The Masters : As Hoch Misses in Clutch, Faldo Has Final Touch

By MAL FLORENCE

April 10, 1989 12 AM PT

<i> Times Staff Writer </i>

AUGUSTA, Ga. —

Nick Faldo was two feet from losing the Masters tournament Sunday in the gathering darkness and rain of the Augusta National course.

The British player had just bogeyed the first playoff hole, and his opponent, Scott Hoch, was surveying a two-foot par putt.

Hoch hesitated. After all, He was wasn’t trying to win the Quad Cities Open, which accounted for two of his three victories in nine years on the PGA Tour.

Then, he missed the putt--and missed badly, the ball going four feet past the cup. He made the comeback putt and he and Faldo were on their way to the 11th hole.

Hoch lost the Masters at the 10th and Faldo won it at the 11th, making a 25-foot birdie putt to earn the right to wear the coveted green jacket.

It was a tournament in which the rain-suspended third round was completed Sunday morning. Then, in the final 18 holes in the afternoon, Hoch, Faldo, Ben Crenshaw, Greg Norman, Mike Reid and Seve Ballesteros all charged into contention during the day.

In the end, though, Faldo prevailed. He played an emotionally exhausting 26 holes Sunday, six to complete the third round, 18 for the final round and then the two playoff holes.

Asked what went through his mind when Hoch missed the two-foot putt on the 10th hole, Faldo said:

“I just stood there and watched. He opened the door for me. Now we go down to the 11th.”

Hoch said he wasn’t nervous when he stood over his two-foot putt at the 10th.

“I had been making them all week,” he said. “I pulled it and forgot to line it up.”

Later, Hoch amended his earlier assessment of the putt, saying: “I had an idea of how to putt it, but the brain works didn’t get the message. They were crisscrossed.”

Then, on the par four, 455-yard 11th hole with water bordering the green, both players hit safe drives.

Faldo then hit what he said was a solid three iron to the green. Hoch’s approach shot was off the green. He said he had visions of Larry Mize’s chip shot going in on the same hole for an improbable playoff victory in 1987. However, his chip shot landed about six to eight feet from the hole.

However, he never got an opportunity to putt as Faldo,, who had a seven-under par 65 for the regulation 18 holes, stroked in his birdie putt and held up his arms in elation.

hFaldo, 31, has performed well in the major tournaments. He won the British Open in 1987, lost the U.S. Open in a playoff to Curtis Strange last year and also tied for fourth in the PGA Championship.

Asked what winning the Masters, one of the four majors, meant to him, Faldo said:

“It means the world to me. I’ve seen Jack Nicklaus shoot a 65, tie and then win the playoff. I sit and watch TV and I think it’s unbelievable. For you to do it yourself is a tough feeling to handle.

“You’re standing over a putt and the world is watching you. It’s ecstasy. It was a dream and, when it does happen, you can’t believe it.”

His victory with a 72-hole total of 283 was worth $200,000. Hoch got $120,000 for second place.

Faldo said he was despondent after the morning completion of the third round. He was even par through 12 holes when rain suspended play Saturday.

“I wanted to finish the morning round two under, but I went two over,” he said. “I picked another putter out of my locker and practiced for 45 minutes. Then, I went back to my room before the final round.”

Crenshaw, who had a four stroke lead over the field when play was suspended Saturday, didn’t build on his lead as he planned.

He had only a one-stroke lead at 213 with Hoch and Reid right behind him at 214 through 54 holes. Ballesteros had also rallied in the morning with three birdies in the last five holes of the round.

Ballesteros was still playing well through the first nine holes of the afternoon round with five more birdies.

Reid and Hoch were also playing steadily and they were tied with Ballesteros at five under par for the tournament through nine holes.

Then, Ballesteros bogeyed the 10th hole to fall out of a share of the lead, which he never regained.

When Reid chipped in from off the green on the 12th hole, he went to six under par and the lead. He held it only one more hole before getting a bogey at 14 and a double bogey at 15.

Hoch then went six under for the lead with a two-foot birdie putt at the 15th hole. Then, on the 17th hole he made an excellent chip shot that went just three feet past the pin. However, he missed the comeback putt for a bogey.

“That chip shot on 17 was one of the best shots I’ve ever seen,” Crenshaw said.

In retrospect, Hoch might have lost the tournament at this juncture instead of waiting to lose it in the first playoff hole.

Norman and Faldo, playing ahead of Reid, Hoch, Crenshaw and Ballesteros were also making their moves.

Faldo birdied four of the last six holes on the back nine and came in with his round of 65, five-under par for the tournament.

Norman was also charging with birdies at 13, 15, 16 and 17, making a 40-foot birdie putt on 16. He then went to five under par but missed the playoff by bogeying the 18th hole.

Crenshaw, playing with Hoch, seemingly was out of contention. However, he birdied the 16th and 17th holes to go five under par and was headed for a playoff--if he could par the 18th hole.

However, Crenshaw’s second shot found the bunker. He came out of it with the ball going 10 to 12 feet past the pin. Regarded as one of the game’s best putters, Crenshaw didn’t come close on his par putt, going three feet past the cup.

So, instead of a three-way playoff, it was only two, Faldo and Hoch. Crenshaw, who won the Masters in 1984, settled for third-place tie with Norman and a check for $64,450.

Faldo finished his round at 3:14 p.m. PDT. He did not start the playoff for an hour. He said that after Crenshaw birdied the 17th hole, he went to the practice range.

In changing putters he made the right choice. In addition to his winning, 25-foot shot on the second playoff hole, the 10th playoff in Masters history, he had one birdie putt on the first hole that he estimated at 17 yards. Others included putts of 15 feet twice, 20 and 30 feet.

He received the green jacket from Sandy Lyle, another British player, who won the Masters in spectacular fashion last year with a birdie on the 18th hole.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Faldo is an experienced international player who has won 18 tournaments worldwide but only one on the PGA Tour, the 1984 Sea Pines Heritage Classic.

And although he had performed commendably in other majors, his best finish in five previous Masters was a tie for 15th in 1984.

He won it. No doubt. But Hoch will have lingering thoughts about the first playoff hole.

“I had a chance for immortality by winning a major,” he said.

Golf Notes

Nick Faldo had quite a swing between the completion of his morning round and the afternoon round, a 77 to a 65. . . . He had also bogeyed the 11th hole, four times before finally birdieing it as a playoff hole. . . . Seve Ballesteros shot a 31 on the front nine on his 32nd birthday. . . . Ballesteros did not want to make an issue of it but he said that the crowd yelled--when the leader board showed that Greg Norman made a birdie on another hole--when Ballesteros was over a putt on the 16th hole. He got a double bogey. . . . Jodie Mudd had the low round of the day with a 66. . . . Fred Couples had six birdies on the front nine for a 31, but wound up at 67 and a tie for 11th place. . . . Despite the inclement weather, 15 players shot rounds better than 70 Sunday.

THE TOP 10

x-Nick Faldo 68-73-77-65--283

Scott Hoch 69-74-71-69--283

Greg Norman 74-75-68-67--284

Ben Crenshaw 71-72-70-71--284

Seve Ballesteros 71-72-73-69--285

Mike Reid 72-71-71-72--286

Jodie Mudd 73-76-72-66--287

Jeff Sluman 74-72-74-68--288

Jose-Marie Olzbl 77-73-70-68--288

Chip Beck 74-76-70-68--288

x-won playoff.