Greg Norman had the lead at the turn, but couldn't hold off defending champ Padraig Harrington, who finished birdie-eagle on 16 and 17 to put away the field.
Having reprised memories of his glory days through three unlikely rounds, Norman finished with a seven over 77 to be nine over for the tournament and in third place, six shots behind the winner, defending champion Padraig Harrington from Ireland, who shot a brilliant closing 69 in difficulty, windy conditions.
Understatement: Norman does not have a reputation as a strong finisher.
It was the eighth time Norman had entered the final round of a major championship with the lead. Only once, at the 1986 British Open at Turnberry, has he won from that position.
In comparison, Tiger Woods is 14-0 when leading a major into the final round.
To be fair, he lost two of those majors in his prime on highly unlikely shots.
Of the dozens of ways Greg Norman could have lost the 1987 Masters Tournament, this had to be the unlikeliest: a 140-foot chip shot that bounced twice up a grassy bank and once on the putting surface before it rolled halfway across the 11th green directly into the hole. That this miracle shot was hit by 28-year-old Larry Mize, a local boy, no less, who had won only one tournament in his six years on the PGA Tour, and that it beat the luckless Norman, the premier player in the world, on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, made it downright unbelievable.
Yes, it was more unbelievable than the 72nd-hole bunker shot that Bob Tway holed last August to beat Norman in the PGA. Yes, once-in-a-lifetime shots have now robbed Norman of apparent victory in the last two major championships.
On the other hand, he shot 76 in that '86 PGA on Sunday setting up the loss, and in 1987 ended up in the playoff after a respectable Sunday 72. It will be unusual if he finds himself contending in future majors, but hey, you never know.
