Watch the complete final round and playoff broadcast of the 1987 Masters. Larry Mize wins in dramatic fashion on the second playoff hole, defeating Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman.
Also, there is not a person on earth that can convince me this is not the greatest single shot ever seen at Augusta. People wanna talk about Tigers chip in at 16 - obviously iconic and incredible. Sarazens double eagle to tie Craig Wood in '35 - also incredible. But this straight up won him the tournament and every time I see that view from behind, the distance he had to the hole and knowing what the green does around that pin placement, I simply can't believe he holes this under any circumstances. It is simply astounding.
@@kepler240 It's just that awkward and uncomfortable distance of chip/pitch where the distance to the green is actually longer than the edge of the green to the cup, and its uphill - these are just nightmare length shots right? There is absolutely no margin for error - if you hit it a fraction heavy or even just soft it easily hangs on the fringe - it you catch it thin or even just a bit firm it could end up in the water. Mize clips it to the perfect spot under the most pressure possible because he's well behind Norman as that ball lies.
In one of the old Tiger Woods games where they had the Augusta license, there was an unlockable challenge where you got to try the Mize shot. I think to get the gold medal you had to make it and I never did.
79 was great as well, the playoff with Watson, Zoeller and Sneed. They all hit better second shots into the 11th, none of them wavered in going for the pin in that playoff.
From 1987 to 2017, I recorded at least one round from every Masters on VHS. The first one I ever taped was Round 3 of this tournament. We couldn't tape this final round because we were on an Amtrak train from Fullerton CA to Denver CO to visit my Aunt. This gave me the chance to see everything I missed that day. Thank you SO MUCH to The Masters for this. This was another perfect example of how Greg was treated so badly by the Golfing Gods. It's just crazy how many tournaments he lost because of fluke miracles like what Larry did on 11 in the playoff.
Thrilled for Larry, but Norman was always one of my faves growing up. Always wanted him to win a Masters. Thought he had it in 96, but then…….. that was brutal 😣
My vcr stopped at 1st playoff hole, so after 33 years, I finally got to see the playoff ! Hop, hop, hop, rolling and it's in! I was still hoping somehow Ben would have made that putt on 17 or Norman on 18 but that's what makes this such a great event. Worse shirt by a winner... 30 + years later Musburger is still annoying and Weiskopf & Ncklaus together are great. Finally a low am who is not a college player!
Ahh, remember the days of taping things on the VCR, knowing the tape is getting full, and sweating after doing the math because you might not have enough space left to record the entire thing youre watching?
Larry Mize had many chances to play Augusta National being from Augusta, but turned them down. He waited until he earned the invitation. Augusta remembered and paid his wait in sudden death on 11.
I've been desperately trying to find this tournament. I've seen that winning shot alot. I hate it put me in a position to root against Greg Norman. But what a beautiful moment. Surprised Seve was eliminated so quickly but that is the nature of things. I like how Larry reminded the gallery that the tournament was not over. Greg still had to shoot and he needed quiet. I know I am way late, but congratulations Larry! That was a beautiful game of golf and a world class shot!
Norman, one of the classiest golfers ever.... What a pure swing. Heartbreak after heartbreak. He led after the third round in every major in 86 but only won The Open. Jack's historic charge and Bob Tway's sand shot in 86 and now Mize's chip shot in 87. But the real heartbreak occurs nine years later in the 96 Masters against Faldo.
@Tony I remember that, I think it might have been'89, Troon, playoff with Wayne Grady as well. I think Norman shot 64 (including 6 consecutive birdies) in the final round to get there. Norman had plenty of chances, he faltered at the last step a number of times.
If Norman had made that putt on 18, I think an argument can be made that he could’ve gone on to win 7 plus majors. He was in his absolute physical prime in 1987, and victory would have given him a tremendous boost psychologically, that he could deliver in a major, under the gun. He’d also have avoided the trauma of what eventually happened to him in the playoff.
I agree. In fact, in his own words, 1987 Masters was psychologically more traumatic than 1996, because in the first one he felt in absolute control until that incredible chip-in.
@@elsincuello If he said that, I can't agree. When you have a 6-shot with 18 holes to play, THAT'S when you're in complete control. I think Greg gets too much heat for the collapses, but let's be honest: I think he said that based on who caught him in '96 as opposed to who beat him with a fluke shot in '87.
think your right. after all the disappointments of 86, it would have given Norman a huge boost (plus the Masters monkey off his back-I think Greg wanted a green jacket more than anything). Instead it just got bigger as the years went by and sadly limited a still great career.
100% agree - dont think Norman ever fully recovered from this Masters, though he did go on to have a solid career after this including a 2nd British Open.
