ONE FROM THE ARCHIVES/1996 US MASTERS: Dermot Gilleeceon a day when a gut-wrenching drama was played out with impressive dignity

IN THE most incredible round, which defied normal competitive logic, Nick Faldo shot a superb 67 to overhaul Greg Norman and capture the 60th US Masters in glorious sunshine at Augusta National yesterday.

And when it was all over, when the so-called Shark had squandered an overnight lead of six strokes to lose by five, the players shared their innermost feelings in a climactic embrace, charged with emotion.

Augusta had never witnessed anything quite like it. For their sharply contrasting reasons, Faldo and Norman were both in tears, standing on the I 8th green. "I just said I don't know what to say, I want to give you a hug," Faldo explained. He then added, "There were other little things, but I'm storing them away."

The gesture did much to cushion what was clearly a devastating blow for Norman, still without a breakthrough after 16 appearances here.

"I was extremely impressed," he said afterwards. "It brought tears to Nick's eyes and to mine. He's gone way up in my estimation after that."

In cold, clinical terms, Norman crashed to the worst collapse in the 60-year history of the event. By squandering a six-shot lead entering the final round, he outstripped the failure of Ed Sneed, who let a five-stroke advantage slip away in 1979, losing a play-off to Fuzzy Zoeller.

It was an astonishing outcome, even by Norman's standards, particularly since Faldo shot a 67 and not the 64 or 65 one felt he simply had to achieve to wrest the title from an apparently invincible leader. Often considered to be the unluckiest competitor in the recent history of the major championships, Norman couldn't point to any extraneous influences at work on this occasion. There were no holed bunker shots, nor miraculous chips nor anything of the like. He had comprehensively dug his own grave by slumping to a closing 78 in ideal golfing conditions.

Seasoned Norman watchers were expecting one of two things. Either he would press home his advantage to win by the easiest of margins, or he would produce a solid performance only to be overtaken by a sparkling, low round from Faldo. Neither of these things happened.

Instead, we saw the indomitable Englishman battle relentlessly as he had done in 1989, when coming from behind to force a play-off through a stunning last round of 65. And he displayed comparable resilience a year later when a closing 69 allowed him to retain the title after another play-off.

Norman's reaction afterwards was only slightly less remarkable than what had happened on the course during a pulsating afternoon. Though his eyes had a glazed look and there was a pale hue to the normally tanned face, he took his disaster with enormous grace and dignity.

"I screwed up. It was my own fault. I screwed up. This was one that I let slip away," he said.

But almost immediately, there came the reassurance that we shouldn't feel sorry for him.

"I wouldn't like to see a player do what I did," he went on. "Sure I would like to be putting on a green jacket, but it's not the end of the world. I have a good life. Honestly, I'll be OK. It was the most disappointing round of my career but I'm not going to fall off the face of the earth because of what happened here."

What happened to Norman was that he had clearly not learned how to handle an extremely competitive situation at the highest level. He didn't know how to play the percentage golf that was needed to protect a comfortable lead.

The fact that Norman hooked a six-iron tee shot into the water to run up a double bogey at the short 16th was of no real consequence, given that he was two strokes behind, standing on the tee.

At the ninth, Norman's wedge second shot lacked the necessary length; it was about two yards short to reach the level part of the green. So it came trundling back down the hill, from where he needed a chip and two putts for a bogey five. His failure to hit the green with his approach at the 10th was also important in that it cost him another bogey.

But the first of the real killer blows came at the 11th, which, significantly, marks the entry to Amen Corner. There, Norman was closer to the pin with his approach shot but whereas Faldo made a comfortable par, the Shark three-putted from eight feet, missing no more than a two-foot return. Now they were level on nine under par.

"By that stage it had become real match play," said Faldo. "As I stood on the 12th tee I knew I needed to hit a really good one."

He did, a seven iron which landed safely in the heart of the green. Norman also hit a seven iron but made the disastrous error of pushing the shot towards the widest part of the carry over Rae's Creek. He didn't make it.

Unlike on Saturday, where he had made a splendid bogey from the same watery grave, this time there was to be no reprieve. A pitch and two putts later and he had carded a double-bogey five.

"Now the pressure was on me," said Faldo. "I had a two-stroke lead and the tournament was mine to lose."

An acute awareness of his position was evident from the care he took over his second shot to the 13th. From the middle of the fairway he had 228 yards to the flag. He later explained the sort of details that separate great players from solid practitioners.

"I placed a five-wood behind the ball and somehow it didn't look right," he explained. "It just didn't seem to be sitting as I would have liked."

He thought he might lay up, but the lie deserved better. As Norman looked on impatiently, Faldo eventually decided to hit a two iron.

"I was amazed Nick hit it so well, after taking so long over the shot," said Norman afterwards.

It was a critical shot insofar as Norman made no headway there with a birdie of his own. And the gap remained the same after pars at the 14th and again after they had both birdied the 15th.

It was all over . . . and the Shark knew it. Of all opponents, he would not expect Faldo to fire shots back at him within sight of a major title.

It was surprising that none of the Americans made the sort of last-day surge for which they are famous. If anything, some of their seasoned campaigners, such as Corey Pavin, were headed in the opposite direction.

So, it was left to the New Zealander Frank Nobilo, in only his second Masters appearance, to shake things up in the nether regions of the leaderboard. Nobilo did himself proud, from the decidedly modest position of one under par for the tournament with only 11 holes remaining. He had four birdies to the 11th, by which stage he was five under, a position he held to the finish to claim fourth place behind Phil Mickelson.

But the day belong to Faldo, who three-putted only once over the four days. "I genuinely feel sorry for Greg but obviously I'm delighted for myself," he said. "In this game, you never know if there's another win in you."

"Sure I would like to be putting on a green jacket, but it's not the end of the world. I have a good life. Honestly, I'll be OK . . . I'm not going to fall off the face of the earth because of what happened here'