The Last Word
Greg Norman's Masters disaster eight years ago broke the heart of a young Adam Scott. Now The Shark is touting Scott as a phenom in his own right.
By KEN FIDLIN -- Toronto Sun
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Eight years ago, as a 15-year-old high school student, Adam Scott watched in stunned horror as his hero, Greg Norman, came apart at the seams on Sunday at the Masters.
Through three days, Norman had staked himself to a six-shot lead, but a combination of his own flawed playing and Nick Faldo's relentless pursuit turned his coronation into a disaster. When the wreckage was complete, Faldo had won by five shots and Norman had failed yet again at the one tournament he so desperately wanted to own.
It was a blow to all Australians, but Scott took it especially hard.
"I remember being up at the golf club at Royal Queensland, watching with Charlie Eur, who taught Greg," Scott said after surviving a final-hole spasm of his own yesterday.
"It was impossible to watch because that guy deserved to win that golf tournament. I know how much it meant to him."
Fast-forward to the 18th hole at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass. Scott's teeball rested in the middle of the fairway, some 212 yards from the flag with a two-shot lead. One more swing and a couple of putts and the prestigious Players Championship would be his.
As the ball left his club, Scott experienced his own moment of horror, for he knew that he might just have thrown it all away. Even before the ball landed in the water skirting the left side of the fairway, the enormity of his mistake had hit him.
"Going from the middle of the fairway, cruising, thinking 'on the green and two putts' for the easy win, to hitting one quickly in the water ... what a roller-coaster of emotions."
Now it was down to this: A chip and a must-make putt or face a playoff against Padraig Harrington.
Earlier last week, Norman took Scott aside on the practice range at Sawgrass and worked with him on a new chipping technique that immediately gave Scott more solid contact on his short pitches.
"Turns out I hit three unbelieveable chips -- on the last four holes," Scott said. "I guess I owe Greg a beer.
"Truth is, without that lesson, I wouldn't have been standing on the last with a chip and a putt to win. Whenever I was in trouble all week, I got out of it by using what I learned from Greg."
Scott, nerves jangled, made his drop, then launched a solid 30-yard chip that settled exactly 10 feet from the hole.
"I felt calm over the putt," he said. "I was confident of my line and I just told myself to hit it firmly at the hole."
And then he poured it in, punctuating the moment with a fist pump, a rare display of emotion for the classy 23-year-old.
Ever since Scott himself rose to prominence, first as an amateur and then as a fledgling pro, Norman has been a friend and mentor. Scott has stayed at Norman's home and anytime he's needed advice, Norman was only a phone call away.
"It's nice that Greg has helped me along the way and, partly because that, he's helped make me into who I am," Scott said. "He showed me as a kid growing up watching him on TV how to carry yourself out here on the golf course. he was a great role model for every kid in Australia."
Even before yesterday, Norman has touted Scott as golf's next superstar. Certainly Scott's poise under the gun for all but one shot yesterday, in his first such experience, will lead to expectations when the majors arrive, starting at Augusta two weeks from now.
"I can go there with a lot of confidence now," Scott said. "I don't have anything to lose and everything to gain.
"I hope this can kick me on to become a champion like most of the guys who have won this. It takes something to win this tournament."
Whatever that something is, Scott has plenty of it.
