The Masters is days away at Augusta National
Augusta National
The Masters is days away, taking place April 7-10 at the fabled Augusta National in Georgia.
As speculation on whether Tiger Woods will return to the Master’s stage mounts, the return would come 25 years after he won his first Masters in 1997.
While Woods has won the coveted green jacket a handful of times, he has not won it the most, and there are certainly plenty of others who have earned the right to the green jacket more than once as well.
Here, let’s take a look at all those lucky enough to win the green jacket more than once in their careers.
Jack Nicklaus
Coming in at the top of the leaderboard is Nicklaus, who has won the Masters six times. Nicklaus first won in 1963, with his last coming in 1986. His other four wins came in 1965, ‘66, ‘72 and ‘75. His win in 1986 also made him the oldest golfer to win the Masters, as he won the tournament at the age of 46.
Tiger Woods
On the opposite end of the spectrum from Nicklaus comes Woods, who became the youngest winner of the Masters at age 21 when he won his first in 1997. Woods’ ‘97 win also broke the record for lowest score at 270 as well as the largest margin of victory with 12 strokes, and was his first win of five. He then donned the green jacket in 2001, ‘02, ‘05, and ‘19.
Arnold Palmer
Though he doesn’t have the most wins, Palmer was the first to get to four, accomplishing the feat in 1964. His other three came in 1958, ‘60, and ‘62, and while those three wins were all close in one way or another, Palmer won his final Masters comfortably, winning the green jacket by six strokes. He had a thing for even-numbered years at Augusta, it seems.
Phil Mickelson
The next five golfers all won the Masters three times, with the most recent three-timer being Mickelson. Mickelson’s first win came in 2004, followed by 2006 and then 2010. Known for his left-handed swing while being right-handed, Mickelson is nicknamed “Lefty,” and will miss the tournament this year for the first time in 28 years.
Nick Faldo
Another to win three times, Faldo won his first Masters in 1989 and followed that up in 1990 with another Masters win. Faldo’s last win came in 1996, however, that Masters may be better remembered for Greg Norman, who led after the third round, blowing a six-shot lead in the final round to finish second.
Gary Player
Before Nicklaus broke the record for the oldest Masters champion, Player set it when he won his third Masters at the age of 42 in 1978. The player’s other two wins came in 1974 and 1961, where he became the first international golfer to win the Masters.
Sam Snead
Snead is another who has picked up three Masters wins, with his first coming in 1949 when the green jacket was first presented at the Masters. He then won his next Masters in 1952, with his last win coming in 1954, where Snead became the first golfer to win with an over-par score of 289.
Jimmy Demaret
The final three-win Master’s golfer is Demaret, winning the event in 1940, 1947, and 1950. Demaret was also the tournament’s first three-time winner and won his third Master before Snead won his second.
Two-time winners
While there seemed to be a lot of three-time winners, there were more two-time Masters winners, with nine winners.
Horton Smith became the first of many double winners, winning the tournament in 1934 and 1936, followed by Byron Nelson in 1937 and ‘42.
Ben Hogan won his first Masters in 1951 and then again in 1953, while Tom Watson’s two came in 1977 and 1981.
Watson’s second win was sandwiched by Seve Ballesteros’ wins, which came in 1980 and 1983, while Bernhard Langer got his first win two years after Ballesteros in 1985 and didn’t get his second until 1993.
Ben Crenshaw followed a similar path to Langer, winning his first green jacket in 1984 and not getting his second until 11 years later in 1995, the longest between any Masters wins for a golfer.
José María Olazábal also earned the green jacket twice in his career, first in 1994 then again in 1999, while Bubba Watson became the most recent two-win Masters winner, winning the event in 2012 and most recently in 2014.