A week that summed up Faldo’s steel and Norman’s career-defining failings
WITH the two best players in the world trading blows at the top of the leaderboard, the stage was set for an epic battle heading into the final two rounds of the 1990 Open Championship.
If the Duel In The Sun between Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson at Turnberry in 1977 had set the gold standard for excellence, there was genuine hope that we might see something similar 13 years later.
This time it would be Nick Faldo going up against Greg Norman; Faldo’s touch, technique and ice-cool temperament against Norman’s raw power game.
Heading into the tournament, there was little doubt they were the two best players in the world at the time, just as had been the case with Nicklaus and Watson.
Faldo had won the Masters just a few months earlier and had narrowly missed out
WITH the Home of Golf hosting the 150th Open Championship this week, Sportsmail continues its look at some of the enduring tales to have emerged from St Andrews down the years. In 1990, two great rivals seemed set for an epic battle but, not for the last time in his golfing career, the man known as the Great White Shark was left looking toothless.
on a play-off in the US Open. Norman, meanwhile, was world No1. He was dominating the PGA Tour and it seemed only a matter of time until he added to the Claret Jug won at Turnberry in 1986.
Yet, in many ways, Norman’s season in 1986 serves as a microcosm of his career. He held the third-round lead in all four majors, yet only won one of them.
His rivalry with Faldo was building. If Norman had a habit of buckling under pressure, Faldo was the polar opposite. Take, for example, the 18 straight pars he carded in the final round to win his first Claret Jug at Muirfield in 1987. He had a ruthless streak which Norman seemed to lack. Yet, even so, any thoughts Faldo might have had of repeating those 18 straight pars wouldn’t have been enough to get the job done at St Andrews.
Not on the evidence of the first two days. Norman had opened with two rounds of 66, while Faldo (pictured right) shot 67 and 65, including a magnificent chip-in eagle two at the 18th on day one.
The pair were locked together on 12 under
par — a 36-hole record at the time — heading into the weekend, with their nearest rivals trailing four shots back.
‘We are sailing along, Greg and I,’ said Faldo at the midway point. ‘We’re playing well, holing putts and seizing opportunities. It was exciting out there. We seemed to be chasing one another. As soon as one birdie went up on the board, another one went up.’
Norman was bullish about his chances, saying: ‘I definitely feel I can win this week. I feel relaxed and happy with my game and am in a good position to win at St Andrews, which is every golfer’s dream.
‘Faldo and I grew up together in Europe, basically, and have been matching shots since 1977. We know each other very well. It should be interesting, to say the least.’
The expectation was that we would see a birdie blitz over the weekend, but it never materialised as Norman once again choked when the heat was on.
The Great White Shark carded a ruinous 76 on the Saturday, while Faldo marched on with a 67. A nine-shot swing over 18 holes was quite incredible given how they had both played over the first two days.
The Englishman went into the final round with a five-shot lead over Ian Baker-Finch, Payne Stewart and Craig Parry, duly closing it out with a round of 71.
His total of 18 under par was a tournament record at the time. Faldo had won by five shots. What was supposed to be a classic had turned into a procession, with Norman eventually finishing seven shots adrift.
The rivalry that existed between Faldo and Norman would ultimately reach a crescendo at the Masters in 1996. On that occasion, Norman infamously blew a six-shot lead on the final day as Faldo prevailed to win by five. Just as at St Andrews in 1990, therein lies the story of Norman’s career. For all his undoubted talent, the narrative around his career will forever focus on those moments of failure. He won almost 90 tournaments across his professional career and became rich beyond his wildest dreams, even before the injection of LIV cash came along. But any conversation about Norman inevitably focuses on tournaments he didn’t win rather than those he did. Faldo eventually won six majors to Norman’s two. The Aussie won his second Claret Jug at Royal St George’s in 1993. Two majors for a player of his talent, though, don’t seem like much. Perhaps history will reflect on Norman as the nearly man.
No such thing could be said of Faldo, who had once again displayed a ruthless focus and single-mindedness to get the job done.
He had undergone some fairly major swing changes with coach David Leadbetter for the purpose of trying to tame links golf and, specifically, St Andrews.
‘I’d hit five buckets of balls a day,’ he later said. ‘Not these (small) buckets. No, the big buckets. I was probably hitting around 1,500 balls a day. At St Andrews in 1990, I was on a mission. I said to myself I was going to win The Open by five shots.
‘I had one man to beat that week — and that was Greg. I walked up, shook his hand, looked at him and thought: “Hmm, I’ve gotcha, mate”.
The crowds swarmed around Faldo as he made his way up the 18th. With such a handsome lead, he could afford to lap it up.