The Masters: Ranking the 25 most exceptional performances at Augusta
By Bill Felber
9: Seve Ballesteros, 1980 Masters, 275 (-13), Std. Deviation -2.52
Everything Seve Ballesteros did he did with flair. That included his remarkable 1980 Masters victory. As a 22-year-old, Ballesteros entered the front rank of the game’s players with his British Open victory the previous summer. The win at Augusta emblazoned his reputation not only as a quality talent but also as a swashbuckler.
Ballesteros dominated the entire week. His Thursday 66 left him in a three-way tie for the lead with David Graham and Jeff Mitchell, and he backed it up with a Friday 69, good for a four-stroke advantage over Graham and David Caldwell.
There was no weekend letup. On Saturday, Ballesteros posted a 68 that drove his advantage to seven shots over Ed Fiori, with four players another shot back. Three birdies on the first five holes Sunday boosted his lead as high as 10 shots, just one stroke off the -17 Masters record jointly held by Jack Nicklaus in 1965 and Ray Floyd in 1976.
Not only did Seve not get the record, with the pressure seemingly off he began to display the dark side of his occasionally volcanic game. A bogey at 10, a double at 12 and a bogey at 13 reduced that advantage to three strokes over Jack Newton.
Then as suddenly as his game had departed, it returned. Ballesteros birdied 15 and played par golf coming home to finish four ahead of Newton and Gibby Gilbert. Three years later, Ballesteros would become a two-time Masters champion.