Greg Norman's demise was tough to watch, even for the guys who get paid to do it. Ben Crenshaw, serving as a color analyst for CBS during Sunday's telecast of the Masters, excused himself from Butler Cabin after Norman followed three successive bogeys by hitting a seven-iron into Rae's Creek and double-bogeying the 12th hole. When Crenshaw didn't return, a worried Bill Macatee, with whom he had been working, went looking for him. He found him outside smoking cigarettes and fighting back tears. "Greg is such a good guy," Crenshaw said. "This is so hard to watch."

Although Norman might not believe it, Peter Kostis didn't enjoy seeing the Shark go belly-up either. During Saturday's telecast, Kostis astutely observed that it appeared that Norman was fighting his swing and that he had turned a 76 or a 78 into a 71 by making good decisions and relying on an airtight short game.

Kostis later repeated his take on Norman to Brian Hammonds of the Golf Channel, who paraphrased his comments on the air that night. Norman happened to catch the Hammonds segment, and he hit the ceiling. On Sunday morning, before preparing for the final round, Norman called CBS producer Frank Chirkinian and told him in no uncertain terms what he thought of Kostis's opinion.

Late on Sunday, Kostis said it was all a misunderstanding. "It wasn't meant to be a prognostication of doom for Greg," Kostis said. "Certain things are pretty much cast in stone as far as golf is concerned. One is that it's very difficult when you're missing it both ways. Greg hit it right at 9 and 11 on Saturday, and he hit it left at 15 and 18. I know he was working on a stronger grip, and he obviously looked uncomfortable. He was fighting his driver. I meant what I said to be a compliment. What it does do is leave a million unanswered questions."

One of which has to be: Will Butch Harmon, the swing coach Norman ditched after last season but brought back to help him prepare for the Masters, take the fall for his man's collapse? Harmon sounded more like a football coach than a golf instructor on Sunday night. "There's nothing I can say right now," he said. "I've got to look at the tapes and talk to Greg and see how he felt."

Up the Creek

Michael Campbell was the first player at the Masters to benefit from the lower water level in Rae's Creek in front of the 13th green, the one major change made to the course this year. Campbell hit a six-iron into the hazard, and in years past, when the creek was full, he would have been forced to take a penalty stroke and a drop. But because the creek bed now has just a small stream flowing through it, Campbell's ball was only half-submerged, and he opted to play out. "I just closed my eyes, and the ball came out to 10 feet," Campbell said. He made the putt for birdie.

"I like it much better this way," said Mark Calcavecchia despite a bogey from the ditch on Thursday. "At least it gives you a chance."

Key Man at the National

Frank Carpenter is the keeper of the keys at Augusta National, the man who has total access to the cedar closets where the members' famous green jackets are stored, and the club's excellent, although not as well-known, wine cellar below the kitchen. "My job is to provide service for the members," says the 69-year-old Carpenter. "I want to be the best sommelier in the world."

Carpenter started at the National in 1953 as a barman for the beverage cart between the 9th green and 10th tee. In 1972 he became the club's steward. His primary responsibility is keeping an inventory of the 10,000 bottles of wine, a collection that ranges from a $25 Mondavi Reserve Fume Blanc to a $300 Chateau Petrus Pomerol. "The strength of this cellar is the quantity of quality wines," says Carpenter, who is often called upon to select bottles for special occasions. His challenge last week: finding something to accompany the Texas barbecue Ben Crenshaw served at the champions dinner. Lone Star would have been an excellent choice, but Carpenter eventually settled on eight bottles of 1975 Lafite Rothschild and four bottles of 1991 Chevalier Montrachet.

As club steward Carpenter is also part of the Masters tradition. He is responsible for presenting the green jacket to the defending champion, who in turn puts it on the tournament winner. "He's a fixture," says Harden Perry, the club's assistant manager. "Everybody who comes here knows Frank."

Coat Tales

The green jacket worn by Masters champions and Augusta National members would cost about $200, unadorned, at Brooks BrothersÑand Mr. Blackwell would take away style points for its 55% polyester, 45% wool blendÑbut stitch on the famous logo and add the three buttons initialed ANGC and the outdated green blazer becomes the most stylish little number in golf.

Only members are allowed to purchase the jackets, and the club prefers that they not take them off the grounds. Made by Hamilton Tailoring of Cincinnati, the coats are worn for dinner at the club and during the Masters so that a member can be easily identified, in the words of the club's late chairman, Clifford Roberts, as "a reliable source of information" for tournament patrons. Masters champions get their jackets free, and are allowed to take them home for one year. The club asks that the jacket not be worn in commercial endeavors. Jack Nicklaus, for example, got written permission to be shown in his in an SI photograph when he was named our 1978 Sportsman of the Year. Twelve years later Nick Faldo got in hot water when he allowed TV talk-show host Terry Wogan to try on the coat during an interview.

Fitting the Masters champions is an inexact science. When it comes down to one or two contenders on Sunday, the club's general manager guesses the size of the potential winner, and an employee hustles to one of two cedar closets where the members' jackets are stored, picks out a coat and brings it to Butler Cabin for the presentation. From there, the loaner jacket is brought to the 18th green by Carpenter, who hands it to the defending champion, who puts it on the winner.

Not that everything goes without a hitch. When Nicklaus won his first Masters, in 1963, he was presented with a 46 long by Arnold Palmer. "I wore a 43 regular," says Nicklaus. "The sleeves covered my hands." Then someone forgot to have a permanent jacket made for Nicklaus. When he came back for the champions dinner in 1964, he was given the jacket belonging to Thomas Dewey, which Nicklaus wore for 12 years. Nicklaus eventually called Hart, Schaffner & Marx, the apparel company he represents, to have a coat made. "That's what I've got upstairs right now," he says.

Two years ago, when Nicklaus told Masters chairman Jack Stephens about his bootleg jacket, Stephens offered to have an official one made. Nicklaus said no, that would only spoil a good story. "I'm the only guy to win six green jackets, and I don't own one from the club," Nicklaus says. "I bought my own."

Short Game

CBS will announce a two-year contract extension with analyst Ken Venturi this week.... The Masters remains the only major in which no player has shot four rounds in the 60s.... Seve Ballesteros and Gary Player had a menu from the champions dinner autographed by everyone there and sent to JosŽ Mar’a Olaz‡bal, who was unable to play due to rheumatoid arthritis in his feet.... Two hundred and sixty-one. That's the combined age of honorary Masters starters Gene Sarazen (94), Byron Nelson (84) and Sam Snead (83).... Raymond Floyd, 53, became the oldest player to score a hole in one in the Masters when he aced the 16th hole with a five-iron on Sunday.... Nicklaus's eagle on Saturday at the 15th was his ninth at that hole.... Twenty years ago Jay Haas won the par-3 contest on the eve of the Masters as a 22-year-old amateur; last week he won it again.