The Most Dramatic Masters Finishes in History

Photo by Arturo Añez on Unsplash

The Masters has produced more dramatic final-round moments than any other golf tournament in history. Augusta National's design, combined with the weight of tradition and the green jacket's symbolic power, creates the conditions for drama that unfolds with extraordinary regularity. Here are the most memorable Masters finishes ever played.

1986: Jack Nicklaus, Age 46, Charges to Glory

The greatest final round in Masters history. Jack Nicklaus, 46 years old and considered by many to be finished as a major champion, began Sunday four shots behind the leader. Playing in the group ahead, he birdied the 9th, 10th, and 11th holes. Then he eagled the 15th — the gallery roar audible throughout the course. He birdied the 16th. He birdied the 17th. When his eagle putt at 18 slid narrowly past, the birdie he made gave him a back-nine 30 and a tournament score of 9-under par. Players ahead who had been leading found Augusta's back nine impossible to navigate while the Nicklaus roars rolled across the course. He won by one shot. It remains one of sport's most extraordinary performances.

2019: Tiger Woods' Return

After spinal fusion surgery, years of injury, and public doubt about whether he'd ever compete again, Tiger Woods won his fifth Masters in 2019 at age 43. He stalked the leaders through Augusta's back nine on Sunday as Francesco Molinari found the water at 12 and 15. Tiger made the pars required, birdied 13 and 15, and walked up the 18th fairway as the leader. The gallery's response — an eruption of noise unlike anything Augusta had produced in decades — was a measure of what his return to relevance meant to golf fans around the world. When his final putt dropped, he fell into the arms of his children. The images remain among sport's most emotionally resonant from any decade.

1996: Greg Norman's Collapse

The most famous collapse in Masters history. Greg Norman entered the final round with a six-shot lead and a game that had produced a first-round 63 earlier in the week. Over the course of 18 holes, he shot 78 as Nick Faldo shot 67. The 11-shot swing between the round's leaders produced the most dramatic reversal in major championship history. Norman's expression walking up the 18th — the pained acknowledgment of what had happened — is one of golf's most haunting images. Faldo, to his enormous credit, embraced Norman warmly at the conclusion and told him he didn't deserve this. The moment captured both the cruelty of sport and the compassion that competition can produce.

2012: Bubba Watson's Sudden Death

Bubba Watson and Louis Oosthuizen headed to a sudden-death playoff, beginning on the 18th hole. After halving 18, they moved to the 10th hole, where Watson's second shot from the pine straw — a dramatic hook around the trees that nobody had visualized except Watson himself — landed on the green and set up a winning birdie. The shot, improvised from an impossible-looking position, remains one of the most remarkable individual strokes in Masters playoff history.

2015: Jordan Spieth Wire-to-Wire

Spieth's 2015 wire-to-wire victory was the most dominant Masters in the modern era — a performance that made him look like a generational talent who'd win the green jacket multiple times. He tied the 72-hole scoring record at 18-under and won by four shots. The most remarkable element was his putting — he averaged fewer than 28 putts per round over the four days, finding holes with a consistency that Augusta's Bermuda greens rarely permit.

2005: Tiger's Chip at 16

Not a final round victory from behind, but the single most celebrated shot in Masters history. Tied for the lead on Sunday, Tiger's chip from the fringe at the 16th hole rolled toward the hole, hung on the lip for what felt like an eternity as the Nike swoosh on the ball came into view, and dropped for a birdie. The roar that followed is considered one of the loudest in Augusta National's history. The shot effectively won the tournament and produced an image — the ball hanging on the lip — that has been reproduced more than almost any other moment in golf photography.