Ranking the Top 10 Masters Moments of All Time

Great shots, impossible comebacks and historic moments just matter more when they come during the Masters.

That's because Augusta National is a storybook setting, one where magic is as much a part of the conditions as the length of the rough and the slope of the greens.

It's Narnia with azaleas. It's Neverland with pine straw.

Every square inch of the course is steeped in history. Ben Hogan hit this incredible shot here. Gene Sarazen pulled off an impossible up-and-down there. Those "quiet please" signs the course attendants hold up when players are teeing off can't silence all the echoes of Augusta's storied past.

With nearly 100 years of tradition (unlike any other) to pull from, it's difficult to pick out the top moments from the Masters. We gave it a shot anyway.

Editor's note: This article was updated Monday, April 14, after Rory McIlroy's 2025 Masters win.

Celebrating Rory's Win

Instead of trying to rank Rory McIlroy's 2025 Masters win among these iconic moments to come, let's celebrate what a moment it was and worry about its place in history another time.

When McIlroy sank a four-footer on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff against Justin Rose, he became the sixth player in history to win all four majors in his career. The Masters victory he secured had eluded him for a full decade, and the weight of that interval—made heavier by several near misses and heartbreaking failures—lifted off him when his putt fell.

His reaction, a combination of relief and exultation, was among the most sincere and authentic you'll ever see. He put his hands to his head, dropped to his knees, convulsed with sobs and arose to shout at the sky.

Rory needed this, and you could tell he wasn't certain he'd ever get it.

10. Jeff Sluman's Ace

PGA TOUR Archive/Getty Images

Jeff Sluman's hole-in-one on the fourth hole at Augusta didn't lead him to glory in 1992. He finished tied for fourth with Mark O'Meara as Fred Couples took the green jacket with a final score of 13 under par.

Believe it or not, Sluman's incredible shot wasn't even televised.

But any time someone does something that has never happened before in a tournament that has seen so many all-time greats give their best possible efforts, it has to at least get a mention.

Sluman's ace is the only one ever recorded in tournament play on the fourth hole.

Officially measured at 213 yards, it's also the longest hole-in-one the Masters has ever seen.

9. Phil Mickelson Clears Rae's Creek

Phil Mickelson's swashbuckling style was one of the reasons he spent so many years as the unofficial "best player to never win a major." His confidence and aggression often resulted in blown leads and big numbers that prevented him from ultimate success in the biggest tournaments.

By 2010, though, Lefty had already broken through as a major championship winner multiple times. That meant he was free to attempt ridiculous, daring, seemingly unhinged shots like the one he pulled off on No. 13 on Sunday.

An errant drive saw Mickelson's ball miss the fairway and settle into the pine straw, and his angle to the green was obstructed by three imposing tree trunks. Rather than punch out, he slung a 6-iron between two trees and watched as it traveled 207 yards over Rae's Creek, leading to a four-foot putt that he actually missed.

No worries. Mickelson would go on to win his third Masters anyway.

8. Bubba Watson Slings It for the Win

Louis Oosthuizen's double-eagle on No. 2 of the final round of the 2012 Masters probably would have gone down as the best moment of weekend, but Bubba Watson outdid him.

On the second hole of a playoff against Oosthuizen, Watson whipped a high, torquing hook out of the pine straw to within 15 feet of the cup. The shot measured 164 yards, and Watson hit his gap wedge, somehow getting it to turn roughly 40 yards from left to right.

The degree of difficulty was off the charts, and the moment could hardly have been bigger. Overcook the shot, and Watson would have missed the green. Start it off line by a fraction of an inch, and the ball could have easily gotten caught up in the overhanging branches or even clipped the patrons assembled in front of him.

Everything about the situation seemed impossible until Watson pulled it off. The result: a green jacket.

7. Bear Tracks

In 1975, Jack Nicklaus canned a seemingly impossible 40-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole of the final round, deflating Johnny Miller and Tom Weiskopf, the latter having drained his own birdie putt on the previous hole to take a one-shot lead, putting immense pressure on Nicklaus.

Weiskopf and Miller were standing on the 16th tee, perhaps the best seat in the house, as the Golden Bear leapt into the air in celebration, stabbing at the sky with his putter.

The putt pulled Nicklaus even with Weiskopf, who then bogeyed 16 to fall one shot back. Nicklaus' lead held up, and he collected his fifth Masters win less than an hour later.

Roughly 25 years after Nicklaus ripped out the hearts of his competitors in that tournament, Tiger Woods would make opponent-deflating dominance a common thing on tour. At the time, Nicklaus' ability to intimidate in the biggest moments felt new.

"I saw the bear tracks when I got to the green," Miller said, via The Augusta Chronicle.

6. Lefty Breaks Through

In 2004, Phil Mickelson's status as the best player to never win a major felt like it was going to last forever. For years, he'd come close but failed to complete the task—often in heartbreaking fashion.

