Masters Tournament: The ten best players in Augusta National history
By Bill Felber
9: Arnold Palmer – 1955-1980, (1958, 1960, 1962, 1964), -12.80
With the possible exceptions of Nicklaus and Woods, Palmer’s name may be more closely identified with the Masters than any other. His four titles have been bested only by Nicklaus’ six, and matched only by Woods.
His overall performance across his 26 Masters appearances is replete with both triumphs and disappointments. Beyond those four titles, he finished second twice, was top five 10 times and top 10 16 times, a fabulous 11 of them in succession between 1957 and 1967.
His final dozen appearances, unfortunately, undermined his overall standing. After 1967, Palmer never finished among the top 10 and missed three cuts. Were we to ignore that sub-par portion of Palmer’s Augusta record, he would rank five places higher on this list.
Palmer’s best showing certainly came in 1964. It was his seventh and final major championship, and he never left any doubt about the outcome. Tied for first after an opening 69, he followed that with rounds of 68, 69 and 70 to finish six strokes ahead of co-runners-up Jack Nicklaus and David Marr.
Ironically, Palmer’s most famous Masters showing might have been a loss, and it was one of the few times his natural aggressiveness worked against him. In 1961, Palmer came to the 72nd hole a stroke ahead of Player, needing only a par to win what would have been his third Masters jacket and his second in succession.
But from a perfect lie in the fairway, he let his approach iron slide into the bunker to the right of the green. Facing a bad lie, his recovery flew the green entirely, and he was unable to get up and down from there, settling for a double bogey that left him in the runner-up spot.