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The Loop
Winning the Masters doesn't guarantee a big year (or career), as 7 recent first-time victors can attest
Winning the Masters makes any golfer's year a great one, but it doesn't necessarily lead to more immediate success. Since 2000, there have been nine first-time Masters champs and only two of them even won another PGA Tour event the rest of that season.
This is probably true for a couple of reasons. For one thing, once you slip on that green jacket, you instantly become a star. Have you seen the whirlwind tour of New York City Jordan Spieth has been on since Monday morning? Sure, it's fun, but it's tiring -- and distracting.
"The media attention, the atmosphere; even a year later, you're excited about your win," said Bubba Watson, who wasn't comfortable hosting the Champions Dinner in 2013. "Sometimes you get away from your routine or you just use your energy in a different way."
Secondly, once someone is a Masters champion, the expectations of them soar.
"The thing is, you obviously know what your good golf entails and you know you've been able to showcase that on the biggest stage in the game. That adds a little bit of pressure from the standpoint of why am I not doing that all the time," 2008 champ Trevor Immelman told the Augusta Chronicle in 2013.
Trevor Immelman was on top of the world once too.
But not only have these recent winners not played great golf on a weekly basis, some, like Immelman have struggled for years since. Here's a closer look at the last seven first-time Masters champs (We omitted Vijay Singh in 2000 because he had already won eight PGA Tour titles and a major by then and Phil Mickelson in 2004 because he had already won 23 PGA Tour titles at that point) and what they've done since claiming the green jacket.
Adam Scott, 2013
Remaining major finishes that year: T-45, T-3, T-5
PGA Tour wins that year after the Masters: 1
Career PGA Tour wins since: 2
PGA Tour wins/year since: 1.0
Bubba Watson, 2012
Remaining major finishes that year: MC, T-23, T-11
PGA Tour wins that year after the Masters: 0
PGA Tour wins since: 3
PGA Tour wins/year since: 1.0
Charl Schwartzel, 2011
Remaining major finishes that year: T-9, T-16, T-12
PGA Tour wins that year after the Masters: 0
PGA Tour wins since: 0
PGA Tour Wins/year since: 0.0
Angel Cabrera, 2009
Remaining major finishes that year: T-54, T-24, T-63
Wins that year after the Masters: 0
Wins since: 1
Wins/year since: 0.167
Trevor Immelman, 2008
Remaining major finishes that year: T-65, T-19, MC
PGA Tour wins that year after the Masters: 0
PGA Tour wins since: 0
PGA Tour wins/year since: 0.0
Zach Johnson, 2007
Remaining major finishes that year: T-45, T-20, MC
PGA Tour wins that year after the Masters: 1
PGA Tour wins since: 9
__PGA Tour wins/year since:__1.125
Mike Weir, 2003
Remaining major finishes that year: T-3, T-28, T-7
PGA Tour wins that year after the Masters: 0
PGA Tour wins since: 2
PGA Tour wins/year since: 0.167
That's a total of 17 wins in 42 seasons, with Zach Johnson providing more than half of those titles. And of the seven players, only one seriously contended at another major that same season (Adam Scott at the 2013 British Open) and only one, Bubba Watson, has won another major.
Of course, none of these guys were 21 when they won the Masters. And the last time someone that age won a green jacket, we seem to recall him going on to have a pretty good career.