Top 10 Masters Moments

This year’s Masters was everything we could have hoped for with Hideki Matsuyama’s win, making him the first ever Japanese Masters champion. The amazing performance that lead to his victory has got us reminiscing about our favourite Masters moments from throughout the years, so here are our top 10!

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#10 – The first sudden-death playoff

The first sudden-death playoff in Masters history was in the 1979 tournament. The pressure from this first-time moment caused the players to miss a trio of easy, makeable putts. It was Fuzzy Zoeller who won the sudden-death, claiming victory in his first ever Masters Tournament.

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#9 – Tiger Woods introduces himself

When he turned pro in 1996, we’d all been told that Tiger was going to be quite good, but in the following year’s tournament we got the first inkling of just how good he was. He demolished the field by 12 strokes in one of the greatest Masters moments. This win was also the first for any African-American player, rightfully earning its place in Masters history.

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#8 – Fred Couples defies the 12^th hole bank

The 12^th green has a knack for capitalising on askew shots and making them roll into the water from the bank. Fred Couples defied this logic back in 1992 with his approach shot stopping on the bank, leaving him a relatively straightforward up-and-down par shot that would lead him to winning his only major title.

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#7 – Sandy Lyle’s magical bunker shot

After accidentally landing his ball in the bunker when he was tied with Mark Calcavecchia on the 72^nd tee, Sandy Lyle picked his 7-iron and hit a magnificent shot. What seemed like an unlikely par turned into a birdie when his ball landed past the hole just to trickle back within 10 feet.

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#6 – Frank Chirkinian changes the way the game is scored

In 1959 Frank Chirkinian worked his first Masters for CBS and found the system confusing, confessing years later that “the scores were posted with cumulative scores” and that “nobody knew what was going on.” The following year he took care of that, introducing the above and under par scoring method we use today.

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#5 – Ben Crenshaw wins one for Harvey Penick

In 1995 Ben Crenshaw won his second green jacket, but what makes it so memorable was that he did this one week after his mentor Harvey Penick passed away. It was his determination, mixed with some luck from above, that secured his one stroke win over Davis Love III. This was definitely an emotional win for him as he bent over and covered his face, sobbing.

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#4 – Scott Hoch’s agonising miss

11 time PGA tour winner Scott Hoch missed a heartbreaking 24 inch putt in the 1989 tournament. It was against Faldo, who then went on to birdie the next hole, claiming his victory. While there are many missed opportunities throughout the years, this one definitely stands out as the most painful.

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#3 – Tiger Woods makes a come back

It has been just over a decade since Tiger’s last major victory, so when he came back in 2019 to claim his fifth green jacket, he made sure to do it in spectacular style. On the 16^th hole he hit a near perfect 8-iron, skimming past the hole to stop 3 feet away. He finished it off with a birdie putt that lead him to victory.

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#2 – Lee Elder makes history

While he may not have won, Lee Elder will always be firmly established in the Masters history books as the first African-American to play at Augusta National. He received tremendous support as many African-Americans showed up to support him, more than he’d ever seen at a golf tournament before.

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#1 – A local boy wins the Masters

What seemed like a playoff between 2 golfing giants turned into a surprising win for an underdog. Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman were tied after 72 holes when Augusta native Larry Mize birdied his final hole to join them at three-under 285. He then went on to win the tournament with a glorious chip shot, shocking everyone.