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Past Champions of The Masters

The 1960s and ‘70s were dominated by three of the most legendary players in golfing history – Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. The three players won 11 times from 1960 – 1978. Palmer won the tourney by one stroke in 1958m repeating this feat in 1960 in the same style. He trailed Ken Venturi by one shot in ’60 and then made birdies on the last two holes to take the title. Palmer also grabbed a Green Jacket in 1962 and ’64.

Nicklaus broke onto the scene in the early 60s. He quickly became a popular rival to Palmer as their repeated head-to-head competitions attracted national attention. Nicklaus put on his first Green Jacket in 1963 beating Tony Lena by a single strike. He shot what was then a course record of 271 – 17-under par – in ’65 garnering his second Masters title. Nicklaus grabbed his third jacket the following year defeating Tommy Jacobs and Gay Brewer in a highly-competitive 18-hole playoff. The win secured a place in Masters history since Nicklaus became the first player to win two consecutive titles. He also won in 1972 by three strokes. In ’75, during one of the most exciting competitions to date in Masters history, Nicklaus again won by one stroke over Johnny Miller and Ton Weiskopf.

South African Player beat Arnold Palmer in 1961 to become the very first non-American to win the title. He won again in ’74 by two strokes. At the age of 42 in 1978, Player won his last, and final, Masters Tournament crown winning by just one stroke over three players. He shares the record for making 23 consecutive cuts with Fred Couples. Player has competed in a record 52 Masters Tournaments.

Horton Smith won the first tournament in 1934 and again in ‘36. The defending champion going into 2011 is Phil Mickelson. He has won three times along with Nick Faldo, Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead and Player. Additional notable Past Champions include Jose Maria Olazabal, Ben Crenshaw, Bernard Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson – all winning twice.