The flow of energy in golf is hard to gauge, but I will always believe that if Norman had stuck that tee shot to within a few feet, Mize wouldn't have approached that chip quite as unconsciously as he did.
The strangest thing about Mize's brilliant chip in is that he used a sand wedge and Ken Venturi assumed he would hit a high pitch just onto the putting surface. Instead, the ball flew low like an 8-iron, bounced twice on the fringe, then rolled 30 feet in. It was almost as if Mize mishit the wedge. Almost.
Watched it live as a 13 year old, Monday morning in Australia with pretty much the rest of the nation 😳 even though the 🦈 lost, it was the best finish to a Masters ever! Folklore!
Loved weeks like 87 where the wind was blowing at Augusta National, and gave her a lil teeth. The par 5s this week were nowhere near as vulnerable as usual. Love it.
It’s shocking that Norman never won the Masters. His game was tailor made for Augusta. And for a number of years he was the best/most talented in the world. He must have woken up with cold sweats a few times in his life, thinking about the moments and opportunities that he squandered. Because judging by his reaction to the missed putt on 18, he DESPERATELY wanted to win it. Norman was a favourite of mine and I was always rooting for him.
Yeah, its really insane that in ´86 he lead every major through 54. I know that Norman won enough through out his career but luck seemed to desert him on the final round of American majors.
The course was made for him but the Masters is more than that. Norman was a head case and could not handle the pressure of Augusta. And I say this as someone who Greg Norman was my first favorite golfer.
There is no luck in golf. No refs with bad calls--none of that. Mize won. Go out and play golf with ANYONE who's been on the tour--they are all lightyears better than you realize. Norman seemed to have a mental block on closing the deal. The heartbreaks were of his own making. That said, I always liked him. Awesome skill, charisma, and the most gracious in loss.
Yours is a great comment. For years, Greg Norman was the best player on the planet. In golf, rarely does the best player win. Arguably, the one exception, Tiger Woods.
Mize couldn't make that shot again in a thousand tries. And his success , or complete lack of, after this shows how average he really was. Just 1 lucky shot.
In retrospect, Norman’s putt to win on 18 has to be one of the most heartbreaking putts in Masters history. What an effort, and just brutal in light of his 1996 collapse and the fact that he never won this tournament.
@@dttruman fair enough. But given Seve was banned from the 86 pga tour and so couldn’t prepare properly for the masters, and given the promise he made to his dying father that year about winning the masters, I think his trauma was greater in not winning one. He was effectively robbed of a number of majors by the pga tour ban, and given huge guilt and stress over not keeping his promise to his dying fathers as a result. It affected him for years and undoubtedly cost him majors. By contrast, Norman was let off rather than being banned by the pga tour around the same time, for breaking the same stupid rule Seve broke.
2 feet out that putt looked absolutely center cut, every time I watch it I can't believe it doesn't go in. I would love to see a low shot of that putt from behind.
I remember watching this in 1987 and thinking that Larry Mize had messed up and left that chip short. When it went in the hole I couldn't believe it. There was really no room for error.. It was absolutely brilliant.
So the last major of 86, Bob Tway holes out from a greenside bunker to win the PGA and the first major of 87, Larry Mize hits the shot of his life to steal yet another major from Greg Norman
@@bretts4544 Cause they were tied...tway birdied with that bunker shot (1 up)....thus, Norman needed a birdie for a tie, his effort went long and ended up bogeying the hole, then, the tie became a two shot lead
Totally compelling stuff. Mize gets a lot of stick for having 'fluked' the win. Seve and Norman were of course more popular but you can see here that he was a very worthy winner.
@@annefilippobertozzi7601 yea your right. I just didnt think it was that hard of a shot from where he was at. He sticks one on the green and Mize probably would have never made that chip shot.
Norman played it too safe, and it took a lot of the pressure off Mize. Seve said the same thing when he was asked about it afterwards (which upset Greg, as he & Seve were friends).
Would have been nice to see how close Crenshaw and Maltby came to getting in the play-off with their putts on #18. I'll bet Roger got a little frustrated watching Ben hit only 9 greens and make putt after putt all day, but the flat stick makes all the difference - the days of Hogan are long gone, when ball striking alone made a player dominant.
@@DanielSong39 yes, and people forget Seve was banned from the pga tour in 86 so had to play tournaments in Japan to prepare for the masters. I remember Nicklaus saying seve’s shot at 15 was a typical early season shot due to lack of match competitiveness. So, you could argue that pga tour ban cost Seve quite a few majors, including the 86, 87 and 89 masters. Particularly given the trauma 86 caused in relation to the promise he made to his dying father. If Seve was American or coming up today, he’d have won double digits in majors.
