Jordan Spieth's Epic Collapse Brings Back Memories of Greg Norman's 1996 Masters

Greg Norman had one of the most epic meltdowns in Masters history. In 1996, his final round included several bogeys in the middle of his round, a shot into the water on the 12th, and another shot in the water on the 16th. Norman, who was leading entering the final round, suddenly found himself trailing Nick Faldo. After Faldo made his final putt on the 18th green to claim his third green jacket, he turned to Norman and said, “I don’t know what to say. I just want to give you a hug. I feel horrible about what happened. I’m so sorry.”

You can watch the highlights of Norman’s collapse below, but it was made memorable because he had twice finished runner-up, in 1986 and 1987, and this was basically his final bid at joining the green jacket club.

On this Sunday, at the 80th edition of the Masters, Jordan Spieth had a five stroke lead disappear in just three holes. It was painful to watch. Spieth entered the back nine with a comfortable lead, but at the Masters, the tournament is usually won and lost on the back nine on Sunday. Spieth made a bogey on the 10th, a bogey on the 11th, and what will go down in history as one of the worst holes ever, a quadruple bogey on the par-3 12th. Suddenly Spieth had given up six strokes; ironically to an Englishman.

Prior to his back nine collapse, Spieth was looking to achieve the unheard of and win back-to-back Masters tournaments while holding the lead from wire-to-wire. Now Spieth is a part of another history, one he never wanted to be a part of and one no one expected him to be a part of. Making the moment even more memorable is the fact that Spieth had to place the green jacket on winner Danny Willett.

Remember, he’s only 22-years-old. We can now look forward to an extremely motivated Jordan Spieth for the rest of the year.