1993 Open Championship: Final-Round Summary - Sharkive - Sharkwatch

If it is true that the quality of any golf course is measured best by the quality of the players who rise to the top in the serious competitions staged over its grounds, then Royal St George's must stand very high in the rankings. With only a few exceptions, the group that led the 122nd Open Championship into the fourth round comprised the best players in the game.

As the day began under lowering skies and the threat of still more rain, 11 men stood within five strokes of one another. Nick Faldo and Corey Pavin shared first place, followed by Greg Norman and Bernhard Langer, then Nick Price, Peter Senior, Wayne Grady, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, John Daly and Fuzzy Zoeller.

Drawn from golfers throughout the world, these included the top five on the Sony Ranking list and eight members of this extraordinary group represented winners of 14 of the game's four principle competitions - four Opens, one US Open, six US Masters and three USPGA Championships.

With three Opens and two US Masters, Faldo had won more than any of the others. Langer had one two US Masters, Couples one, and Zoeller a US Open and a US Masters. Grady, Daly and Price had one the USPGA, and Norman had won the 1986 Open. Of the leading 11, only Pavin, Senior and Els hadn't won on the big occasion.

No one could recall seeing such a stunning leaderboard. With so many clustered so closely together, a tight, spirited battle seemed inevitable.

Those predictions were realized, for we were about to embark on a day like few in this old championship's memory, a wild and wonderful day of exquisite shotmaking, incredible scoring and a triumphal march down the broad, grandstand-lined avenue of the final hole by Norman, who once again climbed to the peak of the game after toppling during the previous few years.

It was a day that saw the young South African Els become the first man in the Open's history to score four rounds in the 60s and yet place no higher that a tie for sixth place; a day in which 27 men broke par for a record total of 116 for the championship; a day that saw Iain Pyman, the Amateur champion, shoot 281, the lowest score ever by an amateur n the Open; and a day when Paul Lawrie, a young newcomer to the European Tour, drew lusty cheers from the throng lining the 17th by holing a full-blooded three iron for an eagle 2 on his way to a round of 65 that lifted him into a tie for sixth place.

It was a day that began with Payne Stewart, far out of the race at first, ripping around Royal St George's in 63 strokes, equaling the record low Open score that had been matched earlier in the week by Faldo, and that ended with Norman shooting 64, and with 267 breaking Tom Watson's inviolable record of 268, then, when it was done, stating flatly, "I am in awe of myself."

No one could remember a day quite like it with so many of the game's great names playing their absolute best, turning the championship into a test of nerve as well as astounding golf. Langer demonstrated once again his fighting qualities, struggling back from another double bogey - this at the 14th where he drove out of bounds - and battling back into contention by birdying the next two holes.

Then there was Faldo trying for a consecutive Open, the fourth of his career, beginning the round a stroke ahead of Norman, shooting a superb 67 under enormous tension, and yet losing by two strokes.

The whole day left those who played such extraordinary golf, as well as those who only watched it, emotionally limp and yet exhilarated. We must wait to see if its memory will live as long as recollections of that wonderful year of 1977 at Turnberry when Watson and Jack Nicklaus matched stroke for stroke through the final 36 holes, Watson winning with 65- 65 against Nicklaus' 65-66, or perhaps the last wrenching round at Royal Lytham and St Annes in 1988, when Seve Ballesteros and Price played one glorious shot after another until Ballesteros finally won on the home green. The afternoon at Sand, wich certainly is a candidate.

The round had hardly begun when Stewart started working his miracles. The 1991 US Open champion and a winner of the USPGA Championship before then, Stewart had often played well in the Open, placing second to Sandy Lyle at Sandwich in 1985, and to Faldo at St Andrews in 1990. Runner-up to Lee Janzen in the US Open a month earlier, Stewart had shot what appeared to be reasonable scores of 71, 72 and 70 at Sandwich, but with 213 for 54 holes, he had been left far behind, 11 strokes behind Faldo and Pavin, the co-leaders.

Playing superb approaches and putting like a man possessed, Stewart birdied four holes on the first nine, dropping a 50-foot putt on the fifth, and raced to the turn in 31.

Coming back he holed from 20 feet on the 13th and from six feet on the 14th. Six under par now, he pulled his putt and missed from 15 feet once again at the 15th, but on that difficult and demanding 17th, Stewart played a wonderful six iron within 10 feet and holed the putt for his seventh birdie of the round.

One more birdie would break the Open's 18-hole record. Stewart drilled a long drive and followed with a four iron to 25 feet. For a heart-stopping moment his putt looked as if it might fall for the 62, but it veered away and Stewart shot 63. He had finished with 276, four under par, but only a miracle could make it mean something.

Rain had fallen heavily since Stewart had reached the 15th, and a chilly wind blustered in from the Channel. Soon, though, by the time the leaders stepped on to the first tee, the rain clouds had drifted off and patches of sky showed through the overcast. The drama was about to begin.

Everyone knew that whoever was to win this Open would have to beat Faldo, for no one in the game is more dangerous or more intimidating with an important championship at stake, especially when he holds or shares the lead. The result would depend on how his challengers would hold up under the unrelenting pressure he was sure to apply.

Norman was paired with Langer in the next-to-last group, followed by Faldo and Pavin. Many of those who remembered the Saturday round at St Andrews three years earlier felt Norman had the most to prove, for Faldo had embarrassed him that afternoon. Greg had played two superb rounds of 66 while Faldo had shot 67 and 65; but on that mild and pleasant day, Faldo had shot another 67, and in the face of that superb round, Norman had struggled to 76. Greg had not been the same since. This, then, was his time for reprisal.

Greg wasted no time sparring; he attacked from the first stroke, nailing a driver into center fairway, lofting a nine iron within nine feet, and holing the putt. At the same time, Langer rolled in a 20-footer for a birdie of his own. Both men slipped to eight under par, tied with Faldo and Pavin. Moments later Pavin played a terrible approach, missing the first green by miles, bogeyed, and fell one stroke behind.

Not playing up to the standards he had set earlier in the week, he would never catch up, although he bounced back right away by birdying the second. A second bogey at the fourth cost him another stroke, and although he hung around the fringes, he never again played a significant part.

Faldo, meantime, played a gorgeous pitch to the second that almost fell into the hole. His birdie dropped him to nine under par just after Norman drilled a four iron dead at the flagstick on the third and holed from 25 feet. Both men stood at nine under par now.

Faldo fell behind on the fourth by missing the type of putt he never misses when it matters. His approach ran over the back and his chip hit the hole and lipped out, spinning about five feet away. His putt for the par hit the hole again and once more spun out again. A bogey 5 and back to eight under. Stunned, his gallery groaned.

Faldo fought back, playing a nice six iron on the sixth and birdying, but Norman had already made his own birdie there, dropping to 10 under par, still a stroke ahead.

Three under for the round now, Norman missed a great chance to birdie, or perhaps eagle, the seventh. His four-iron second ran on to the green, but the radical contours turned the ball away, off the side and down a gentle slope.

Taking his putter, Norman rapped his ball a touch too gently; it climbed the slope but lost momentum near the crest, hung for an instant, then rolled back down again. A stroke wasted. Once again Greg rapped the ball with his putter, this time hard enough to roll on to the green a few feet from the cup. He holed the putt, saving a par 5, but this was a hole he should have birdied.

While he had given away one stroke to the field, it didn't matter to the outcome of the championship, for moments later Faldo parred the seventh as well, driving into a fairway bunker, hitting the top of the bunker face with his recovery, and leaving it in the rough no more than 30 yards farther on. A pitch and two putts and Nick too had his 5.

Langer, meantime, birdied, picking up a stroke on both men.

Now Norman led at 10 under par, with Faldo and Langer one stroke behind at nine under, and Pavin two strokes further back at seven under, along with. Price, who had gone out in 33. Five men stood within three strokes of one another with 10 holes to play.

Quickly, though, Norman pulled further ahead. After a struggling par on the eighth, he lofted a 135- yard nine iron to six feet on the ninth for his fourth birdie of the day. Out in 31, he had fallen to 11 under par and opened a lead of two strokes over both Faldo and Langer.

Only Norman, Faldo and Langer mattered now. Price had stumbled, bogeying the 10th, 11th and 12th; Pavin could make no headway at all, and Senior had waited too long to make his move.

The wind had picked up strength, scattering the clouds, and the sun broke through the overcast, taking much of the chill from the air. The great gallery had broken into two groups, one moving with Norman and Langer, the other lagging behind, cheering on Faldo, urging him on in his pursuit of that fourth Open Championship. With each succeeding hole, though, Nick's hope grew dimmer. Playing flaw- less golf, Norman was giving him no opening. Nick would have to make birdies.

When Faldo did birdie, he did it with flair. His tee shot to the 11th, a strong 216-yard par 3 playing toward the glittering waters of Pegwell Bay, rose in the sunlit sky, dropped dead on line to the hole, and hit the flagstick. With better luck he could have holed in one, but his ball ran a few feet past the hole, and the putt fell.

