positions as golf’s leading figures change the perception from “what could have been” to “what should have been.”

“They are the two best players in the world today,” Jack Nicklaus said.

And, regardless of their play in other championships over the last 12 months, Ballesteros of Spain and Norman of Australia are almost certain to be installed as the men to beat in the 52nd Masters next weekend.

They’ll be opposed by an international, invitational line-up that is expected to include 76 professionals from 11 countries and 12 amateurs in a tournament that holds a unique position in golf--an almost revered position.

With a shift in golf’s balance of power in recent years, many of the leading figures are found among the 16 foreign pros: Sandy Lyle of Scotland, Ian Woosnam of Wales, British Open champion Nick Faldo of England, Bernhard Langer of West Germany, David Frost of South Africa, Ballesteros and Norman.

But the American presence is not to be overlooked.

There’s Paul Azinger, Payne Stewart, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, PGA champion Larry Nelson, Mark McCumber, Jay Haas, Curtis Strange and Lanny Wadkins.

Then there’s Tom Watson.

And, as always, there’s Nicklaus.

He’s now 48, the only six-time winner of this title. He hasn’t won it in two years. He calls himself a “ceremonial golfer,” plays a limited schedule and is slipping into the role of elder statesman.

There are only two reasons he should be given serious consideration. This is the Masters and he is Jack Nicklaus.

The role of favorite, however, will fall to either Norman or Ballesteros or both.

Norman was second and could have won in each of the last two Masters. Ballesteros has won the green jacket twice in the last eight years and has been in position to win four other times.

They were in a playoff for the Masters title last year. But so was Larry Mize, the hometown boy who leaped high into the air after his 40-yard pitch-in birdie won it.

Norman and Ballesteros went into a decline.

“The toughest loss I’ve had in golf,” Norman said.

It took him almost a full season to recover, until the start of the Australian season in December where he won three consecutive tournaments in one stretch.

“I’m very comfortable with my life, I’m very pleased with my game right now. I’m excited about playing, eager to get on with it,” Norman said.

Ballesteros, too, has had indifferent success in the 12 months since his playoff loss.

“The luck has not been with me like it used to be,” said Ballesteros, who has missed the cut in two of three American starts this year.

The Masters holds a special fascination, however.

“I want to win the Masters very badly. The last three years I had a chance to win all three. Nothing. I want to win this tournament very badly,” he said.

At least two other foreign entrants--Lyle and Woosnam--deserve more than casual attention.

Lyle, a former British Open champion, won in Phoenix, Ariz., earlier this season and was among the more consistent challengers on the American tour until he was caught in the devastating wipe-out of major stars at the cut in the recent Players championship.

Woosnam, who collected eight titles and more than $1.8 million in worldwide winnings last year, also was the victim of the cut at the Players. But he has demonstrated that he possesses the length and determination to handle Augusta’s hills and could be a factor in his first Masters start.

McCumber has been among the more impressive performers on the American tour this season.

The hard-hitting, fast-talking McCumber has had only one round over par this season and scored an impressive four-shot victory against the strongest field of the year in the Players. McCumber, however, favors a left-to-right shot, while conventional wisdom has it that Augusta demands it be played right-to-left.

Azinger’s victory at Bay Hill proved he remains on the same course that won him Player of the Year honors in 1987.

Crenshaw, a former Masters champion, and Kite, so often a contender, both appear to be reaching the top of their games. Crenshaw won earlier this season and Kite has been in contention in his last three starts.

Nelson and Haas have slowed slightly after strong starts on the West Coast, where Steve Pate won two titles.

Watson, twice a Masters winner and three times a runner-up, very well could be a factor again.

Once golf’s leading player, he ended a three-year non-winning string late last year. Armed with renewed confidence, he has been around the lead several times this season and often plays his best in the Masters.

Former champions Langer and Fuzzy Zoeller both are hampered by back problems.

As is traditional, the prize money has not been announced and probably will not be until next weekend.

CBS will provide national television coverage of the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday.