63 : Norman Masters the Course With Record-Tying First Round

He looked like a pirate, with his blond hair flowing, his black hat shoved down on his head and the sun gleaming off his silver irons that easily could have been broadswords.

There was Greg Norman swaggering through Augusta National on opening day at the Masters, cutting the place down to size and sailing off with the first-round lead.

Norman pounded the place with a nine-under-par 63 Thursday to tie the course record, took a two-shot lead over Phil Mickelson and said it was all due to feeling about as relaxed as a tap-in birdie putt.

Actually, Norman didn’t have many of those. What he did have was a lot of curving, twisting birdie putts anywhere from nine to 18 feet in length.

All of them ended the same way, though, with the ball disappearing faster than a roll of bills at the merchandise tent.

Norman birdied the last two holes, six of the last seven and nine of the last 12 in the most dominating round at storied Augusta National since Nick Price torched it for a 63 in 1986.

Afterward, Norman said there was an easy explanation.

“I just let it flow,” he said.

“When you get into the type of roll that I got today . . . hey, let it happen. Let the reins of the horse go and let him run as fast as he wants to run.”

And so the Masters began as a horse race. Mickelson finished before Norman and put up a seven-under 65, then contemplated the result before waiting to see if anyone could match it.

“It was just a fortunate round,” Mickelson said.

There were a few of those. Scott Hoch and Bob Tway posted 67s, and they are four shots from the lead. Lee Janzen was next after shooting a 68 on a pleasant day at Augusta National, which turned out to be a gracious host.

There were 41 players in the field of 92 who shot par or better, with 10 rounds in the 60s.

David Gilford, Brad Faxon, Nick Faldo, Scott Simpson and Vijay Singh were at 69, one shot ahead of a group of seven at 70 that included Jack Nicklaus.

But Norman’s round was especially noteworthy.

It was the 18th round of 63 in a major championship, but only the fourth time anyone had done it in a major on a par-72 golf course.

The others were Paul Broadhurst in the 1990 British Open at St. Andrews, Price at the 1986 Masters and Gary Player in the 1984 PGA Championship at Shoal Creek.

Norman has shot 63 in a major once before and won that one--the 1986 British Open at Turnberry.

That’s a pretty good omen, isn’t it? Norman said this sunny Thursday belongs in a special place.

“I put it right up there with one of my great rounds I’ve played,” he said.

It began, innocently enough, when he knocked a sand wedge to nine feet on No. 7 and made the putt. After that, Norman stood taller than the pines that guard the fairways and greens.

He made a nine-footer for birdie at No. 8 and a 10-footer for birdie at No. 9.

Suddenly, at three under, Norman figured he would see how low he could go.

“I knew the way I was playing, being three under at the turn, that I might be able to get it at five, maybe six on the back nine.”

He got it to much more. He birdied four holes in a row, No. 12 to No. 15, a stretch that included a creative birdie at the par-four 14th. That’s where Norman, after hitting a three-wood shot off a tree, ripped a four-iron from 220 yards to within three feet.

“Tee shot set it up,” Norman joked.

Then Norman closed with back-to-back birdies, the last one a 24-footer on No. 18 when he was distracted by a hot-air balloon taking off in the distance.

“It was weird,” Norman said. “This huge balloon was taking off right on my line. I just focused on the back of the ball. I just made it and walked away.”

There’s nothing like shooting 30 on the back nine, all right.

That’s the kind of day it was for Norman. Mickelson’s production might not have been as flashy, but it was the study in patience and experience that many Mickelson-watchers have been waiting for in his search for a major title.

Mickelson is using a new titanium-headed driver, but it was his uncanny accuracy with his irons that got him close enough for six birdies on the back.

He also had 30 on the back nine, but not one of his six birdie putts was longer than eight feet. Mickelson’s two-footer for birdie finished off a round that will only raise expectations for a major title.

“I think it’s just a matter of experience and working on my game and improving,” he said. “I don’t want to get too into it. It’s only one round.

“I don’t think about it too much, to be honest. I look at accomplishing those expectations as a long-term plan, not necessarily a short-term plan.”

In the short term, there are three rounds left, which is plenty of time for someone to stick an anchor in Norman’s bag and catch him in the race.

But it should be noted that it was Norman’s first opening round in the 60s at the Masters since 1981.

That’s an omen, isn’t it?

“You obviously know you’re not going to shoot four 63s,” Norman said.

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Masters First Round Scorecard

Course total

Yards: 3,440

Par: 36-72

Norman: 30-63