One after another, Norman's fellow pros fell out of contention and came to the interview room after their rounds were complete to say he was now the guy they were rooting for. This was not the horrible collapse of 1996, when Norman squandered a six-stroke lead to Faldo, but what made even the toughest of his competitors reach out to him then is the same bit of character that made them do so one more time. For lack of another word, call it grace - a quality that hadn't been observed around Norman until that humbling loss three years ago. Before that, he made excuses when he lost, he was arrogant and not beyond flaunting his wealth. Sometimes, in private, he unfairly trashed reputations.
Grace is a funny thing that way.
Lose it once, and usually it's gone forever. Now that Norman has it in his grasp, he'd better hold on tight. He said after 1996 that he was certain all those freakish losses had been a test for something, though he didn't know what. The suspicion is that he was being tested, all right, by losing over and over until he got it right. On Sunday, he demonstrated that part of the lesson is over.