If we think back to the 1980s and 1990s in golf and the big characters at the time, few were much larger than life than Greg Norman.
While Norman’s influence is still felt in the modern game thanks to his presence on the LIV Golf scene, it was as a player where the Australian is best remembered by most golf purists.
A two-time major winner having won The Open multiple times, there’s a strong argument to say Norman didn’t quite get as much out of his major career as he should.#
And in reality, that is probably true.
Norman became synonymous with near-misses and when it came to Augusta National and trying to win The Masters, it didn’t come much more gut-wrenching.
When Greg Norman finished second two years running at The Masters
Look, it’s some achievement to get a top two finish on the resume at the Masters. It shouldn’t taken away from Norman that he achieved this three times and he can be proud of that stat.
However, it should also be noted that in 1986 and 1987, Norman actually finished as runner up in both tournaments in what are some of his biggest near misses.
In 86′, much like many a golfer over the years, Norman succumbed to the great Jack Nicklaus, who won by one shot over Norman and Tom Kite.
However, it is very much one that slipped away for Norman, who was leading the pack after round three and was actually four shots ahead of Nicklaus.
Then, in 87′, Norman suffered the same fate and this time it was even tighter.
Norman went one better, taking things to a playoff with both Seve Ballesteros and Larry Mize standing between him and a place in history.
In what became the story of Norman’s career in the majors, Mize holed what many consider one of the most remarkable winning shots of all time.
The Augusta native holed his chip from off the green, much to the surprise of Norman, who then failed to follow Mize in and subsequently handed him the tournament.
Norman actually had a tremendous run, finishing T5 in 1988 and then T3 in 1989.
However, he simply never got it done at Augusta, with another second place coming in 1996, the year after he’d finished T3 again.
Norman’s best effort since those near-misses came in 1999 as he once again finished third, and from there, his career was never the same as he entered the twilight.
It remains one of golf’s great shames that Norman never won at Augusta but sadly, he had enough chances to do so and simply didn’t capitalise.