No Jacket, No Regrets for Norman

By THOMAS BONK

April 7, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

AUGUSTA, Ga. —

Let’s follow the most recent Masters timeline, the Greg Norman version:

1998: He misses the cut . . . which is one year after . . .

1997: He misses the cut in spite of receiving bundles of help from motivational guru Tony Robbins . . . and it’s one year after . . .

1996: He blows a six-shot lead on the last day and loses to Nick Faldo in the biggest collapse in a major championship.

Like, do you see a trend here?

Now it’s one year after last year and Norman’s most current Masters tragedy. For some reason he’s decided to come back and cover himself with more.

Hasn’t he learned his lesson yet? If this gets any worse, they’re going to rip out the bench in front of Norman’s locker and wheel in a nice chaise lounge, which hopefully will make him feel more comfortable as he confronts his demons, the ones wearing green jackets.

This is the 19th time Norman has shown up at Augusta National to try to win the one major title he wants so badly he probably would trade one of his Ferraris for it.

In fact, it’s the three-year anniversary of Norman’s fateful crash and burn on the last day at the Masters, when he shot a 78, frittered away his six-shot lead and wound up losing to Faldo by five shots. Afterward, Faldo stood on the green and felt so sorry for Norman he actually apologized for winning.

Norman has lived with the events of that Sunday long enough to find peace with his fate. With the Masters starting Thursday, Norman said he’s in a good frame of mind to give it another go . . . and he’s not sorry about one thing that has happened to him here.

That’s what he says anyway.

“If I had a magic wand to wave, what would I change right now? I’d change nothing,” he said. “I know it’s just a matter of time before I’ll get back in the winner’s circle.”

Uh, you mean you wouldn’t change that 78 into a 68 with a little wave of your wand, Greg?

“No, that’s done,” he said.

“Yes, I want to win the Masters, absolutely. But it’s not a priority. There are other priorities that I enjoy doing. I don’t have a sense of urgency anymore.

“My whole career was just being on the first tee and taking the consequences--what happens on the first tee and what comes up after the 18th hole. The intensity is so great, whether you’re No. 1 in the world or whether you’ve lost the Masters . . . it takes everything else out of your life.”

In that case, Norman has plenty of empty rooms in his life that he can start filling up any time now. His last victories were in 1997, his last full year on the PGA Tour. Norman played only three events last year before he had shoulder surgery to clean up some bone spurs, which put him on the sideline until November.

Norman said he used his time off to get more in touch with what that life of his was all about. And he discovered that golf was no longer the main deal. Maybe he believes it and maybe he doesn’t, but it’s clear that Norman is attempting to slide into the frame of mind that it takes to compete in major championships. And of course, he can begin with the big one that got away.

Norman’s record is Hall of Fame material. He has won 18 times on the PGA Tour and 56 others worldwide, including the British Open in 1986 and 1993. All of it has made him famous, not to mention rich. Norman has banked more than $12 million in PGA Tour events alone.

That’s the bright side. There is another way to look at it. He’s 44, coming off shoulder surgery, hasn’t had a top-10 finish in a major in three years and admits that golf is no longer the driving force in his life.

No wonder there are skeptics wondering whether he’s going to contend again.

“When you’re out of competition for awhile . . . whether he has the same burning desire today--probably not,” Mark O’Meara said. “He’s been doing it for a long time, so sooner or later, you [find] you can’t continue at that pace.”

Norman had flu last week and couldn’t even hit a ball until the weekend. But when he started hitting it, he hit it well, Norman said. According to Norman, swing coach David Leadbetter said he has never seen Norman swing as well as he is now.

Norman said he’s happy about that, but he’s irritated because he expects results quicker than they are happening.

Norman played two rounds at the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship and won $50,000, tied for 19th at Doral and missed the cut at the Players Championship. Those are all indications he’s on the right track, Norman said.

“I know I’m playing well enough and I can go out on the first tee and execute. But when it doesn’t happen, you get a little more frustrated and wonder what’s going on.”

Meanwhile, what’s going on for Norman this week at the Masters is a can’t-miss chapter in his personal Augusta chronicle. It’s usually something dramatic.

Will it be triumph or tragedy or will it be something in between?

Will the Masters finally become a Norman conquest?

Norman isn’t quite sure.

“We’re going into unknown territory,” he said.

MASTERS

WHERE: Augusta (Ga.) National (Par 72, ,6925 yards)

WHEN: Thursday-Sunday

TV: USA Thursday-Friday, Channel 2, Saturday-Sunday

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tracking the Shark

A look at how Greg Norman has fared in the Masters:

1981: Fourth