The 7 Golfers Who Had The Lowest World Ranking When They Won The Masters

The golfers who occupy the Top 50 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking earn an automatic invitation to The Masters, and it’s no surprise that guys near the top of that list tend to earn a green jacket more often than not. However, there are more than a few who saw their position skyrocket after clinching an unlikely victory at Augusta National.

These golfers had the least impressive Official World Golf Ranking when they won The Masters

The first-ever Official World Golf Ranking was unveiled right before The Masters got underway in 1986. Bernhard Langer was sitting in the top spot, but a golf legend who makes an appearance on this list ended up earning the victory despite sitting more than 30 places behind him.

Since then, the golfer who tops the field at Augusta National has been in the Top 25 on the vast majority of occasions. However, there are seven instances where a winner emerged while lurking below that line.

Trevor Immelman: 29th (2008)

Rank After Win: 15th

There are two golfers who were ranked 29th in the OWGR right before winning The Masters.

The first is Trevor Immelman, who was two years removed from his lone win on the PGA Tour. However, the South African found himself in a tie for first after his opening round in 2008 before taking sole possession and heading into the weekend up by a single stroke.

He continued to build it by the same margin over the course of his next two rounds, and he finished at -8 to beat Tiger Woods by three despite shooting +3 on Sunday.

 Charl Schwartzel: 29th (2009)

Rank After Win: 11th

Charl Schwartzel was also sitting in 29th when he headed to Augusta National in 2011, and he was still looking for his first PGA Tour victory.

He was in the hunt but down by four strokes after play concluded on Thursday, and while he lost some ground with a 71 on Friday, he kicked things into high gear once the weekend rolled around.

The South African shot a 68 on Saturday and found himself in a tie for second with three other golfers. However, they were all four strokes behind Rory McIlroy, and it was his tournament to lose.

That ended up being the case after he felt victim to a brutal collapse while shooting an 80 that opened up the door for Schwartzel, who headed into the clubhouse with a 66 to win by two strokes.

Jack Nicklaus: 33rd (1986)

Rank After Win: 25th*

Jack Nicklaus is the aforementioned golf legend who pulled out an unlikely victory at The Masters in 1986, which came more than a decade after his fifth win at Augusta National in 1975.

The Golden Bear had shown he could still compete with a tie for sixth the previous year, but it also seemed like his best years were firmly behind him. That seemed to be the case when he shot a 74 in his opening round, and he still had plenty of work to do to get near the top of the leaderboard with a 71 on Friday.

He found himself four strokes out of first place and in a tie for ninth with a 69 on Saturday, but he shot a 65 during what is widely considered one of the most electric final rounds in the history of the tournament to secure his 18th (and final) major win by a single stroke.

I threw an asterisk next to his ranking after the tournament, which reflects the fact that the next update on the OWGR archives dropped in May as opposed to the following week.

Ben Crenshaw: 34th (1995)

Rank After Win: 23rd

Ben Crenshaw played in The Masters for the first time in 1979, and he finished as the runner-up on two occasions before getting a victory in 1984.

However, he seemed like a long shot to win in 1995, as the 43-year-old had finished in a tie for 18th the previous year and missed the cut a year before that. He started things off with a 70 that put him just outside of the Top 10, entered it with a 67 on Friday, and headed into Sunday tied with Brian Henninger for the lead at -10.

Henninger ended up fading out of contention, and Crenshaw was able to ward off a surging Davis Love III for the one-stroke victory that ended up being his last one on the PGA Tour.

Jose María Olazabal: 34th (1999)

Rank After Win: 19th

Jose María Olazabal was ranked #10 when he won The Masters for the first time in 1994, but he’d seen his standing take a fairly significant slide by the time he entered the tournament in 1999.

The Spaniard was one of seven golfers who were sitting a single shot behind the four men tied for first after Thursday’s round, but he ended up in sole possession of the top spot with a 66 on Friday. He never looked back, and he ended up getting his second green jacket with a two-stroke victory.

Zach Johnson: 56th (2007)

Rank After Win: 15th

Players at The Masters in 2007 had to deal with windy conditions that led to the winner finishing over par (specifically +1) for just the third time in the history of the major.

That winner was Zach Johnson, who had missed the cut during his first time at Augusta National in 2005 and was coming off a tie for 32nd the previous year. It had also been three years since his first (and, at that point, only) win on the PGA Tour, so it’s safe to say he was a bit of an afterthought heading into the tournament.

However, that was not the case by the time it wrapped up, as he overcame the two-stroke deficit he was facing heading into Sunday to beat the three men who tied for second by the same margin.

Angel Cabrera: 69th (2009)

Rank After Win: 18th

Last, and literally least, we have Angel Cabrera, who was no stranger to winning a major in spite of an underwhelming spot on the OWGR; he was 41st when he won the U.S. Open in 2007.

He slowly but surely clawed his way up the leaderboard over the first few days in 2009 before heading into Sunday tied with Kenny Perry at the top of it at -11. The two men found themselves tied with Chad Campbell at -12 after 72 holes, and Cabrera emerged victorious in what ended up being a two-hole playoff.