THE MASTERS GOLF TOURNAMENT : From Out of the Sand, It’s Lyle : His Bunker Shot, Putt on 18 Leave Calcavecchia Second

On the last hole on the last day of the Masters tournament, Sandy Lyle thought his last chance to win had come to an end in a pit filled with sand.

First, though, he would try to hit his golf ball and lift it out of the bunker dug into the red Georgia clay, the one that guards the left side of the 18th fairway at Augusta National.

“I personally thought it was over,” Lyle said. “I didn’t think I would have a chance to get it out.”

He was wrong.

While Mark Calcavecchia waited for a playoff that never came, Lyle knocked the ball out of the sand and onto the green where it rolled back to 10 feet from the cup, then sank a birdie putt to win the Masters championship Sunday by a single stroke.

For 30-year-old Alexander Walter Barr Lyle, it was the kind of victory that he will replay in his mind time and time again. And every time he thinks about it, he will always shoot a 71 and that 7-iron from the bunker is going to land above the pin and roll down that little slope toward the hole every time.

There is such a thing as timing just as there is such a thing as tradition and Lyle’s stunning victory found its own place in the rich tradition of Masters performances.

No one since Arnold Palmer, who birdied the 18th hole on the last day of the 1960 Masters to beat Ken Venturi, had done what Lyle did Sunday. Twenty-eight years of inflation meant something to Lyle. Palmer’s Masters victory was worth $17,500. Lyle won $183,800 for his.

Also, no Briton had ever won the Masters, until Lyle.

But before the son of a Scottish club pro pulled a 7-iron out of bag and stood in the sand, it appeared as if his chance might not come. Lyle was tied with Calcavecchia at 6-under par when his 1-iron from the tee landed in the bunker.

Nervous? Well, yes.

“It looked a bit dodgy,” he said.

Lyle felt better when he saw that the ball had come to rest in the bunker in a uphill lie. His plan was to knock the ball past the pin and then get it to roll back down the sloping green to the pin. That’s just what he did.

“My mind was clear, everything was working well and the shot came out absolutely perfect,” he said.

Calcavecchia, who had finished his round with a 70, was waiting to see what Lyle would do when a newsman asked him about a playoff.

“I told him, ‘I don’t want one,’ ” Calcavecchia said later. “And I didn’t get one.”

There was still that 10-footer left for Lyle. If he made it, he would win. If he didn’t, he would meet Calcavecchia in a sudden-death playoff.

Watching Lyle on a television in the clubhouse, Greg Norman was asked if he thought Lyle would make his putt.

“Tell you when he hits it,” Norman said.

Just as Lyle stroked the ball, Norman said “It’s in.”

However, Lyle was not overly confident as he stood over his putt.

“You’re just going to feel that wonderful,” he said. “Your knees are knocking a little bit. But I managed to keep my nerves well controled and it all came together. Bingo! “

Lyle raised his hands and a huge smile spread across his face. Soon he was wearing a green jacket.

Calcavecchia, the long ball-hitting Floridian, won $110,200 for second place, playing in only his second Masters. Former Masters champion Craig Stadler finished third with a final round 68, a shot behind Calcavecchia.

Ben Crenshaw, another former champion, was three shots back of Lyle in fourth when he could do no better than a 72.

Norman was the best of all over the last 18 holes, but it was too late. Norman shot an 8-under par 64 and leap-frogged into a tie with Fred Couples and Dan Pooley, four shots behind Lyle.

The day began with everyone behind Lyle, but the tailor for the green jacket soon needed to think about getting a few other sizes ready.

After 10 holes, Lyle held a four-shot lead over Calcavecchia, but just as Lyle had known, trouble was indeed around every corner.

At Augusta National, it is known as Amen Corner, the 11th, 12th and 13th holes at the far corner of the course. There is trouble there. Lyle found it.

He bogeyed the 11th and his lead shrunk to two shots while Calcavecchia, playing one group ahead of Lyle along with Bernhard Langer, had already birdied the hole by dropping a 20-footer.

Then on the par-3 12th hole, only 155 yards, Lyle’s 8-iron fell short of the green. The ball hit a grassy bank and rolled into the water. Lyle managed to come out of it with just a double-bogey, but Calcavecchia, who at the 13th tee knew of Lyle’s problems, thought it could have been a lot worse.

“I said, ‘Oooh, OK, we got us a game now,’ ” Calcavecchia said.

“I thought he would triple (bogey),” he said. “Quadruple was possible.”

