Masters Tournament: The ten best players in Augusta National history
By Bill Felber
3: Sam Snead – 1937-1962, (1949, 1952, 1954), -22.30
Snead won three Masters, and came agonizingly close several other times. In 1939 he shot a final round 68 but lost by one when Ralph Guldahl put together a closing 69 to hold him off. He was third in 1950 and 1955, and runner-up again in 1957 when Doug Ford’s closing 66 erased Snead’s third-round lead.
With Hogan recovering from his wreck, Snead was a heavy favorite for the 1949 event, and he delivered. Following a shaky start that left him five strokes out of the lead through 36 holes, he put together weekend rounds of 67. One stroke behind Johnny Palmer when the final round began, Snead took the lead with birdies on the first two holes, birdied the 13th to regain the lead for good, and won by three.
Between 1949 and 1954, Snead and Hogan jointly dominated the event, winning five of the six. Sam’s three victories included his 1952 win by four strokes over Jack Burke. Following Hogan’s 1953 victory, the 1954 Masters amounted to something of a showdown between the two greats, each with two wins.
Hogan led Snead by three strokes through three rounds, and he was five up through five holes. But Snead birdied the sixth, and when Hogan lost three strokes over the next five holes Snead trailed by just one. Another Hogan bogey at 14 brought the pair even, and they stayed that way to set up an 18-hole playoff.
That playoff was a classic of its own, the players even until they came to the par 5 13th. Snead gambled and reached the back of the green in two, then nearly holed the eagle putt, taking the lead with his birdie. That margin grew to 2 when Hogan bogeyed the 16th. Snead bogeyed the 18th, but that one didn’t matter.