Throwback Thursday: Larry Mize produces chip of a lifetime
The Background
April 12th 1987 will live long in the memory for Larry Mize, and unfortunately, for Greg Norman also.
With a three-way tie after 72 holes the Masters came down to three men – Mize, Norman and Seve Ballesteros. After the Spaniard three-putted on the 10th, the first play-off hole, it was Norman vs Mize for the Green Jacket.
The Scene
After the pair had hit their approach shots into the 11th Mize had missed the green to the right. Norman had a 20-foot putt. The odds were improbable two putts looked like being enough to get the Aussie over the line at last. Then this happened.
The world thought it was over – Mize didn’t. The now 58-year-old set off his chip and the rest, as they say, is history. Mize leapt in celebration with the Augusta patrons going wild.
Norman was shattered. He never did win the Masters.
The Legacy
The 1987 win was the first ever victory for an Augusta native in only his fourth start at the course having grown up changing the scoreboards he was now at the top of.
Mize, like all other previous winners, continues to play at the Masters each year and even made the cut last week ahead of Sergio Garcia’s popular victory.
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Tom Irwin
Tom is a lifetime golfer, now over 30 years playing the game. 2023 marks 10 years in golf publishing and he is still holding down a + handicap at Alwoodley in Leeds. He has played over 600 golf courses, and has been a member of at least four including his first love Louth, in Lincolnshire. Tom likes unbranded clothing, natural fibres, and pencil bags. Seacroft in Lincolnshire is where it starts and ends.
