These Are the Last 5 Golfers to Win the Masters Tournament
One of the four major tournaments on the PGA Tour, the Masters Tournament has been held annually at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia since 1934. Horton Smith, a two-time champion, won the inaugural event with a four-round score of 284. Jack Nicklaus won a record six Masters, including in 1986 when, at 46 years old, he became the oldest winner in tournament history. Other notable winners include Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson, and Gary Player.
Below are the last five golfers to win the Masters.
1. Scottie Scheffler (2022)
A 26-year-old native of Ridgewood, New Jersey, Scottie Scheffler had a breakthrough season in 2021–22. Although he was outside of the top 20 in the FedExCup Rankings in 2020–21, he entered the 2022 Masters as the top-ranked FedExCup and Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) player after winning three tournaments in his prior five starts. Scheffler had a five-stroke lead through the first two rounds and led by three strokes entering the final round. He held onto that lead on Sunday, finishing the tournament with a 10-under 278. He was the only player in the field to shoot better than par in all four rounds.
Scheffler carried a five-stroke lead over Rory McIlroy as he approached the 18th green on Sunday, but he needed four putts to close out the hole and secure the victory. Speaking with Golf.com, he said he told his wife Meredith that he was “kind of glad [he] four-putted” because he would have been much more emotional had he made his first or second putt.
“I think just because I would have gone from being so in the zone — like everybody’s cheering, my family is there, Meredith’s family’s there — to where it’s like it was in Austin [when I won the match play]. Suddenly, oh my gosh. I just won the Masters. This is insane. I would have just been a wreck. But since I four-putted you’re able to kind of laugh at it like that was really funny.”
2. Hideki Matsuyama (2021)
Hideki Matsuyama shot a 10-under 278 in 2021 to become the first Asian and Japanese player to win the Masters. Will Zalatoris finished one shot back at 9-under 279. Matsuyama was the clubhouse leader entering the final round of the tournament and had a six-stroke lead by the time he reached the famed Amen Corner. However, he hit into the water on the 15th hole and ended up settling for a bogey, while Xander Schauffele birdied the hole and moved to two strokes back of the lead. Matsuyama played cautiously over the next three holes and Schauffele fell back off the pace after hitting his tee shot on 16 in the water.
Matsuyama, whose previous best major championship result was second place at the 2017 US Open, won nearly $5 million in prize money in 2020–21. He earned $5.7 million in 2021–22 and won the Sony Open in Hawaii and the ZOZO Championship.
3. Dustin Johnson (2020)
Dustin Johnson won the 2020 Masters in historic fashion with a record 20-under 268. He finished five strokes ahead of runners-up Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im. Johnson’s victory was also unique in that it happened in November. The Masters is typically held in April, but it was rescheduled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and held without spectators.
A two-time major champion, Johnson also won the 2016 US Open and was runner-up at the 2015 US Open and 2011 Open Championship. He has 24 career victories and has earned more than $74 million in prize money on the PGA Tour. Johnson left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf in 2022.
4. Tiger Woods (2019)
Woods is second only to Nicklaus with five Masters championships. He was the youngest player to win the tournament when he won for the first time in 1997 and won again in 2001, 2002, and 2005. Despite his accolades, he was a somewhat unlikely winner in 2019 when he shot a 13-under 275. Woods had been in the lead or tied through three rounds in each of his 14 previous major championship victories. However, he trailed Francesco Molinari by two strokes entering the final round in 2019. He had also been dealing with a series of injuries and personal issues over the past decade.
Woods shot a 2-under 70 on Sunday to overtake Molinari, who closed out the tournament with a 2-over 74. Johnson, Schauffele, and Brooks Koepka tied for second place, one stroke back from Woods.
5. Patrick Reed (2018)
Patrick Reed won his first and only major championship at the 2018 Masters Tournament. Despite finishing outside of the top 20 in his prior four Masters, he won the 2018 tournament with a four-round score of 13-under 273. Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth finished one stroke back of Reed. Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion, trailed by nine strokes entering the final round but posted nine birdies and shot a final round score of 64, one stroke off the 18-hole tournament record.