How about 1989 as well for Norman. 18th hole mistake cost him a place in the playoff with Faldo and Hoch, and they both bogeyed the first playoff hole.
Gregs 5 iron !!! As teenage players we often spoke of this shot (second shot on the tenth) as we dreamt of achieving the same ball flight that the footage captures. Do it in our sleep by age 17.
We tend to focus on Norman's unlucky happenings, but Ballesteros has his own sad stories. And in the playoff on the first hole, Bob Murphy saying "I feel certain he'll make it", of Seve's par putt: el jinxo.
topgrain I think the shot was so impossible and it happened so fast....what else can you say but ohhhh! Lol how do you gather yourself to make a decent call after something like that?
I LOVED the call, because it was an organic reaction-it wasn’t some overly worded, genuflecting, stream of blabber (like MANY announcers do when calling sports today). That “Ohhhhhh!!” captured the moment perfectly
I once turned on the tube with a friend in the room who wasn't a golfer. Maltby was in the lead. My friend looked a little astonished: "That guy looks like a coin dealer."😏
I know the current playoff format is to alternate between 18 and 10 until there is a winner. Back then, would they have gone on to 12 after this hole if it were still tied or would they have gone back to 10 and then 11 and then back to 10, etc.?
At 1:44:14 Larry Mize takes a penalty drop after going well over the 15th green. He dropped it from around waist/chest high, I thought it was meant to be from shoulder height. I do believe that Larry deserved the win, he played the best golf in the playoff. Greg had a chance to put the ball closer on the second playoff hole, after Larry hit that wayward approach. Sometimes you have to take the opportunity, and Larry did exactly that! Always enjoyed watching Larry’s incredibly smooth and rhythmic golf swing!
1:23:58 Seve: "Era un golpe perfecto eh, perfecto era el golpe.. Era el sexto palo..." / "It was a perfect shot huh, it was perfect.. It was the sixth blade..."
Probably would have if he hadn’t been banned from the tour in 86 causing the shot in the 86 masters which destroyed him, given the promise he made to his dying father.
Think it says a lot about the resistance Seve faced in America that the tv coverage didn’t bother showing his tee shots at 17 and 18. Not like they were important or anything.
Ive just watched this. I'm not sure why everyone thinks Norman was terribly unlucky. He only got in to the lead during the last round v late on. He putted poorly on the first 9.
Norman was usually careless in major final rounds, this time he was massively unlucky. Mize has since attempted the same shot several times in visits to Augusta and never holed it again.
Lucky or not, he made the chip, and if it didnt go in it was still an amazing shot from where he was. I see all these comments on Mize being lucky, as if he didnt deserve to win. Bull you know what.
@@oreldm yes. And he blew it in other Majors as well. He had a pattern of blowing it when he had a big lead or coming from way back in the field on the final day to get himself into contention and usually making a mistake or two when that happened to blow it. He won 88 tournaments worldwide, he was a great player and one of the most exciting e.g. his 'Sunday special' rounds, but just couldn't convert when he should have in the majors.
at least he got two green jackets, which is enough for Bens talent level. He did seem perfect for the Masters though just as Hale Irwin seemed perfect for the US open. But to the contrary,Faldo like Irwin seems made for the US open but only won Masters (and since he's a brit winning his own Open seems appropriate).
Yeah, and the fact he had 6 bogey's in his final round. He could have closed the door on Mize and Ballesteros. I get tired of reading the comments about the lucky shots stealing tournaments from him. People need to look closely at what happened during the tournament before that.
@@TSK24692I miss this era of golf. Golf today is just not the same. What’s even harder to believe is that Seve is gone. He was so great and for him not to have won the Masters in ‘86 and ‘87 is such a shame. From ‘80 to ‘88, Seve was the best and when he was in form, he had to equal.
@@martysykes3221 In the '86 Masters, when it became apparent he wasn't going to win, I loved the class he showed on the 17th hole when he acknowledged and gestured to the crowd in appreciation of their support.
The previous Major - Norman was pipped by Bob Tway who holed out from a bunker on the final hole. He must have been sure the golfing Gods were against him
Did the 3rd round grand slam in 86. Those times had some wild major championships. The masters seemed to be great every year. It’s not been like that for a while. Think the changes they made to the course made it more boring.
Interesting drop from samdy Lyle on the 15th. He should have incurred 2 stroke penalty. Social media would have been all over this if it was a current event. Norman wins
Very borderline. Mize gained zero advantage by holding his arm slightly lower - he was dropping on tightly mown grass. He’d never have been penalised for it, even if someone had phoned in (a caller had gotten Craig Stadler penalised at Torrey Pines a month earlier).
What happened with Crenshaw’s drive on 15 that he was so far back and had to lay up? Must have happened during a commercial break and was never explained.
