The Greatest Masters Moments of All Time
Augusta National does something no other major championship venue can quite replicate: it produces moments that feel inevitable in retrospect, as if the course was designed specifically to generate them. The back nine on Sunday at Augusta is the most dramatic stretch of real estate in golf, and it has rewarded that drama with an almost embarrassing consistency. Here are the moments that define it.
Jack Nicklaus, 1986: The Greatest Final Round
Jack Nicklaus was 46 years old, four shots back, and not a serious contender according to any commentator. He birdied 9, 10, and 11. He eagled 15. He birdied 16 — and as the ball tracked toward the cup, he crouched forward and watched, and CBS's Vern Lundquist said "Yes sir" and Augusta produced a sound it hadn't made like that since Arnie was young. His son Jackie caddied for him. He shot 65. He won his sixth green jacket. It has not been matched.
Tiger Woods, 1997: The Coronation
Tiger Woods was 21 years old. He shot 270 — 18 under par — and won by 12 shots. The next youngest player in the field wasn't close. The domination was so absolute that Augusta National commissioned an immediate redesign of several holes to add length. That a course would be rebuilt in response to a single player's performance tells you everything about what happened that week.
Larry Mize, 1987: The Impossible Chip
Larry Mize, a Augusta native, was in a sudden-death playoff with Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros. Ballesteros had already made bogey and was eliminated. On the 11th hole, Mize was 140 feet from the cup on a downhill chip that broke sharply left. He chipped in. Norman, watching from on the green, covered his face with his hands. Mize ran with his arms raised and the gallery came apart. It remains the most improbable chip in major championship history.
Tiger Woods, 2019: The Return
Eleven years after his last major championship, five back surgeries later, Tiger Woods made par on 18 at Augusta National and won his fifth Masters. The gallery that followed him home — the noise building on every hole, the crowd at the 18th green — was unlike anything Augusta had produced in the television era. His mother was waiting at the back of the green. He embraced her and held on.
Bubba Watson, 2012: The Hook From the Trees
Bubba Watson hit his tee shot on the second playoff hole (No. 10) into the pine straw beneath the trees on the right side of the fairway. The lie was impossible. The angle to the green was impossible. Watson took his gap wedge, hooked the ball 40 yards around a pine tree, and stopped it 10 feet from the pin. He two-putted for par. Louis Oosthuizen made bogey. Watson won. The shot has never been satisfactorily explained by the laws of physics.
Phil Mickelson, 2004: The Tears on 18
Phil Mickelson had been the best player in golf to never win a major championship for so long that the storyline had become exhausting. At Augusta in 2004, he made birdie on 18 to win by one shot. He jumped, pumped his fist, and then stood on the green and wept. His wife Amy, who had been battling health issues, was waiting. It was the most emotionally complete Masters victory since Nicklaus in 1986.
Arnold Palmer, 1960: The Charge Established
Arnold Palmer trailed by one shot entering the final round of the 1960 Masters. He birdied the first six holes. He won. The final-round charge at Augusta — the back nine drama, the crowd surging through the pines — was largely Palmer's invention, and the 1960 Masters is where the template was set.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most famous moment in Masters history?
Jack Nicklaus's final round at the 1986 Masters — his birdie at 16, Vern Lundquist's "Yes sir" call, and the overall improbability of a 46-year-old winning his sixth green jacket — is the most universally cited greatest moment in Masters history.
Who has won the most Masters titles?
Jack Nicklaus has won the Masters six times, more than any other player. Tiger Woods has won five. Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, and Phil Mickelson have each won three.
What makes Augusta National different from other major venues?
Augusta National is a private members club with permanent infrastructure maintained specifically for the Masters, producing consistently exceptional playing conditions. The course's design — particularly the back nine with Amen Corner and the two par-5s at 13 and 15 — generates dramatic scoring swings that other venues cannot replicate as reliably.