Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990                   TAG: 9004100059
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: AUGUSTA, GA.                                LENGTH: Medium

FLOYD BACKED INTO HIS MOST DEVASTATING LOSS

The veteran Floyd, long hailed as one of the best front-runners in pro golf, appeared to have the hammer down.

"I think it's over," Wadkins said, nodding his head affirmatively.

"Ray is so tough. That ol' boy has a lot of determination and he doesn't want to let go. Ray's one guy who won't let up when he gets ahead. If he's three shots ahead, he wants to make it four, then five."

Ray Floyd, they say, is "Mr. Jugular." Give him an opening and he'll bury you 10 feet deep with that shovel he carries in his golf bag. Give him a late lead and he'll stomp your face full of cleat marks.

Floyd won't back off. That's been the book on him for 27 years - until Sunday and the back nine of the 54th Masters.

Leading Nick Faldo by four shots with six holes left, Floyd was headed for a green jacket . . . until he played close to the vest.

Uncharacteristically, Floyd started playing not to lose, instead of playing to win.

Suddenly, at age 47, Floyd was playing a game with which he wasn't familiar.

"That was not a strategy I left the first tee with," Floyd said. "It's not my nature to play that way.

"But the scores dictated it. Nobody was making any birdies. My par-par-par was looking pretty good."

So Ray Floyd did the unthinkable: He backed off. No more gambling.

Instead of trying to get home in two with a 4-iron at the 485-yard, par-5 13th - the easiest hole in relation to par in the tournament - Floyd laid up short with a 9-iron.

"I had 215 yards downhill and there was no question I could have made it," he said. "But I decided not to risk it."

Instead of knocking his ball on the green and probably two-putting for an easy birdie-4, Floyd laid up, fired his third shot on the green and missed the putt.

Minutes before, Faldo had reached the 13th in two and routinely two-putted for birdie.

After Faldo did the same number at the 500-yard, par-5 15th to cut the lead to two shots, Floyd backed off again, choosing to play short in two at 15. Again, no gimme two-putt birdie.

Sure, there's trouble lurking at both par-5s. You can take a big number. Just ask Curtis Strange.

However, the point here is that Floyd usually devours par-5s. En route to a wire-to-wire eight-shot romp in the 1976 Masters, Floyd played Augusta's four par-5s in a tournament-record 14 under par. Coming to No. 13 Sunday, he was 10 under for the 14 par-5 holes that had been played in the tournament.

Plus, statistics support that being bold pays off at Nos. 13 and 15. According to a Golf Digest poll of the 1989 tournament, the average score on No. 13 for those going for the green in two was 4.62, compared with 4.85 for those who laid up in two.

While Floyd tried to play defense, Faldo continued on the offensive. He rolled in a 15-footer at the par-3 16th to cut the deficit to one shot.

Still no problem, Floyd thought. "A one-shot lead with one or two holes is a pretty big lead," he said.

But at the par-4 17th, Floyd pulled a 9-iron and left himself with a 50-footer for birdie. He charged the putt past the hole, then missed an 8-footer coming back for par.

It was tied.

The sudden-death playoff didn't last long. It ended on the second hole - the 455-yard, par-4 11th - when Floyd jerked a 7-iron approach shot into Ray's Pond.

Mr. Jugular turned Mr. Layup turned Mr. Dunk was sunk.

Afterward, Floyd said the loss was the "most devastating of his pro career."

It probably wouldn't have hurt nearly as much if he had played his game.