AUGUSTA, Ga. — In the final round of last year’s Masters, Augusta National Golf Club decided to alter a Sunday staple to honor a past playing of the tournament. Instead of the traditional Sunday hole location on the par-3 16th that patrons on the grounds and viewers at home had grown accustomed to seeing every final round, officials made a switch.
The hole location below the crest of the ridge on the back left side of the green behind the bunker, which produced moments like Tiger Woods’ chip-in birdie in 2005, was not used; instead, the hole was located on top of that ridge in the back right portion of the green.
It read five paces from the right and 35 paces on, serving as a homage to the 50th anniversary of the 1975 Masters when Jack Nicklaus defeated Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller in a battle of the titans en route to his fifth green jacket. The Golden Bear ultimately ended up with six, his last coming 40 years before the 2026 Masters.
The 90th playing of this tournament will no doubt have a tough time living up to the 89th, though it has gotten off to a hot start with Rory McIlroy holding a historic six-shot lead entering Moving Day. However, if history tells us anything, it is that the magical pines of Augusta, Georgia, have a way of shaking a little extra pixie dust onto the grounds of this golf course every 10th edition, and what one believes will happen Friday night may not go down as the sun sets Sunday.
Jack’s sixth green jacket in 1986 marked the 50th playing of the Masters, and it saw the 18-time major champion become the oldest to slip on the green jacket at age 46. Coincidentally, it was also the first time CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz was on the call at age 26. Nicklaus’ second nine score that fateful Sunday — to track down Seve Ballesteros and hold off Tom Kite and Greg Norman — was a 6-under 30.
There’s more than the magic of the 50th, though.
The 10th Masters was the first in four years following World War II. The 20th saw an amateur in Ken Venturi take a four-stroke lead into the final round, only for Jack Burke Jr. to overcome an eight-stroke deficit and win with the highest winning score in Masters history (later matched by Sam Snead and Zach Johnson).
It was a record comeback that nearly did not happen, though, as Burke arrived late to the golf course on the final day after attending church. He only had 15 minutes to warm up.
The 30th marked Nicklaus’ third green jacket, fifth major overall, and came in an 18-hole playoff on Monday. Nicklaus shot even-par 288 in regulation and 2-under 70 in the playoff to win, one year after his 17-under score got the job done. It was the first successful defense at the Masters — a feat that has only been accomplished twice since by Nick Faldo and Woods.
The 40th saw Raymond Floyd win by eight strokes and tie the tournament scoring record (the low one, not the high like Burke) four months after the man who broke it in 1997 was born. Floyd was 13 under heading into the weekend before signing for back-to-back 70s. It was also the first in which the 18-hole playoff format was done away with as the sudden-death format was implemented, although it would not be used for a few more years.
For all the joy of the 50th in 1986, the 60th was one of pain as Greg Norman’s collapse in 1996 saw the Australian kick away a six-stroke lead at the 54-hole mark and fall to Faldo by five strokes. Norman’s Sunday 78 featured three straight bogeys on Nos. 9-11 with double bogeys coming on both par 3s on the second nine. The collapse in general and the collapse to his knees on the par-5 15th following an eagle chip attempt remain seared into the memory of golf fans everywhere.
Phil Mickelson finished in third place, one stroke behind Norman in 1996, and snagged his second green jacket 10 years later in the 70th Masters, which also happened to be the last appearance for Faldo. Jordan Spieth looked like he would cruise to his second green jacket in the 80th edition before tragedy struck in the form of a bogey, bogey, quadruple bogey start to his second nine.
Spieth had a five-stroke lead with nine holes to play. Two hours later, Danny Willett was the victor by three strokes with Spieth putting the jacket on the Englishman.
So, what could the 90th Masters possibly bring?
Well, as it stands entering the weekend, McIlroy is aiming to become the first back-to-back winner since Tiger Woods in 2001-02). He is the seventh golfer ever to hold a lead of 5+ shots after 36 holes; the last five (since 1934) all donned the green jacket at the end of the weekend. The tournament scoring record is also in play. Of course, the Masters could go in the other direction, too.
Whatever happens, it is how the 90th will be remembered when the 100th anniversary is celebrated in 2036. There will be heroes, villains, good moments and bad.
The weekend will deliver a Masters unlike any other because, despite what has transpired in the 89 prior playings of the tournament, there is one common thread connecting all of them:
No Masters is ever quite the same.