Editor's note: With the Masters Tournament postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Aiken Standard will look back at a Masters-related topic each day.
The Masters has been played 83 times, often producing some of the most exciting and memorable golf that has ever been played. Executive Editor John Boyette and Sports Reporter Kyle Dawson rank the best tournaments in Masters history.
John Boyette
- 1986: Like a fine wine, this one doesn’t do anything but get better with age. The ingredients start with all of the world’s top players: Ballesteros, Norman, Langer, Price, Kite, Watson and Lyle. Then throw in a 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus. Have them battle it out over Augusta National’s final nine holes. Nicklaus produces a 30 on the final nine, including an eagle-birdie-birdie stretch, and there’s great commentary (“Maybe … Yes sir!!”) from the CBS crew. Top it off with an emotional embrace between Nicklaus and his son, who just happens to be his caddie, for his sixth and final Masters triumph.
- 1997: Tiger Woods had played the Masters twice as an amateur, and everyone predicted great things for him in Augusta. But anyone who claims they saw him shattering records on his way to a 12-shot win is lying. The way he manhandled the course was preposterous. Throw in the cultural significance of the first African American to win a major – not to mention the youngest player to ever don a green jacket – and it was a win for the ages.
- 1960: Arnold Palmer arrived as a major champion in the late 1950s just as a new medium was beginning to take off. Television, and golf, couldn’t have asked for a better star. The charismatic Palmer, with his go-for-broke style, brought golf to the masses. And he was at his best in Augusta, where he won his second green jacket with a birdie-birdie finish. Two months later he won the U.S. Open with a dramatic charge and reintroduced the quest for the modern Grand Slam.
- 1975: This was perhaps the greatest three-man battle in golf since Francis Ouimet beat Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in the U.S. Open in 1913. (Yeah, I figured you had forgotten that one.) Flash forward to 1975, when polyester pants and colorful shirts were the norm. Jack Nicklaus is red hot the first two rounds, but the two other great players of the day, Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller, join the fray. In the final round, birdies fly all over Augusta National as they wage an amazing shootout. But Nicklaus buries a 40-footer on the 16th green – “All I could see were Bear tracks,” Miller later quipped – and it was the Golden Bear’s fifth Augusta triumph.
- 2004: It was really tempting to put Tiger’s fifth win, in 2019, in this slot. Ditto for the 1954 Masters when amateur Billy Joe Patton almost upstaged Sam Snead and Ben Hogan. But in the end Phil Mickelson’s first Masters triumph had just a little more to offer. In the final round, Padraig Harrington and Kirk Triplett made consecutive aces at the 16th. K.J. Choi jarred his second on the par-4 11th. Ernie Els made two eagles. And Mickelson, so often a bridesmaid, converted an 18-foot birdie on the final hole to walk away with his first major title.
Kyle Dawson
- 1986: This is a really difficult list to put together, but No. 1 is an easy one. Written off as a legitimate contender and all but put out to pasture, Jack turned back the clock with a back-nine 30 to beat the guys who had taken his place at the top of the game and became the oldest Masters champion at 46 years, two months and 23 days. It had the star power – seven of the top-10 players in the world finished tied for 11th or better that week – to be a successful week without him, but the Golden Bear's improbable comeback makes this the gold standard.
- 1997: This week changed golf. Tiger Woods, the ultra-talented 21-year-old who wanted to be the greatest to ever play the game, for the first time showed the world that, yes, that was actually a realistic goal. The way Tiger demolished the course and the field changed golf courses, changed golf fitness, changed golf style, changed golf money, changed golf TV – it changed everything. An estimated 44 million people tuned into the final round, and it wasn't to watch Costantino Rocca. It was only fitting that Lee Elder was there to see it in person.
- 2004: A fairly unremarkable start was followed by a third-round collapse by the top three players on the leaderboard – Justin Rose shot 81, two-time Masters champ Jose Maria Olazabal shot 79, and Alex Cjeka shot 78 – to set up a final round full of fireworks. Phil Mickelson birdied five of his last seven holes, including the winner of 18, to beat Ernie Els by a shot and finally shed the dreaded "best player to never win a major" label.
- 1975: What looked like a runaway Friday night turned into one of the Masters' most competitive weekends. Tom Weiskopf's Saturday 66 gave him the lead by a shot over Jack Nicklaus, and Johnny Miller surged into contention with the first half of what is still the lowest scoring weekend in Masters history (65-66). Jack's birdie bomb on 16 was his second in a row and got him to 12 under, one ahead of Weiskopf and Miller.
- 2019: Maybe it's recency bias, but Tiger's win last year tops 2011. Five past major champions shared the 36-hole lead, and 10 players were within five shots of leader Francesco Molinari heading into a chaotic final round. After splashdown upon splashdown into Rae's Creek, plus a bonus water ball from Molinari on 15, Tiger had the solo lead for the first time. His near-ace on 16 and a par on 17 gave him the necessary cushion for his fifth green jacket. At least 10 different players could've won, but for the 81st time in his career it was Woods all alone atop a leaderboard.
