Meltdown: Top Six Major Chokes in Golf History (Video)

Greg Norman turned in a nightmare performance during the final round of the 1996 Masters, losing nine shots to eventual winner Nick Faldo.

Keeping with the Masters theme, let’s turn our attention to Greg Norman’s final round at the 1996 Masters. The world’s top-ranked player at the time, the Aussie was in the midst of a great season, having already won a pair of PGA Tour events. At Augusta, Norman played like a man who’d finally had enough of waiting around for his green jacket – he opened the event with a 63 and held a six-shot lead over Nick Faldo through three rounds, with a chance for a wire-to-wire victory if he held his position on Sunday.

Stunningly, he didn’t hold his position. Norman went two-over-par on his first nine, while Faldo was two-under, resulting in a four-shot swing that put the Englishman within striking distance as the pairing made the turn. Disaster soon struck; Norman went four-over over the next three holes, allowing Faldo to take a two-shot lead. The former was even the rest of the way, while the latter made three more birdies to finish the day five strokes ahead – an 11-shot swing from the start of the round.

Norman had a lot of close calls over the course of his career, but his Masters meltdown in 1996 stands as the most poignant. He made seven more appearances at Augusta National but never did capture that green jacket.

Next: Dustin Johnson's Pebble Beach Fiasco