Ten under par after the birdie fell, Faldo had picked up no ground, for Norman played a marvelous sand wedge to four feet on the 12th, and the ball could do nothing but fall. Twelve under now, five under for the round, and still two strokes ahead of both Faldo and Langer, who suddenly began making birdies.

After bogeying the 11th and dropping three strokes behind, Langer had played an even better pitch to the 12th, a foot inside Norman's, and matched Greg's birdie. Not through yet, he added another at the 13th, playing a 443-yard hole with a driver and pitching wedge to eight feet. Now Langer stood 10 under par, two strokes behind, with the 14th, a certified birdie hole, coming up.

Here he made another major mistake, like his double bogey from the hawthorn bush the previous day.

The 14th runs alongside Prince's, the neighboring course where Gene Sarazen had won the Open 61 years earlier. Prince's is out of bounds. Langer made a bad swing and pushed his ball beyond the white stakes marking the boundary. Langer was shaken, of course, and the gallery wondered how his bad drive might affect Norman. Watching Langer play such a bad shot might cause him to playa cautious shot. But Greg had been playing better than he had ever played, hadn't mis-hit a shot all day, and had missed only one fairway in two rounds.

Trusting his swing, Greg ripped his drive far and true down the fairway. A three wood into the light rough lining the right of the fairway, and then a precise pitch nearly fell into the cup. It rolled only inches away, Norman tapped it in, and he had his sixth birdie of the round.

Langer finished the hole in 7, another double bogey, and dropped five strokes behind, back to eight under par. Norman stood 13 under par now, three strokes ahead of Faldo.

Still Faldo fought on; he wouldn't give up until the holes had run out. While Norman strode down the 15th fairway, Nick birdied the 14th. Eleven under par now, still two strokes behind, he had to have Norman's help to catch up.

He nearly had it at the 15th. After another long and straight drive, Greg's six iron slipped off the edge of the green and rolled down a steep slope. Since the ball lay in fairway-height grass, Norman putted up the slope toward the hole. Suddenly the ball swerved off line, curled away from the hole, and rolled 10 feet away. '

This would be no easy putt; it could mean a lost stroke and the opening Faldo needed. Still confident, Norman rolled his ball into the cup. Moments later he struck a magnificent five iron to the heart of the 16th green, within four feet of the hole, and added another birdie. Greg had gone 14 under par for 70 holes, and seven under par for the round. Two more pars and he would shoot 63.

Now Norman had put the championship out of Faldo's reach, but we still had a struggle for second place, and Langer was striking back. After his 7 on the 14th, he played a wonderful four iron to 10 feet on the 15th and a five iron to 20 feet on the 16th. He holed both putts and moved back to 10 under par, challenging Faldo for second place. If Nick should slip, Bernhard might catch him.

Perhaps overconfident by then, Norman made a mistake on the 17th. Reaching the back of the green with his approach, he putted within a foot and a half, but then, perhaps carelessly, he lipped out, losing one stroke of his lead. He said later he couldn't remember ever missing so short a putt.

It didn't really matter, though. His long blond hair ruffling in the wind, Norman drilled a perfect drive down the 18th and struck a perfectly played four iron to 18 feet. He had won the championship.

Langer appreciated what he had just seen even more than the gallery. As he and Norman strode through the wildly cheering crowd, he moved to Greg's side and told him, 'That was the greatest golf I've ever seen in my life. You deserve to win.'

Norman had hit every shot squarely on the face of the club, hit every fairway, and the four greens he missed cost him nothing, except for a possible birdie on the seventh. He shot 64 for the round, which, combined with his earlier rounds of 66, 68 and 69, added up to a 72-hole score of 267. He had played every round in the 60s, becoming the first Open champion ever to do so, and had beaten Faldo by two strokes and Langer by three.

Fighting to the end, Nick had played the 15th through the 17th flawlessly and even at the end, with the championship out of reach, he refused to yield. He pulled his drive on the 18th close to the metal fence holding back the gallery, chopped his ball from the wild rough well short of the green, and pitched perhaps 15 feet from the cup.

There would be no Open Championship now, but he needed this putt to secure second place. It never occurred to him to do anything but try his best to hole the putt. He studied the line, took his time, and in a demonstration of championship style, he willed the ball into the hole, ending a day that must rank among the greatest the old game has ever known.

Writers Robert Sommers Raymond Jacobs Michael Mcdonnell Michael Williams Marino Parascenzo Alistar Nicol John Hopkins	Photographers Lawrence Levy Michael Cohen
	Editor Bev Norwood