Right after he struck his 18-foot putt on the final hole of the tournament, CBS's Jim Nantz wondered aloud, "Is it his time?"

It was.

The breakthrough Mickelson had sought for so long finally arrived, and you could practically feel the weight of all those near misses and runner-up finishes lifting off his shoulders.

5. Larry Mize Holes out to Win in 1987

Larry Mize won the 1987 Masters in preposterously dramatic fashion, chipping in for birdie on the second hole of a playoff against Greg Norman, the world's No. 1 player at the time.

From several paces off the 11th green, Mize bounced the ball twice before getting it to the putting surface and then watched with the rest of the world as the ball tracked toward the hole and fell in.

Mize, an Augusta native, is the last Masters winner to go all four rounds without breaking 70. While his final score of a three-under 285 doesn't stand out in the record books, the shot that won him the tournament is on the very short list of the most impressive anyone's ever seen.

4. Gene Sarazen's Shot Heard Round the World

We're going all the way back to 1935 for this one, but it's worth the trip.

Everything about Gene Sarazen's double-eagle on the par-five 15th hole is dripping with golf history. No, the perfect strike wasn't televised. But legend has it Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones and Byron Nelson all saw it happen. Sarazen's caddie at the time went by the name "Stovepipe."

You don't get more "1935" than that.

Down three shots to Craig Wood with four holes to play, Sarazen flushed a 4-wood (against the advice of Stovepipe, who preferred a 3-wood) for his second shot but couldn't see where the ball landed.

“All I could see were those 25 people [around the green] all getting up and throwing their arms up. I knew something had happened," he said in a 1998 interview. "The ball was either close, or it was in. And my caddie said, ‘I think that it’s in the hole.’”

The three-shot deficit was gone in one fell swoop. Sarazen would go on to beat Wood in a 36-hole playoff, winning the first Masters in which he ever played.

3. Tiger Woods Chips in on No. 16

The ball hung on the lip of the cup for what felt like eternity, seemingly suspended in defiance of gravity. It's hard to say whether it was the laws of physics or Tiger Woods' sheer willpower that made it drop, but some kind of invisible force was at work.

In 2005, Woods was already established as an all-time great—a player whose dominance was as much physical as mental. Opponents crumbled against him, knowing it was always just a matter of time until he took control of the proceedings.

Up by one shot on Chris DiMarco heading into the 16th hole on Sunday, Woods yanked an 8-iron left of the green. It was a death zone—up against the fringe with the green running away from him, Woods was at risk of chunking the shot or sending it rocketing off the surface entirely. He had no angle, no advantage and seemingly no hope.

His chip came out low and skittering, nearly 30 feet left of the hole. When its momentum died, it began trickling downhill to the right, slowly tracking toward the cup and then stopping with nearly half the ball hanging over the edge.

It fell after nearly two seconds of stasis, and Woods would go on to win his fourth Masters in a playoff.

2. Tiger's Introductory Roar

We've reached the goosebumps section of this exercise, and we're going to have to fudge some rules to get full context.

The specific moment here, Woods' holing a putt on No. 18 to win his first Masters in 1997, is just the jumping-off point. The 12-stroke victory was the largest in tournament history at the time, the 270-shot total was then the lowest ever recorded, and it made Woods both the youngest player and the first African American to win at Augusta.

From there, we have to acknowledge the sentimental beauty of Woods tearfully embracing his father, Earl. That moment ties perfectly with Woods hugging his son, Charlie, after securing a 2019 Masters victory, his fifth.

I'm not crying. You're crying.

Tiger's 1997 triumph defined the most significant and impactful era in modern golf history.

1. Jack Nicklaus Surges to 18th Major

This could have been expanded to the entire back nine of Jack Nicklaus' 1986 fourth round at the Masters, but the signature moment of that incredible run has to be his birdie putt on No. 17.

Let's back up.

Coming into the tournament, the narrative surrounding Nicklaus was rough. At 46, he was presumed washed. That storyline died a conspicuous death as he shot an absurd 30 on the back nine, with the highlight being an iconic 11-foot putt on No. 17.

When it dropped, he assumed sole possession of the lead and kept it. Shortly after draining the putt, Nicklaus was donning his sixth green jacket.

Down six shots with 10 holes to play, Nicklaus' run still probably rates as the most impressive closing stretch in Masters history. It put the lie to any talk of him being too old to compete, and it also gave us Verne Lundquist's legendary "Maybe...yes, sir!" call.

Perhaps most impressively, it may have been a true once-in-a-lifetime moment.

"In the years after that, Dad and I stuck tees in the ground at the spot where the hole was, trying to 'make' that putt again," Jackie, Nicklaus' son and caddie, told Golf Digest. "We haven't made it, not once."