What happened to Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters? Why did the golfer collapse on course?

Retired Australian golfer Greg Norman has undoubtedly cemented his place in the list of the world's greatest golfers of all time with his phenomenal wins. However, despite his long illustrious list of victories, the Masters title always eluded him.

Norman ended second thrice in his career, but his most remembered runner-up finish was his notorious collapse at the 1996 Masters. Going into the final day, Norman had a massive six-shot lead to English golfer Nick Faldo. The Aussie maintained a four-shot lead going into the final round.

All things seemed to be set perfectly for Greg Norman to grab his first green jacket. Everyone watched with bated breath to see the first Australian win the Masters trophy. However, things went severely wrong.

Norman faltered on the stretch at Augusta. To add to that, Faldo gained a two-shot lead with an impressive birdie at the stretch. Norman couldn't quite recover, as his tee shot on the par three 16th fell in the water. That effectively ended his chances of winning the 1996 Masters.

Nick Faldo pulled off an incredible comeback to don the green jacket for the third time. This dramatic finish tied the record of the largest lead ever blown in a PGA tournament. That record still stands.

While everyone knows what happened on that Sunday in 1996 at Augusta National, very few know why it happened. There were a couple of reasons behind Greg Norman's collapse that day. Here's taking a look at some of them.

---

Why did Greg Norman collapse at the 1996 Masters?

Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters (Image via Stephen Munday/Allsport)

There are several reasons behind a debacle of this magnitude. While a grip change has been blamed for Greg Norman's devastating loss, there were apparently other reasons too.

Sam Weinmann in his book, 'Win at Losing: How our Biggest Setbacks can lead to out Greatest Gains' explored what transpired on and before the 1996 Masters that led to Norman's incredible collapse.

Personal Issues

Greg Norman woke up that day with a stiff back, which he tried he to loosen by going on a walk. However, that was only a part of his troubles. He said:

"I knew deep down Sunday morning I wasn’t feeling great. I was completely off."

He was also struggling with some personal issues. Norman said:

"Things happen that create what you call 'white noise', and you need to work to eliminate the white noise from the moment you wake up in the morning. I wasn’t able to do that."

The pressure of the final day at the Masters to add to his personal struggles became a burden he could not bear that day. Norman added that he didn't compartmentalise his feelings, which would cost him a coveted green jacket.

"I wasn’t 100 percent prepared for the responsibility of what I had in front of me," said Norman. "And I said to my kids after, whenever you’re in an important situation like that, you have to be so strong that you can compartmentalize all the shit that goes on in your mind. That was one moment I didn’t do it, and I paid the price deeply."

Panic and Lack of Communication

Greg Norman's coach Butch Harmon had given an interview that morning where he claimed that Norman had finally learned to be 'at peace' on the golf course. However, when the Australian arrived at the warm-up session that day, he looked anything but at peace.

According to Norman, he told Harmon that something felt off. He said:

"I could feel it. My swing wasn’t there, and I said to Butch I was off. And Butch said, 'No, everything looks great'. And I said, 'No, Butch, it’s not great. I can feel it'."

In Harmon's defense, his main objective at the time was to soothe Norman's nerves. However, the two men apparently never actually discussed the personal issue that was consuming Norman.

Greg Norman believes that had he been honest about his struggles with coach Butch Harmon and caddie Tony Navarro, the incredible meltdown could have been averted. However, he knew it was too late when he missed the first fairway en route to an opening bogey.

He said:

"I should have turned to them both and just purged. It would have taken 10 minutes, and it would have been over with. But I didn’t do it. So the lesson there is, don’t harbor things internally. Don’t push the elephant under the rug. Anxiety and happiness both come from within. And so you have to ask, which one do you prefer?"

Butch Harmon had plans to talk about it some day, saying:

"I’ve always said one night he and I were going to get drunk somewhere and I was going to say, 'OK, what the f--- happened Sunday?'. He’s never told (caddie Tony Navarro) and I what it was, but we knew something was wrong because we were both standing there saying, 'Who is this guy? This is not the guy who left last night'."

However brutal his loss at the 1996 Masters may be, for Greg Norman his defeat to Larry Mize in 1987 was more shattering. If anything, Norman learned a lot from his 1996 collapse.