A Tradition Unlike Any Other

Anyone out there remember their 8th birthday?  Some of you might, but I guarantee it's not for the same reason I remember mine.

April 12, 1987...I can't recall a single present I received that day.  Couldn't tell you what design or picture was on my birthday cake.  Did I have a party with friends from school?  Perhaps we played games in the backyard?  I'm sure if we dug deep into my Mom's VHS collection or photo albums we could find the answers to these questions...but whatever.  The one thing I can recall in vivid detail about that day is watching the final round of the 1987 Masters.

There are a select few objects in the world of sports that symbolize greatness:  The World Cup, The Lombardi Trophy, The Stanley Cup, an Olympic Gold Medal, The Green Jacket...
Ah, The Green Jacket - the prize awarded to the Masters champion.  The Masters - the only one of golf's four major tournaments to be played on the same course every year, a golf course located in Augusta, Georgia and designed by the legendary Bobby Jones.  A golfing utopia for which there is no visual equal.  Any golfer who says his career is complete without having won a Green Jacket is just spouting B.S.  It would be like Dan Marino saying his career was complete having never won a Super Bowl.

Twenty-four years later I can still remember how excited I was sitting in front of the TV that day.  One of my childhood idols, Greg Norman, was closing in on his first Masters victory.  After coming in second and losing by a single stroke to a 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus in 1986, this would finally be Norman's year.  Battling in a sudden death playoff with Augusta native Larry Mize, Norman hit his approach shot to the treacherous par-4 11th hole safely on the green.  Mize's approach had missed badly to the right, 140 feet from the pin.  For Mize to get up and down to save par would be nearly impossible.  Then the unthinkable happened...Mize hit what is still regarded as one of the most miraculous shots in golfing history, a delicate bump and run that somehow wound up with the ball in the bottom of the cup.  Norman missed his lengthy birdie putt, and just like that, Larry Mize was the Masters champion, and the proud owner of one Green Jacket.  For me, utter devastation, and a birthday completely ruined.
Norman would have other chances at Augusta, most notably in 1996, when he entered Sunday with a seemingly insurmountable 6-stroke lead, only to shoot a final round 78 and lose to Nick Faldo.  Greg Norman is still one of the world's most recognizable athletes, having won countless tournaments globally.  He has his own clothing line and his own wine label, both bearing his unmistakable "shark" logo.  But he never won the tournament he wanted to win more than any other...AND IT BOTHERS ME TO THIS DAY!

(let's all take a little break to dry our eyes...)

Ok, so after that story, I know what you all must be thinking: "Paul, that's really depressing, why the hell do you love the Masters so much?!"  Well, aside from Norman's multiple heartbreaking near-misses, think of all the indelible sights and sounds the Masters has provided us with throughout the years...Jack Nicklaus' out-of-nowhere final round 65 in 1986 to win his 6th Green Jacket at age 46 (cue Jim Nantz at #16: "The Bear has come out of hibernation!", cue Verne Lundquist at #17: "Yes SIR!"), Tiger Woods shooting a tournament record 18-under par and winning by a record 12-stroke margin in 1997 at the age of 21 (cue Jim Nantz at #18: "A win for the ages!"), Woods completing the final leg of his Tiger Slam in 2001 (cue Nantz again at #18: "As grand as it gets!"), Phil Mickelson breaking through to win his first major at the 2004 Masters by birdieing 5 of his last 7 holes, the fifth of those coming on the final hole to win by a single stroke (cue Nantz again at #18: "Is it his time?...YES!"), Tiger's ridiculous final round chip-in at #16 in 2005 that has doubled as a free Nike ad ever since (cue Verne Lundquist: "here it comes...oh my goodNESS...OH MY!...IN YOUR LIFE HAVE YOU SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT?!"), and Mickelson just last year, physically and mentally exhausted from helping his wife through cancer treatment, winning his only tournament of the year and his 3rd Green Jacket (Nantz again at #18: "That one's for the family!").  We're just hours away.  What memories will be created this year?

My childhood hero will never win a Green Jacket, so why do I love the Masters so much?  What a ridiculous question.  Did I scoff at the Super Bowl the first thirty years of my life just because the Saints were never in it?  Of course not, some things just aren't meant to be, with both Norman and the Saints, the elusiveness becomes the reason for the obsession.  Uh-oh...probably not the best way to close out a golf column...but I just can't help myself...I'm hearing a familiar voice...it's the end of Super Bowl XLIV..."The Saints are GONNA DO IT!"...ah yes, Jim Nantz again.