Counting Down The Seven Most Surprising Winners In The History Of The Masters

Data suggests that in order to win The Masters, you likely need to be among the best of the best when it comes to the world’s top professional golfers.

In fact, 11 of the last 13 Masters winners gained more than 1.7 strokes on the rest of the PGA Tour tee-to-green in the months leading up to golf’s most illustrious event, per Normal Sport’s Kyle Porter.

But every so often, you get an outlier, a golfer who nobody saw coming in the lead up to The Masters, and for whom a victory in the famed tournament isn’t just a thrill, but career-defining.

These are often the best stories. The ones we can’t wait to retell, because they are so unexpected that we can’t possibly forget them.

In this story, we’re taking a look back at some of the most unexpected winners in the 92-year history of The Masters Tournament.

The Most Unlikely Winners In The History Of The Masters

What exactly makes a Masters winners “unlikely?”

Well, there are several factors. For one, world ranking is a good gauge. But the Official World Golf Rankings didn’t begin until 1986.

So there are a number of other factors to look at as well. How successful was the golfer in his career prior to winning The Masters? Did they win any major championships afterwards? Who did they beat to claim the green jacket? How were they playing in the lead-up to the event?

There are a number of criteria that could apply here. But each of these seven winners had several reasons why their particular victories were unexpected.

7) Fuzzy Zoeller – 1979

Fuzzy Zoeller won 10 times over his PGA Tour career, including the 1979 Masters and 1984 U.S. Open. He had 13 career top-10 finishes in major championships and finished in the top five on five separate occasions.

So, what is it that makes Zoeller’s 1979 Masters victory so improbable?

It was his first-ever appearance in the event. Prior to Zoeller’s victory, only Horton Smith and Gene Sarazen had achieved that feat…in the first two Masters tournaments ever held. And nobody has accomplished the feat since.

On top of that, Zoeller began the final round six strokes behind leader Ed Sneed, who held a five-stroke lead on Tom Watson and Craig Stadler after three rounds.

Sneed maintained his lead for most of the final round. But Zoeller made birdie on holes 13, 15, and 1,7 and Sneed bogeyed his final three holes, putting the pair in a playoff with Watson.

All three golfers made par on the opening hole before Zoeller’s birdie on the second playoff hole, No. 11, to claim the green jacket in stunning fashion.

6) Tommy Aaron – 1973

While Zoeller is a household name among avid golf fans, 1973 Masters winner Tommy Aaron is most certainly not.

Unlike Zoeller, Aaron never won another major championship in his career. In fact, he won just one other time on the PGA Tour during his more than 20-year-long career.

But in the 1973 Masters, Aaron caught a bit of magic.

Like Zoeller, he began the final round well off the lead, four strokes behind leader Peter Oosterhuis. Aaron made birdie on the first three holes of his round and finished with a 4-under 68, surpassing Oosterhuis, who shot a final round 74, and finishing one stroke ahead of J.C. Snead and two strokes ahead of Jack Nicklaus to take home the unlikely victory.

5) Danny Willett – 2016

Danny Willett is the youngest member of this list and is still an active player on the DP World Tour.

In 2016, at just 28 years old, he made just his second Masters appearance. He came in having already won earlier in the season at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in February. But Willett was on nobody’s radar for the victory at Augusta.

Especially not after world No. 1 Jordan Spieth, the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open champion, lit up the field with an opening-round 6-under, 66 to lead by two strokes.

Spieth came back to the pack a bit over the next couple of days, but led by one shot over Smylie Kaufman entering the final round, with Willett three strokes back at even par.

However, at the turn, Spieth led Willett by five strokes after he birdied the final four holes of the front nine. Then the meltdown came. Spieth shot six-over on holes 10 through 12.

Willett, meanwhile, remained solid, making birdies at holes 13, 14, and 16 to shoot a 5-under round of 67 and win by three strokes over Spieth and Lee Westwood.

It remains his last win on U.S. soil.

4) Larry Mize – 1987

There are several things that make Larry Mize’s incredible victory at the 1979 Masters almost unbelievable.

For one, Mize was the first and remains the only Augusta, Georgia native to win the event in his hometown, something that seems likely to remain unmatched for, at very least, the foreseeable future.

But beyond that, Mize seemingly had no business winning the 1979 tournament.

He had a solid career, notching four PGA Tour victories and two more top-10 finishes after his victory in 1987. He also went on to finish in the top five of the 1987 U.S. Open at the Olympic Club to enter the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings

But he had no business winning The Masters in 1987. In his previous 11 major championship starts, Mize had just one top 10, and had never finished in the top 10 in three starts at Augusta National.

