The Masters: Our ranking of the top-20 players at Augusta National

By GolfDigest.com Editors

April 11, 2020

20: Craig Wood

Wins: 1 (1941)Runner-up in the first two Masters, he would win in 1941, when he became the tournament's first wire-to-wire champ. —additional reporting/writing by Stephen Hennessey

19: Horton Smith

Wins: 2 (1934, '36)Won the inaugural Masters in 1934 and '36 at ages 25 and 27. Contended again in '42 but finished fifth.

18: Billy Casper

Wins: 1 (1970)Casper was first or second through 18 holes from 1966 through 1969 but won in 1970. Go figure. The leader through three rounds in '69, a five-bogey-in-10-holes start Sunday doomed him.

17: Fred Couples

Wins: 1 (1992)The 1992 champ owns the lowest scoring average of any player with 100 or more rounds at Augusta National (71.94).

16: Bernhard Langer

Wins: 2 (1985, '93)Langer would have made the playoff in 1987 had he shot par in the final round (he had a 76). He has the highest final-round scoring average (72.90) among the seven multiple champions since 1980.

15: Raymond Floyd

Wins: 1 (1976)One win, three seconds. His 17-under 271 in 1976 remains the tournament's second-best score (with Nicklaus, 1965), good for an eight-shot victory. Floyd is also tied for the lowest front-nine score among competitors 50 and older (32, 1995).

14: José Maria Olazábal

Wins: 2 (1994, '99)From 1989 to 2006 Olazábal had two wins, a second, a third and nine other finishes in the top 15.

13: Ben Crenshaw

Wins: 2 (1984, '95)Two-time champ shot lower than 280 four times, tying Nicklaus for fifth all time behind Player, Watson, Woods and Mickelson (six each).

12: Nick Faldo

Wins: 3 (1989, '90, '96)Owns what is likely the most amazing Masters stat of them all: Three wins, no other top-10s. Still, three wins.

11: Seve Ballesteros

Wins: 2 (1980, '83)In addition to his wins in 1980 and '83, Seve had a pair of runner-up finishes, including a playoff loss to Larry Mize in 1987. But he wasn't a victim of Mize's hole-out: Seve bowed out on the first hole of the playoff.

10: Jimmy Demaret

Wins: 3 (1940, '47, '50)Arguably the best Masters performer of the 1940s, with more wins (two, he also won in 1950) and more earnings than any player in that decade. He also finished third (at 46, in 1957), T-4, T-5 (at 51 in 1962) and sixth.

9: Byron Nelson

Wins: 2 (1937, '42)Twelve straight top-10 finishes from 1937-'51, including victories in 1937 and 1942. Didn't finish worse than T-13 in his first 14 Masters.

8: Tom Watson

Wins: 2 (1977, '81)Includes his breakthrough win in 1977, holding off Jack Nicklaus, and a two-shot win over Jack and Johnny Miller in 1981. Watson had an incredible stretch from 1977 through 1992 in which he never finished outside the top 15, including three runners-up, 13 top-10s and his two victories.

7: Phil Mickelson

Wins: 3 (2004, '06, '10)Three wins, five thirds, 15 top-10s. Mickelson's scoring average of 71.3 is second only to Woods.

6: Ben Hogan

Wins: 2 (1951, '53)How do we justify ranking Bantam Ben, a two-time winner, over three-time winner Phil Mickelson? Consider that two of his four runner-up finishes were playoff losses to legends Byron Nelson (1942) and Sam Snead (1954). Hogan also holds the record with 14 consecutive top-10s (from 1939-'56).

5: Gary Player

Wins: 3 (1961, '74, '78)Three wins (including becoming the first international player to claim the green jacket) and two seconds, including a playoff loss to Palmer in 1962.

4: Sam Snead

Wins: 3 (1949, '52, '54)The winner in 1949, '52 and '54. He sustained excellence at the Masters prior to World War II through the Kennedy administration.

3: Arnold Palmer

Wins: 4 (1958, '60, '62, '64)Palmer was basically finished as a Masters contender after 1967, placing no higher than T-11 in his next 13 starts from age 38 through 50. Along with his four victories, Palmer owns 12 top-10s at Augusta National, including two runners-up (1961 and 1965).

2: Tiger Woods

Wins: 5 (1997, 2001, '02, '05, '19)Woods' historic fifth victory last year puts him firmly ahead of Arnold Palmer. Tiger's record-setting 270 in 1997 is one of golf's most impressive performances. The 15-time major champion's record at Augusta now includes five wins, two seconds, a third, a fourth, a fifth and a sixth. Woods' scoring average of 70.83 is the best in tournament history.

1: Jack Nicklaus

Wins: 6 (1963, '65, '66, '72, '75, '86)Nicklaus' record is simple stunning: six victories, six more top-threes, 22 top-10s and a scoring average of 71.98. He is one of five players with a subpar scoring average (minimum 25 or more rounds), even though he played 46 of his 163 rounds after he turned 50. His scoring average through age 35: 71.31. From age 36 to 49: 71.38. Age 50-59: 72.65.