THE MASTERS : Losing a Major Can Mean More Than Winning It

Scott Hoch is trying to put his much-publicized playoff loss in the Masters last year behind him.

Apparently, though, no one will let him forget it.

Curtis Strange, who had a major disappointment in this major tournament in 1985, says that Hoch will live with that haunting defeat his entire career.

Then, there’s Robert Gamez, a tour rookie who has already won twice in the first nine weeks of the season.

He doesn’t seem awed in his first appearance in the Masters, even though writers here are trying to convince him that he should be.

All of this is part of the drama of this year’s tournament, which begins today under clear skies and mild weather at Augusta National.

For every player who wins a major tournament, there is someone who lets the championship slip from his grasp.

Take Hoch.

In the gathering darkness and rain last year, he had only to make a two-foot putt on the first playoff hole, the 10th, to win his first major.

He missed and Britain’s Nick Faldo won the tournament on the 11th with a 25-foot birdie putt.

Writers seized on Hoch’s misfortune, many rhyming Hoch with choke.

“It was very disappointing, more so for the next week because of the derogatory things that were written,” Hoch said. “I can’t see why, because I played as well as I can and almost won and then I got cut down for it.

“You try to put it behind you and go on.”

Hoch won the Las Vegas Invitational in a playoff a few weeks later.

He said that took some of the pressure off him, adding, “If I had lost there, I would have been hounded by the press.”

Hoch is not likely to vindicate himself here, at least this year, because he has tendinitis in his left hand and had to withdraw from the Players Championship a few weeks ago.

Strange can commiserate with Hoch. He had a two-shot lead in 1985 before finding the water at the 13th and 15th holes, eventually losing by two strokes to Bernhard Langer.

Asked if the 1985 Masters was a turning point in his career, since he he has gone on to win consecutive U.S. Open championships, Strange said:

“It wasn’t a turning point, but I learned that when you blow a major championship you feel like hell for a month.”

Strange doubts that Hoch can relegate his Masters loss to the past.

“People will always talk to Scott about what happened--as they do me. I can’t forget about it because it was big part of my life, my first chance to win a major. You feel the pressure, what the last nine holes of a major are like. It will be with him forever.

“I hate to see that happen to anybody, I don’t care who it is, because I can relate to it.”

Then Strange laughed when someone asked him if it was good therapy to talk about his collapse in the 1985 Masters.

“I brought it up because it’s the best example of choking like a dog,” Strange said.

The 21-year-old Gamez hasn’t experienced any such disappointment.

Nor are his knees quaking at the prospect of playing in his first Masters.

Asked if he was nervous, Gamez said: “Not really. It’s just another golf tournament for me on a bigger scale.

“I feel I can win golf tournaments and major tournaments. I want to be known as as one of the better players on the tour, like Strange and (Mark) Calcavecchia. On that same level.”

Gamez was asked if he was acquainted with the lore of the Masters, the feats of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and other legends of the game.

“I couldn’t tell you who won here two years ago,” Gamez said.

Seve Ballesteros, a two-time Masters champion, recalled his impressions of the course in his first appearance here in 1977.

“In the beginning it looked easy,” he said. “After some double bogeys I found out it wasn’t easy.”

“My heart always beats faster on the first tee of the majors,” Strange said, “but I never knew what it would be like until after I won one. That level rises drastically. You want to do it again.

“I started thinking about this tournament a good three weeks ago. There was more focus in practice sessions. Everything in the back of your mind is Augusta National.”

Strange recalled when he played in the Masters for the first time in 1975 as an amateur.

“I was scared to death,” he said. “I was 19 and was paired with Nicklaus. I lived in the Crow’s Nest (a cottage on the course reserved for amateurs). I never left the property. I lived and breathed the Masters. Any amateur who doesn’t stay here is crazy.”

Strange said that winning a major is the only thing that matters, adding, “Second place won’t do you any good.”

Hoch would ruefully agree.