Attaboy, AussiesGreg Norman was on the edge of his seat Sunday afternoon as the new generation of young Australians put on quite a show. Even in defeat, Melanie Hauser says, the Shark loved the way they played under pressure. "The best theater I've ever seen," is how Greg Norman described the final round of the Masters. (Getty Images) By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Greg Norman watched every shot. Every up. Every down. Every birdie, bogey, bunker shot and drive. He was like a proud dad -- well, make that seriously older brother -- wondering if it just might be Adam Scott’s day. Or Jason Day’s. Or Geoff Ogilvy’s. If an Australian would finally wear a Green Jacket. He and his son Gregory texted back and forth. For the better part of five hours. Big shot. Decisive putt. Defining moment. And, he was on the edge of his seat -- literally in his chair at home -- when Scott missed it right on the 15th. “That’s the first time I went from relaxed to tense,” Norman said. And he didn’t really sit back until it was over. “I think it was the best theater I’ve seen,” Norman said. “And I’ve been involved in some there. It really captured my attention.” Ya think? After all those close calls he had, after all those years when we wrote about how the Masters owed him one and how he deserved to be the first Aussie to wear a green jacket, he was watching and hoping to see one of the next generation from Down Under do what he never did. It didn’t materialize. Scott and Day, playing together, came up short. Two shots short. They closed with 67 and 68, respectively, -- their best ball was 11-under -- and tied for second. They both came to 18 with a chance. They both came so close. Norman close. But what do you do when South African Charl Schwartzel birdies the last four holes to take the bows? “What do you say to that?” said Scott’s caddie Tony Navarro, who was on Norman’s bag for all those years. “You say ‘Hats off. Well played.’ There’s no heartbreak.” And Ogilvy? He birdied five straight to jump into contention, close with a 67 of his own and tie Tiger Woods and Luke Donald for fourth. Norman got Ogilvy’s voice mail and left a message. The two, in fact, had visited Thursday here over lunch. And once he knew Scott and Day were on their way to interviews, he made the call and talked to both of them. “I told them I was so proud of them,” he said. “I told them to keep their heads high and keep moving forward.” RELATED CONTENT --TOUR Report: Sunday --McAllister: Chaos reigns, until calm wins --Ross: Schwartzel puts Nicklaus' advice to good use Day smiled. Norman was a bit before his time -- he idolized Woods growing up and went to the same boarding school as Scott -- but he was well aware of all the Shark’s close calls. And the 0-for-Australia stat. “I just got off the phone with him,” Day said. “He's very proud of what we did out there and how we played. I don't think there's going to be a drought for too long. “I think Australian golf is right where it needs to be, and there's a lot of young, good Australian golfers coming up right now through the ranks,” he added. “One of us is going to win that Green Jacket one day.” Norman had to agree. Norman has mentored Scott since he was a teenager. Day is a fiery young player and Navarro thought it helped playing alongside Scott. “I’d say if it helped anyone, it helped Jason,” Navarro said. “They’re very comfortable playing together and have very similar games. He grew up watching Adam play. So that might have made it easier.” The day was a shootout from start to finish. Day started the round four back of third-round leader Rory McIlroy; Scott was five back. Scott and his long putter crept up the leaderboard and got to 10 under at the 11th. Day was sitting at 8 under. And when McIlroy melted down with that cabins-and-trees triple at the 10th? It was game on with Schwartzel, Scott, Day, Woods, Donald and Angel Cabrera sprinting toward the finish. On so many other Masters weekends, Scott’s pair of 67s would have worked magic. Not this one. “I played well today and that's all I could ask for,” Scott said. “Obviously I can't control Charl, and when you birdie the last four holes at the Masters and you're around the lead, that usually wins. “Nothing I can do about it. I hung in there as long as I could and kind of had a look at it on the last but not my best effort; but still, I've got to be pretty proud with the way I played over the weekend.” When Scott missed his birdie at 15 and had a tough 6-footer for par to stay at 11 under, Norman texted Gregory: “This is the biggest putt of Adam’s career.” It was a tester. A gut check. So was his tee shot at the 16th that cozied down for birdie. And his seventh-fairway bunker-to-greenside-bunker par at 17. And Day? He birdied 17 and 18 coming in. Tough stuff. Especially for a Masters rookie. “It was one of the most exciting tournaments I've ever played in,” he said. “I’m very happy with how I played today. I was out there and you're walking down the fairway and there's so many roars, you don't know what's going on and you see a number pop up on the leader board and the crowd is going crazy. It's lived up to everything I expected, and more, which is fantastic. “I've had the best first Masters experience, and this is going to go down for a long, long time in the memory bank. I've just had a blast.” As for the Aussies? You can bet the country was up and watching on what was early Monday morning. “Having three of us right in the mix until the very end, you know, hopefully they're proud of us and probably disappointed like we are that none of us are walking away as champion,” Scott said. Norman, for one, isn’t worried. “Golf in general is in great hands,” Norman said. “I was really thrilled about the global representation.”