The Masters : Faldo Has Putt to Short Circuit Hoch in Playoff

By BOB GREEN

April 10, 1989 12 AM PT

<i> Associated Press</i>

AUGUSTA, Ga. —

Nick Faldo’s 25-foot putt for the 1989 Masters title may fade from people’s memories. Scott Hoch’s two-foot miss for the title on the previous playoff hole will never be forgotten.

“Between my brain and my hand, the message got crisscrossed,” he said.

And the crisscross cost him the green jacket.

In the gathering gloom of early evening at Augusta National, Faldo raised his arms in triumph. But without two blown short putts by Hoch, Faldo would never have won it.

First, on the 17th hole of regulation, Hoch missed a three-foot par putt after he had made a great recovery shot to the green. That dropped him into a tie for first and, eventually, led to the playoff.

Then, on the first playoff hole, he had a memorable miss, one at least Hoch won’t soon forget.

With daylight running out, Hoch was a two-foot par putt away from winning. He stalked it from every possible vantage point.

“I didn’t want to miss an angle,” he said. “I wasn’t nervous, not at all. I felt this must be my time.”

But he pulled the putt. The ball lipped out.

“I’m proud of myself. I have nothing to be ashamed of. I played well this week,” said Hoch, winner of three PGA Tour titles in an 11-year career.

The shot matched Faldo’s earlier bogey and they went to the next playoff hole, where Faldo rolled in the long one.

Both drove the fairway in the drizzling rain. Faldo went for the pin, ignoring the pond on the left of the 11th green. He got it about 25 feet below the hole.

Hoch put his approach to the right, with the ball skipping off the sodden putting surface and running down an embankment.

He chipped up to about six feet and had that left for par when Faldo ran in the birdie that won the first of the year’s four major tests of golfing greatness.

Faldo, a former British Open champion and eight times a runner-up last year, lifted both arms high and howled in triumph after making the winning putt.

“It means the world to me. Words don’t describe this,” Faldo said. “I’ve seen other guys do this. Jack Nicklaus does this. I’ve sat and watched stuff like this on TV. And then to have it happen, it’s a dream. You dream to have it happen and when it does, right before your eyes--ecstasy.”

Faldo, playing about an hour in front of the other contenders, put together a spectacular 65 in difficult conditions, completed regulation play in 283 and then sat back and watched while five others gave it a shot down the stretch.

There was Seve Ballesteros of Spain, the 1988 Masters champion, who had a share of the top at one time or another. But he got a 6-iron shot in the water on the 16th and ceased to be a factor.

There was Mike Reid, the soft-spoken player called “Radar.” He had the lead alone but three-putted the 14th, hit into the water and 15 and he was out of it.

There was Greg Norman, the Australian who has played so well here so often.

And there was Ben Crenshaw, “Gentle Ben,” trying to gain a second green jacket.

All made their bids.

All came up short.

Only Hoch, with a closing 69, could match Faldo’s 5-under-par total for 72 holes over the rain-slick hills of Augusta.

Both chopped up the first playoff hole, the 10th. Faldo drove the fairway but had an awkward stance and put his approach in a greenside bunker.

Hoch got on the green but was some 30 feet away. Faldo’s shot from the soggy sand left him a 20-footer for par.

Hoch ran his birdie putt about two feet beyond the cup. Faldo’s putt for par went some three feet beyond, and he dropped that one for bogey.

Hoch, who has a history of trouble with short putts, needed only his two-footer to win. Just 24 inches. But he blew it.

As it lipped out, he spun around in disbelief at still another major that had eluded him.

Hoch had a six-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to win the 1987 PGA championship, but three-putted for bogey and missed the playoff eventually won by Larry Nelson.

Crenshaw and Norman each missed this playoff by a single stroke; by the margin of a bogey on the 72nd hole.

Each made a gallant move to gain a share of the lead, only to let it slip away.

Norman, the Masters runnerup in 1986 and ‘87, birdied four of five holes beginning on the 13th and had a share of the lead when he went to the 18th.

But he left his approach short of the green, chipped short and failed on a 12-foot par putt, finishing with a 67 and a 284 total.

Crenshaw, the leader through three rounds, let the advantage slip away from him but gathered himself in a last-gasp challenge.

Two strokes back on the 16th tee, the 1984 Masters champion hit a shot some three feet from the cup and birdied. He got a share of the lead with a slow-moving, downhill, 25-foot putt that made its last turn into the cup on the 17th.

But on the 18th, he got his approach into the wet sand of a bunker on the left and failed to get it up and down. He finished with a 71.

“We’d run out of towels,” Crenshaw said. “I couldn’t get my hands dry and my glove-hand slipped on that second shot on 18. I had as good a chance as anybody. A very good chance. It hurts. It will take a while to get over it.”

Ballesteros was another shot back at 285 after a 69 that included a meaningless birdie on the final hole, which Ballesteros gave a disdainful wave as if to say: “Now that it’s too late, now you go in.”

His actual comments were directed at the gallery, which he complained was moving and noisy as he played the 15th hole.

“It was very unfair,” he said.

Reid followed with a 72 for a 286 total.

Jodie Mudd shot a 66 that made him the only other man able to break par for 72 holes. He was one under at 287.

Lee Trevino, 49, who led or shared the lead through the first two rounds, struggled to an 81 in the delayed finish of the third round Sunday morning.

THE TOP 23

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