There wouldn’t be a golfer alive, at least not one between 30 and 50-something, who couldn’t recollect shot for shot the final moments of numerous Masters championships, most significantly at those where Norman was contending.

As your life rolls along, you encounter some of those ‘I remember where I was moments’. I was a seven-year old when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and now almost 40 years later the memory is vivid. I clearly remember watching on a black and white television, in a school classroom in the Sydney suburb of Engadine, as history was unfolding.

I’ll never forget when the 9/11 terrorist attack took place. I was tucked away in bed when my son, about three at the time, woke me up at around 6.00am concerned there were no cartoons showing, asking -- make that demanding -- that I fix the television. Dragging myself out of bed I quickly discovered what had taken place and that every channel was covering the catastrophic event, hence no cartoons for my son.

But as significant as those and other major news moments may have been, being a sporting ‘junkie’ it is also easy to recall occasions when a sportsman or woman achieved something unique and special. Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Olympics, Steve Waugh scoring that remarkable century at the SCG with a boundary from the final ball of the day and Andrew Johns setting up the match winning try in the last minute of the 1997 ARL Grand Final.

Then of course, there is golf and the majors. I watched David Graham win the US Open, Wayne Grady the PGA Championship and Greg Norman triumph at two British Opens, but it is the US Masters and probably most significantly the performances of The Shark, which sticks out the most.

There wouldn’t be a golfer alive, at least not one between 30 and 50-something, who couldn’t recollect shot for shot the final moments of numerous Masters championships, most significantly at those where Norman was contending.

And we don’t remember Norman, Augusta and the Masters for the happy endings. We never got to see Norman slip the green jacket over his broad shoulders and head down to Butler Cabin for the trophy presentation, but there was always drama, excitement, and ultimately disappointment.

I remember back to the 1986 Masters when the Shark stormed home on the final day, with the only problem being a man named Jack Nicklaus was on a similar charge.

I had just finished playing at the Stanford University Golf course near San Francisco when I settled myself down in front of a TV screen to watch the last half dozen holes. This was surely to be Norman’s time.

Nicklaus was making a remarkable run up the leaderboard and the clubhouse full of US college golfers, many who would go on to forge solid careers on the US Tour, Billy Mayfair, Duffy Waldorf, Kevin Sutherland and Tom Pernice amongst them, cheered in unison at every birdie made by the Golden Bear.

In my quiet corner I pulled for Norman as he matched Nicklaus birdie for birdie, coming to the final hole needing a par to force a playoff.

The finale was an anti-climax as Norman pushed a mid-iron into the right hand trap on 18 and failed to get up and down. Nicklaus had won at age 46, the Stanford clubhouse went wild and Norman’s quest for Masters immortality would have to wait.

His second chance came just one year later and this time it was American journeyman Larry Mize taking away the title with THAT chip shot on the second hole of a playoff.

After Seve Ballesteros, one of the dominant players of the era had dropped out of the race with a bogey at the first extra hole, this time it just had to be Norman. Mize being a player with no form or pedigree as a winner of important golf tournaments, let alone major championships, meant that surely on this occasion Norman would prevail.

It looked even more likely when Mize pushed his approach shot to the 11th green well right of target. I was watching on from a small screen in the offices of Golf Australia Magazine and it appeared as though Norman, lying safely on the right edge of the green, was two putts away from becoming Masters champion.

Then Mize does the unthinkable and holes that a one-in-a-hundred chip shot. The blood drained from Norman’s face, a second Masters disaster for the Shark coming in the space of just 12 months.

By the time the 1996 US Masters had rolled around, nobody had given much thought to Norman mounting another serious challenge for the coveted title even though he was still more than capable. To prove he was far from a spent force Norman produced what were perhaps the best three rounds of his career at Augusta and with 18-holes to play had a five-shot. He couldn’t lose it from here. Could he?

Now a golf pro myself, I bounced out of bed on that Monday morning, energised, excited and firm in the belief that Norman would finally win the title he had so richly deserved.

That last day however didn’t go anywhere near to plan. Norman started nervously and Nick Faldo began strongly. Making the turn things didn’t look good for Norman, with his game going from bad to worse and Faldo gaining in confidence with every hole. It was developing into a train wreck but there was no way to get off as Norman lived it and all of Australia watched with disbelief.

It was probably well and truly over before then but after lipping out a chip shot on the par-five 15th and pull hooking his tee shot on 16 into the lake, the Shark was done and I couldn’t take any more either. Packing the clubs in the car I took off and by the time I’d driven the half an hour to the NSW Golf Club to practice, they were screening highlights of Norman and Faldo embracing on the 18th green, the capitulation complete.

But despite the disappointments, meltdowns and near misses, Greg Norman became as big a part of Masters folk lore as Amen Corner, Magnolia Lane and any of the other great championships played in the past. And it isn’t quite over for Norman just yet. In 2009, courtesy of his outstanding third place finish at the 2008 British Open, after a few years away, years when officials at Augusta decided he was no longer worthy of a place in the field, the Shark is back whether they like it or not.

Can he win? Probably not. Contend? You wouldn’t think so. The modern game, with its new-fangled technology and young, fearless and physically superior athletes, most who will probably outdrive the Shark by 30 metres or more, has surely passed him by.

Then again, maybe the golfing gods have saved this last dance for a man they have cruelly denied in the past. After all despite his 53 years he still looks fit enough to wrestle great whites of the coast of Queensland, or whatever it was legend said he did way back when. And don’t forget Norman did finish third at the Open Championship last year, leading the worlds best for three days.

Neither the game of golf nor the beefed-up Augusta National course lend themselves too much to fairytales, but come the second Thursday in April (Friday morning for us) we will all be tuning in, perhaps wondering if it might be possible.

After enquiring about what Tiger is shooting, next question the golfing world will be asking is just how is the Shark faring? The Tiger and the Shark, down the stretch with the tournament on the line. Now there is a movie script if ever there was one.