Norman closed with a 78 at Augusta National, turning a six-shot lead into a five-shot loss in a tournament that became a defining moment in his career.

Singh doesn’t expect that to be the case with Garcia.

“Sometimes it’s harder to play with a big lead,” Singh said. “I’ve found that out myself. Instead of trying to win the golf tournament, you don’t want to lose it. If guys are catching up ... you kind of start to get nervous.”

Garcia showed that on the first hole.

After running a slippery 8-footer for birdie some 30 inches by the cup, he decided to finish off the hole even though Furyk had an 6-footer for par. Garcia’s simple par putt caught the lip.

“I think he just lost concentration,” Furyk said.

Then came an 8-foot birdie on the second hole that missed. He asked his caddie, Glenn Murray, to help read a 10-foot birdie putt on the fourth, but that didn’t help. He missed another 10-footer for birdie on the fifth.

“I played awesome the first eight holes,” Garcia said. “I should have been easily 3 or 4 under, and I was 1 (under). It was tough. To see that you hit it to 10 feet every time and you can’t make a putt ... you know, it cost me.”

And even after Singh flubbed a chip that turned birdie into bogey on the par-5 15th, falling into a tie with Garcia, the Spaniard blew a chance to take control of the tournament. From 250 yards in the fairway, his 2-iron on the 15th stopped 6 feet from the hole. Garcia missed that putt, too, and had to settle for birdie.

Singh tried to cut through the tension during the first hole of the playoff, when all three players had the cup surrounded with testy par putts, ranging from Garcia at 6 feet to Furyk at just over 4 feet.

“I told the guys, ’Good, good, good. Let’s go to the next tee box,”’ Singh said.

They all laughed, although it was uneasy laughter from Garcia.

By the then, the fearless confidence was gone.

And after the putt slid below the cup, so was the tournament.

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