What was possible was that Calcavecchia had just tied Lyle. They were both 5-under, but Calcavecchia took the lead when he birdied the 13th.

But Calcavecchia didn’t get another one, although he certainly was looking for more. He saved pars on 15 and 16 with a pair of 10-foot putts and when he got to 18, Calcavecchia knew he had just one more chance.

His second shot was from 123 yards away and Calcavecchia chose a wedge. It wasn’t enough club. He said afterwards he should have used a 9-iron. The ball hit a bump just short of the green and rolled back, leaving him a long chip.

Even though Calcavecchia chipped to within one foot, the birdie chance had slipped away. Calcavecchia found out when he was walking off the 18th green that Lyle had just birdied the 16th and they were tied.

By then, Calcavecchia and Lyle were the only players left in the hunt because Stadler had taken himself out of it when he bogeyed the 16th to drop back to five under.

The par-3 16th is 170 yards long with water on the left and a green so fast, Tom Watson four-putted it Saturday. Lyle drove a 7-iron onto the green and birdied from 10 feet.

Lyle two-putted the 17th for a par and then walked to the tee box on the 18th even with Calcavecchia.

He was not thinking about Amen Corner, the place where he admitted he hit “rock bottom.” He was not thinking about a playoff. And he certainly was not thinking about sending a 1-iron into the bunker.

Actually, Lyle was worried about how his father’s nerves were holding up under the strain.

“It’s no good for him,” Lyle said. “I think he’ll have a whiskey tonight.”

And what will Lyle have next?

“The Grand Slam?” he said.

He was joking, wasn’t he? Calcavecchia hopes so.

“He’s playing better than anyone in the world right now,” Calcavecchia said. “He’s 99% unflappable. I’m glad he’s going home (soon). I can’t wait to get rid of the guy. Who knows how many tournaments he would win if he stayed over here?”

Well, there is one associated with a certain green jacket that we know of already.

Masters Notes

Last time anybody has won back-to-back tour events, before this: Bernhard Langer, 1985. He followed his Masters triumph with a win at Hilton Head, S.C. . . . Last time anybody has won three straight: Gary Player, 1978, the Masters, Tournament of Champions and the Houston Open. . . . With $183,800 won Sunday, Sandy Lyle has raked in $591,820.82 this year. And, it’s not yet mid-April. . . . He goes for three in a row at this week’s USF&G; tournament at New Orleans. . . . Course record holder Nick Price (63 in 1986) shot 66 while other eyes were on Greg Norman. . . . Protests of course conditions moved Tom Kite to say: “It doesn’t do any good to complain because it sounds like sour grapes. It’s a dictatorship here. Even the members can’t complain or they take away their membership. I don’t know this course. It’s not the one I’ve been playing.” Kite’s 302 was the worst total of his 16 years here, including his amateur years. . . . Defending champion Larry Mize finished tied for last among players who made the cut. Mize shot a 79 Sunday for a four-day total of 304, 23 shots behind Lyle and won $3,400. . . . Because of the fast greens, Jack Nicklaus switched for the final two rounds to a lighter, smaller-blade putter, bagging the monster-head model he won with in 1986. Result: “It was probably as fine a round as I’ve played in a long time,” he said of Saturday’s 72. Sunday, he shot 72 again. . . . Nicklaus, who won his sixth Masters title with incentive from a newspaper article that called him washed up, quipped: “The biggest problem I’ve had this week is that nobody’s written a horrible article about me. My refrigerator’s bare.” . . . Low Amateur: Jay Sigel, an even 300. Mr. Inconsistency: Gary Hallberg, 73-69-80-79.

Mac O’Grady, no fan of Augusta’s greens, grinned and gave mysterious notice: “Some day, if I come into the 18th hole on Sunday with a two-stroke lead, be there. You’ll see some history made.” . . . Dodger pitcher Don Sutton was in the gallery Friday and Saturday, Orel Hershiser accompanying him the second day. “If you don’t get goose bumps when you walk into this place, you don’t have a pulse,” Sutton said. . . . Also sighted: Louisville basketball Coach Denny Crum, Texas A&M; football Coach Jackie Sherrill, Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles, Chicago Bears owner Mike McCaskey and LeRoy Irvin if the Rams. . . . Somebody behind the 18th green started singing “Happy Birthday” to Seve Ballesteros as he completed play Saturday, so everybody joined in. Sweet. Too bad it wasn’t his birthday. It’s April 19.