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The Masters, which begins on Thursday, never fails to deliver shots to recollect, which generate roars from the group at Augusta National Golf Club.
This 12 months will little question provide more shots that fall into that category and more thunderous roars. Probably they’ll come throughout the back nine on Sunday, when, because the saying goes, the tournament truly begins.
Listed here are 10 examples, in chronological order, of sensational shots by players who walked away with the title — and, since 1949, the coveted green jacket.
1935: Gene Sarazen
There’s no film of the shot that ranks as the best of all. That’s unlucky.
The Masters wasn’t referred to as the Masters then; it was the Augusta National Invitation Tournament and in just its second 12 months.
In the ultimate round, Sarazen was trailing Craig Wood by three strokes. On No. 15, a par 5, Sarazen hit a 4-wood from about 230 yards away. The ball dropped into the cup for an incredible double eagle. Similar to that, he was tied with Wood.
Sarazen beat Wood by five shots the subsequent day in a 36-hole playoff.
1960: Arnold Palmer
After making an extended birdie putt on No. 17 to tie Ken Venturi, who had accomplished play, Palmer needed one other birdie on the last hole to capture his second Masters title in three years.
Mission completed.
He nailed a 6-iron from the green to inside five feet of the pin after which converted the putt.
Palmer prevailed again at Augusta National in 1962 and in 1964, winning the last of his seven majors.
1975: Jack Nicklaus
His tee shot at No. 16, a par 3, in the ultimate round wasn’t what he was on the lookout for, with the ball coming to a rest about 40 feet from the cup. He would, in all likelihood, get his par, but still trail the leader, Tom Weiskopf, by a shot.
Forget concerning the par.
Nicklaus knocked within the uphill putt for a birdie, lifting his putter within the air to have a good time. After Weiskopf and Johnny Miller missed their birdie attempts at 18, Nicklaus won his fifth green jacket.
1986: Jack Nicklaus
Nicklaus, 46, was making an unexpected run on Sunday when he faced a second shot at the danger/reward fifteenth hole.
The chance was well worth the reward.
From 202 yards away, he hit a 4-iron over the pond to about 12 feet from the pin.
He converted the eagle putt and followed with birdies at 16 and 17 to win by a stroke. For Nicklaus, who fired a final-round 65 (30 on the back nine), it was his sixth Masters title and 18th, and final, major championship.
1987: Larry Mize
When a sudden-death playoff got underway, Mize was not the favourite. His opponents were Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros, future Hall of Famers.
Yet it was Mize, an Augusta native, who got here through, chipping in from about 140 feet on No. 11, the second playoff hole, to outduel Norman. Ballesteros, in pursuit of his third green jacket, had dropped out after a bogey on the primary playoff hole.
Mize went on to win only two more PGA Tour events.
1988: Sandy Lyle
After hitting his drive on No. 18 into the bunker, Lyle needed a par to maneuver to a playoff with Mark Calcavecchia, who was already within the clubhouse.
From 150 yards away, Lyle, who couldn’t see the flag, proceeded to hit a powerful 7-iron, the ball trickling down the hill to stop about 10 feet from the pin.
Lyle, of Scotland, made the birdie putt to grow to be the primary player from the UK to win the Masters.
1998: Mark O’Meara
The tournament seemed destined for the primary sudden-death playoff since 1990.
O’Meara, who was tied with David Duval and Fred Couples, was lining up a 20-foot birdie putt on the ultimate hole.
There can be no playoff.
O’Meara, who had began the day two shots back, knocked it in for his first major title. He won his second major just a few months later within the British Open.
2004: Phil Mickelson
Without query, Mickelson’s 6-iron from the pine straw on No. 13 in 2010 deserves to be on the list, but his birdie on the ultimate hole in 2004 also stands out.
Tied with Ernie Els, Mickelson hit his approach to 18 feet from the opening. A playoff seemed to be a powerful possibility, and just like O’Meara in 1998, Mickelson, 33, was looking for his first major triumph. He had finished second 3 times.
Jim Nantz, the CBS anchor, said it best because the ball edged toward the cup.
“Is it his time? … Yes.”
2005: Tiger Woods
Leading in the ultimate round by just one, Woods was in trouble after his 8-iron to No. 16 missed the green to the left. He needed to aim about 25 feet from the cup to catch the slope at the proper spot.
He found the proper spot, and the ball stayed on the sting of the cup for a second or two before tumbling in for a miraculous birdie.
Woods secured his fourth green jacket on the primary playoff hole against Chris DiMarco.
2012: Bubba Watson
Watson, on the second playoff hole against Louis Oosthuizen, sent his tee shot into the pine straw on the appropriate.
Advantage: Oosthuizen. Not for long.
Watson managed to hook his wedge shot to about 15 feet from the cup. He finished with a par, earning the primary of his two Masters victories when Oosthuizen made a bogey.
“As an athlete, as a golfer,” Watson told reporters on the time, “that is the Mecca. That is what we attempt for — to placed on the green jacket.”
