Decade by decade, the best of the Masters

Masters: Jack vs. The World

A total of 36 players made at least the requisite five Masters’ cuts to be considered for the top 10. But the decade champion was obvious to anybody paying even slight attention to golf. Nicklaus easily out-paced the field.

Just for starters, he was one of only two players – Tom Weiskopf being the other – to make all 10 Masters cuts during the decade. Nicklaus won in 1972 and again in 1975, finished second in 1971 and 1977, and was top 10 in 1973, 1974, 1976, and 1979. For the entire decade, his worst finish was a solo eighth in 1970.

For the record, here’s the final top 10 for the decade of the 1970s.

Rk Player                        Avg. Std. Dev

1.       Jack Nicklaus           -1.72

2.       Tom Watson           -1.26

3.       Hale Irwin                -0.96

4.       Gary Player             -0.86

5.       Hubert Green         -0.68

6.       Johnny Miller          -0.64

7.       Tom Weiskopf        -0.62

8.       Dave Stockton        -0.59

9.       Don January            -0.58

10.   Tom Kite                    -0.52

Watson, who made his Masters debut in 1975, won one of his five appearances during the decade, that coming in 1977…when he out-dueled Nicklaus. He tied for second in 1978 and lost to Fuzzy Zoeller in a three-way playoff that also included Ed Sneed in 1979, leaving him that close to an unprecedented three-peat.

Irwin ranks as the best of the decade’s rest. Although failing to win a Masters, he produced annual top-fives between 1974 and 1977, falling only to eighth in 1978.

Aside from Nicklaus, Player was the decade’s only two-time champion, winning in 1974 and 1978. His decade-long rating, however, was undermined by a string of mid-pack finishes, among them ties for 30th in 1975, for 28th in 1976, for 19th in 1977, and for 17th in 1979.