Augusta Has a Field Day

By MIKE PENNER

April 11, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

AUGUSTA, Ga. —

The gods of golf must be crazy to have signed off on this unthinkable scenario for today’s fourth round of the Masters: Greg Norman, teeing off in the final group, one tantalizing stroke off the lead, 18 holes away from the title.

Either that or they have a sense of humor so sick and twisted, they ought to change the name of the course from Augusta National to South Park. What next? Whoopie cushions on the bleachers at Amen Corner? Green jackets with tear-away sleeves? Another CNN interview with Fuzzy Zoeller?

Norman has been set up for either the cruelest of unfunny jokes or the cosmic payback of the decade, presented with a chance to win the Masters championship that was pulled out from under his feet like a trick rug in 1996. You remember that one, because who can possibly forget? Norman, up by six strokes entering the fourth round, endured the kind of day that drives weekend hackers to dump their clubs in the lake and wound up five strokes behind winner Nick Faldo.

Jose Maria Olazabal, the 1994 Masters champion who emerged from Saturday’s third round with a one-stroke lead over Norman at seven-under-par 209, remembers watching Norman on that unkind April afternoon three years ago. Olazabal was watching on television from his home in Fuenterrabia, Spain, because at the time, he was experiencing foot pain so severe he was unable to walk.

That moment, for Norman and Olazabal, was something out of Dickens: The worst of times, and the worst of times. Olazabal was in sorry shape, possibly in danger of never playing golf again, but there was Norman on the TV screen, melting down like a dime-store candle in front of a global audience.

Olazabal realized then and there: Things could be worse.

“I didn’t like what I saw,” Olazabal said. “I don’t want to see anybody, you know, going through an experience like Greg had. Obviously, that allowed Nick to win the Masters, which was a positive thing for a European, but I don’t want anybody to go through a situation like that.

“I felt sorry for Greg. It was sad to see.”

Today, Olazabal will be closer to the action when Norman resumes his Ahab-like pursuit. The two players, who have become good friends out of shared empathy for their distressing plights of ‘96, will play in the last group today, starting the final leg of the chase in front of a congested field of still-with-a-chance challengers.

Only four strokes separate the top 12 players after three rounds. At seven under, Olazabal is one stroke ahead of Norman, two ahead of Steve Pate and Davis Love III and three ahead of a quartet gridlocked at four-under 212--Ernie Els, Lee Janzen, Bob Estes and Carlos Franco.

Four strokes back at 213 are Steve Elkington, Colin Montgomerie, Nick Price and Scott McCarron, who was one off Olazabal’s lead beginning play.

During a third round that had the leaders angling for position by backpedaling and retrenching, Olazabal missed nine putts of 12 feet or less, shot a one-over 73--and held a two-stroke lead until Norman birdied the 18th hole.

So gun-shy was the pack that Pate, 10 strokes back at the start of the day, made up eight strokes in 18 holes with the best round of the tournament--a seven-under-par 65. Pate’s round was highlighted by seven consecutive birdies from holes seven through 13, a Masters record.

Even Tiger Woods, finally returning to under-par golf at the Masters with a round of 70, has an outside chance at two under, five strokes back.

“There’s a big group of guys that can win,” Love said. “If I was five shots back, I’d say, ‘Yes, I have a chance.’ . . . We didn’t think Steve Pate would go from two over to five under. So there’s always that chance.”

Norman juggled his chance, and darn near bobbled it away entirely, with bogeys on the 12th and 13th holes.

On the par-three, 155-yard 12th, Norman sailed his tee shot long--20 yards past the pin and into the shrubbery beyond the green. Given the standard five minutes to find the ball, Norman could not locate it--even with a sporting assist from playing partner Janzen--and was forced to take a one-stroke penalty and tee off again.

At that point, the ghoulish specter of ’96 wafted over the hole. Another Masters charge by Norman seemed on the verge of implosion. Norman sensed it, and the gallery sensed it, cheering loudly for Norman as he trudged back for a second try at his tee shot.

“Walking back to the 12th tee, I could actually feel the emotion coming out of them,” Norman said. “It seemed like there wasn’t one individual there that didn’t want me to hit that green. . . . People wanted me to make a four and not a six or an eight and take myself out of the tournament.”

Norman may well have saved his tournament by turning that potential catastrophe into an eventual bogey with a long putt. After bogeying the par-five 13th as well, Norman righted his listing ship with a birdie on No. 15 and another on No. 18--the latter set up by a close-to-perfect approach shot from out of the rough.

How close to perfect?

“I was 151 yards out and I tried to land it at 137,” Norman said. “I landed at 137 1/2, maybe.”

Norman then putted in for birdie to earn his place alongside Olazabal in today’s final group, for better or--you know Norman--worse.

Norman will at least have the support of the gallery, which has made Norman something of a sentimental favorite. “Is it because of ‘96, or because I’m old?” Norman muses.

Actually, it is both of those, and one more.

The gods of golf can be a sadistic lot. As Norman girds for his latest moment of truth, the Augusta crowds certainly don’t want him going in there alone.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

LEADERS

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL

70-66-73--209 -7

GREG NORMAN

71-68-71--210 -6

DAVIS LOVE III

69-72-70--211 -5

STEVE PATE

71-75-65--211 -5

4 tied at 212 (-4)

OTHERS