The clock is ticking down to Thursday April 7 and the first major championship of the year, so we thought it would be fun to share our most memorable Masters moments. These are mine — we'd love to hear yours.
1. 1986 - Seve, my all-time hero, taking charge of the tournament on Sunday, striping a perfect drive down 15 and then, as the roars rang out from Jack Nicklaus holing yet another putt up ahead, inexplicably dumping his 4 iron into the water guarding the green. Jack continued on his tear and won a sixth Green Jacket in what many consider to be the greatest Masters performance ever. Seve unravelled and missed out on a third Green Jacket, as he would a year later, losing in a playoff to Mize. It hurt to watch my hero so wounded (he was desperate to win in memory of his father, who had died shortly before the tournament), and I still think four Masters titles would have been a more fitting reflection of Seve's long love affair with Augusta.
2. 1996 - Faldo v Norman in the last round. The first Open I ever covered was in 1990 at St Andrews. Faldo and Norman were tied for the lead after two rounds and played together on the Saturday. Norman was world number one at the time, Faldo was the Masters champion and without doubt the best player in the world. I walked the whole 18 and watched Faldo destroy his rival on day 3 - shooting 67 to Norman's 76 - before going on to win the Open at a canter. I wonder how much that was in Norman's head on that Sunday at Augusta in '96. Faldo played brilliantly for another 67, Norman slumped to a 78. A six-shot overnight lead ended up as a five-shot deficit. It was painful to watch Norman but Faldo's ability to pull off shots that exerted pressure when it counted make it, to my mind, one of the great Masters rounds.
3. 2005 - Tiger on 16. It's hard to pick one moment from Tiger's extraordinary record at the Masters but for sheer audacity and proof, if it was needed, of his uncanny ability to bend events to his will, the chip in from a seemingly impossible spot short and left of 16 takes the honours for me. He even managed to ensure that his sponsor's logo was the last thing to linger on the screen before his ball toppled into the hole, which was a classy touch! Surely a shot worthy of Clippd's 200 Club!
1. 1986 - Seve, my all-time hero, taking charge of the tournament on Sunday, striping a perfect drive down 15 and then, as the roars rang out from Jack Nicklaus holing yet another putt up ahead, inexplicably dumping his 4 iron into the water guarding the green. Jack continued on his tear and won a sixth Green Jacket in what many consider to be the greatest Masters performance ever. Seve unravelled and missed out on a third Green Jacket, as he would a year later, losing in a playoff to Mize. It hurt to watch my hero so wounded (he was desperate to win in memory of his father, who had died shortly before the tournament), and I still think four Masters titles would have been a more fitting reflection of Seve's long love affair with Augusta.
2. 1996 - Faldo v Norman in the last round. The first Open I ever covered was in 1990 at St Andrews. Faldo and Norman were tied for the lead after two rounds and played together on the Saturday. Norman was world number one at the time, Faldo was the Masters champion and without doubt the best player in the world. I walked the whole 18 and watched Faldo destroy his rival on day 3 - shooting 67 to Norman's 76 - before going on to win the Open at a canter. I wonder how much that was in Norman's head on that Sunday at Augusta in '96. Faldo played brilliantly for another 67, Norman slumped to a 78. A six-shot overnight lead ended up as a five-shot deficit. It was painful to watch Norman but Faldo's ability to pull off shots that exerted pressure when it counted make it, to my mind, one of the great Masters rounds.
3. 2005 - Tiger on 16. It's hard to pick one moment from Tiger's extraordinary record at the Masters but for sheer audacity and proof, if it was needed, of his uncanny ability to bend events to his will, the chip in from a seemingly impossible spot short and left of 16 takes the honours for me. He even managed to ensure that his sponsor's logo was the last thing to linger on the screen before his ball toppled into the hole, which was a classy touch! Surely a shot worthy of Clippd's 200 Club!