Meanwhile, world No. 1 Greg Norman entered the tournament having finished second the year prior and having won his first major championship at the 1986 British Open.

Norman and Mize entered a playoff with fellow superstar Seve Ballesteros after each ended the final round tied at 3-under. Ballesteros made bogey on the opening playoff hole, taking him out of contention.

On the second playoff hole, the par-4 11th hole, Mize left his second shot well right, off the green and 140 feet from the hole, while Norman’s second shot came to rest on the fringe, much closer.

However, Mize holed his chip shot, sending both the crowd and himself into rapturous cheers. Norman failed to make his ensuing putt, and Mize landed his name in the history books for years to come.

3) Charles Coody – 1971

If you’re asking yourself, “Who is Charles Coody?” you shouldn’t feel bad.

You’re certainly not the only one. Coody, a Texas native, won just three times on the PGA Tour and had just eight top-10 finishes in more than 70 starts in major championships.

But in the 1971 Masters, everything came together perfectly.

At 35 years old, Coody had already appeared in 20 major championships with one top-five finish (T5 in the 1969 Masters) and eight missed cuts on his resume.

But in this instance, the journeyman opened the tournament with a 6-under round of 66 to take a three-shot lead and never blinked.

He entered the fourth round tied at 7-under with legendary 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus.

In the final round, Coody outdueled Nicklaus, shooting a 2-under, 70 to Nicklaus’ 72, and held off a hard-charging Johnny Miller, who shot 68, to become one of the tournament’s most unlikely of winners.

2) Trevor Immelman – 2008

South African Trevor Immelman has two career PGA Tour victories. Both came with Tiger Woods finishing as the runner-up. But the 2008 Masters is, by far, the more impressive of the two (with all due apologies to the 2006 Cialas Western Open).

From round one on, Immelman was just on fire.

He opened the tournament with a 4-under round of 68 to share the lead with Justin Rose. He then backed it up with another 4-under round on Friday to lead Brandt Snedeker by one entering the weekend.

On Saturday, Immelman again broke 70 with a 3-under round of 69, ballooning his lead to two shots over Snedeker while Woods sat back in fifth, six shots behind.

In the final round, Immelman imploded, shooting a 3-over score of 75. However, everyone within touching distance did the same. Snedeker shot a 77. Steve Flesch, who entered the round in third, shot a 78, and fourth-placed Paul Casey shot a 79.

In fact, Woods finished in second alone by virtue of simply shooting an even-par round of 72.

Immelman came into the week at +15000 to win the tournament, the longest publicly available odds listed for a former Masters winner.

He went on to play 24 more major championships, failing to finish in the top 10 in any and missing the cut in 11.

1) Charl Schwartzel – 2011

Little of Charl Schwartzel’s 2011 victory at The Masters makes sense.

Sure, he went on to have a solid career, with 16 career victories (11 of which came on the DP World Tour). But at the time, Schwartzel had never won on U.S. soil, let alone the PGA Tour, and missed the cut in six of 16 prior major starts, with zero top-10 finishes.

Schwartzel entered the week with +10000 odds to win heading into the week.

He opened the week with a solid round of 3-under, 69. But that was still four shots behind a 21-year-old prodigy named Rory McIlroy.

Schwartzel then trailed McIlroy by six shots entering the weekend after shooting a 1-under, 71 on Friday compared to McIlroy’s 3-under, 69.

On Saturday, Schwartzel began to creep up the leaderboard, shooting a 4-under, 68 to join a four-way tie for second, four shots back of McIlroy, whom everyone assumed had the tournament in the bag.

But in the final round, Schwartzel was brilliant, while McIlroy was a disaster. The South African holed out for eagle on the par-4 third, while McIlroy shot a 1-over 37 on the front nine to see his lead reduced to just one ahead of Schwartzel and surging Tiger Woods going into the final nine holes of the tournament.

McIlroy’s collapse continued with double bogeys on holes 10 and 12, sandwiched around a bogey at 11, to see him plummet down the leaderboard.

On the other hand, Schwartzel flourished, making birdie on the final four holes to take a two-shot victory over Australian stars Jason Day and Adam Scott, with Woods, Luke Donald, and Geoff Ogilvy a further two shots back in a tie for fourth.

McIlroy, meanwhile, finished in a tie for 15th at 4-under and wouldn’t win his first Masters Tournament until 2025, when he completed the career grand slam.

Schwartzel, on the other hand, went down in history as one of the most unlikely Masters winners while holding off almost all of the game’s biggest stars at the time.