Norman not the best not to win the Masters

He dominated world golf for more than a decade, topped the rankings for 331 weeks and fell agonisingly short at Augusta National on so many occasions, yet Greg Norman still doesn’t rank as the best player never to win the Masters.

Not according to the USPGA Tour.com, which has listed its top 10 players unable to reign at Augusta on the eve of the season’s first major starting on Thursday night (AEST).

The “honour” instead goes to a player whose best finishes in 20 appearances at the Masters were tied for 10th in both 1975 and 1985.

All-time great Lee Trevino, a six-time major champion, edged out Norman based on an otherwise brilliant career spanning more than 30 years.

While he never came close to getting it done at Augusta, Trevino is one of only four men to have won the British Open, US Open and US PGA championships – and the Mexican American won each of those twice.

Norman, though, does come in as the second-best player never to have won the Masters after seeming destined to don a green jacket from the moment he finished fourth on debut as a 25-year-old in 1981.

All up, The Shark posted a remarkable eight top-5 finishes at Augusta, including runner-up showings in 1986, 1987 and 1996, when he famously blew a six-shot final-round lead.

In `86, Jack Nicklaus shot a six-under 30 on the back nine to deny Norman and become, at 46, the oldest player to win the Masters.

In `87, Larry Mize chipped in on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff.

Norman also finished third on two occasions, including 1989 when he led up the last hole and in 1999 when he again led on the homeward nine.

Alas, the golfing gods never shone on Norman when the azaleas bloomed.

The website ranked three-time major champion Johnny Miller, runner-up three times at Augusta, as the third-best player never to win the Masters.

Fellow American Hale Irwin, a three-times US Open champion who recorded seven top-10 Masters finishes, rates as the fourth-best never to win it.

South Africans Nick Price, a triple major champion, and Ernie Els, with four majors and two seconds at Augusta, are deemed the next best players never to win the Masters.

Rounding out the top 10 players never to wear the green jacket are Americans Tom Kite, Tom Weiskopf, former world No.1 David Duval and Davis Love III.

Kite was runner-up twice, Duval had four consecutive top-6 finishes, Weiskopf was runner-up a record-equalling four times at Augusta and Love III was second on two occasions.

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