Jon Super / AP

Greg Norman turned in a surprise third-place finish at least year's British Open while on his honeymoon with tennis great Chris Evert.

Can he cook up one last chance?

The odds are against him, not to mention the 7,435-yard course, a quarter-mile longer than when he last contended. Norman played it recently after it had rained, when the course had no roll, and he said that Bethpage Black felt like a pitch-and-putt compared with Augusta.

Then again, who could have predicted Birkdale?

“I think if anyone ever deserves to win a Masters, it’s Greg Norman,” said Robert Allenby, one of a dozen or so Australians inspired by the Great White Shark. “And that would be a fairy tale, that’s for sure, if he went out there this year and won it. But you know, it will be nice to see him there.”

That’s the way Norman wants to approach his return.

Why go back?

He loves the golf course and wants to see the changes, which have transformed it into one of the toughest tests in golf. No one has come remotely close to the course record of 63 that he shares with Nick Price. Too, Norman wanted to share the week with Evert.

“A couple of people really wanted me to go there, and Chrissie has never seen the Masters,” Norman said. “So to get her there and to see what I think is the greatest golf championship, and my favorite tournaments of all time, was another factor, as well.”

His son, Gregory, will be his caddie.

Norman has never played Augusta National with so few expectations. That’s what he did at Royal Birkdale, although it helped that hardly anyone knew he was there until he showed up on the leaderboard throughout the weekend.

Ideally, he would treat this as another honeymoon — even though his honeymoon with Augusta ended long ago.

“I just want to make sure that everybody manages their expectations,” he said. “And I manage my expectations.”