One of the great perks of winning The Masters is the lifetime exemption given to the champion.
That means that, even if a former champion has otherwise left his playing days behind, he still has the option of teeing it up at the Major if he chooses.
While there is no age limit on when a player should decide enough is enough at The Masters, two-time winner Bernhard Langer revealed in 2020 that Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley had told him “we will all know when the time is right to stop playing,” so there is perhaps an expectation that a player should use his judgement over when the best time to call it a day is.
As a result, there are plenty of former winners of the tournament who won’t be teeing it up at the 2024 edition, but it's not just age that is a factor, with visa issues, injuries and other commitments among the factors that can persuade a former champion not to play.
In total, 17 players who have previously worn the Green Jacket have decided against teeing it up this year...
Tommy Aaron
Tommy Aaron recorded four top-10 finishes at the Major before getting over the line in 1973 with a one-shot win over JC Snead.
The American, who is now 87, didn’t reach the top 10 at the tournament again, but he did take advantage of his lifetime exemption, making another 31 appearances before calling it a day in 2005.
Angel Cabrera
The 2009 Green Jacket winner was not included in the 2024 Masters field after being released from prison following a 30-month sentence he served for domestic assault and other charges relating to former partners.
However, it wasn’t because he’s no longer welcome to compete. Cabrera, who was released on parole last August after serving prison time in Argentina and Brazil, has reportedly been unable to obtain a visa.
Charles Coody
Coody won the 1971 tournament in his sixth Augusta National appearance with a two-shot win over Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller, but a T5 in 1976 was the closest he came to another title.
He was still a regular at the tournament for many years, though, and finally drew a line under his career at the Major in 2006, having only missed the 1992 tournament since his win.
Ben Crenshaw
Crenshaw won The Masters twice, in 1984 and 1985, but he chose 2015 as the year to step away from the action.
By that point, he was far past his best, and finished on 32-over for the tournament. Afterwards, he said: “Those are tough decisions to step down. But my God, it was way past time for me.”
Regardless, after he left the 18th green for the final time, Crenshaw received a guard of honor that included playing partners Bill Hass and Jason Dufner.
Nick Faldo
Faldo won the tournament three times between 1989 and 1996, but 10 years later, he chose to walk away to concentrate on a budding broadcasting career at the age of just 49. Still, there were some who wondered if he might one day make a Masters comeback.
In 2013, Faldo poured cold water on that idea, telling the Augusta Chronicle in 2013: “I can’t see that. I couldn’t let myself go and shoot any number. It’s just not me. … If I keep my nose clean and keep my job at CBS, I’m quite happy to be here and doing that.”
He announced his retirement from broadcasting in 2022 to concentrate on his family life on his farm in Montana, but he did make a brief comeback to broadcast on the Major for Sky Sports in 2023.
Raymond Floyd
Floyd won four Majors, including the 1976 Masters at the age of 33. Despite not winning it again, though, he remained hugely competitive at the tournament for many more years, with his last top-10 coming in 1994 aged 51.
Inevitably, those strong performances became more rare as the years ticked on, and Floyd eventually finished playing at Augusta National in 2009 after his 10th missed cut in succession. It was his 45th appearance.
Trevor Immelman
Even today, aged just 44, 2008 Masters champion Immelman could realistically have hoped to be competitive at the Major, but injuries brought his playing career to an end prematurely, and his final appearance came with a missed cut in 2018.
Nowadays, Immelman also has other commitments, most notably as part of the CBS Sports broadcast team.
Bernhard Langer
The 1985 and 1993 champion has defied the ageing process for years, and had been the oldest player to make the cut at The Masters at the age of 63 before Fred Couples surpassed his record in 2023.
He had been expected to make his final appearance at the tournament this year, but injury but a torn Achilles sustained during a game of pickleball ended his chances.
Following that setback, Langer has yet to confirm whether he will aim for a proper send-off with an appearance at the 2025 tournament.
Sandy Lyle
The 1988 champion made his Masters swansong in 2023 and, even though he was long past the years of competing at the top of the leaderboard, it was nothing if not memorable.
Lyle snapped a club in a nightmare start to his opening round, then, with his ball on the 18th green in his second round, he was denied a fitting farewell after play was suspended.
He came back the next day to finish the job, then waited for another player making his last appearance at the tournament, the man he succeeded as champion...
Larry Mize
Larry Mize handed Lyle the Green Jacket for his win, and the 1987 victor's career ended minutes after the Scot's, who poignantly waited for the American on the 18th green.
That completed a legacy that included one of the best shots in its history, when Mize chipped in to beat Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman in a playoff in 1987.
Mize announced his decision to retire from the Masters in an interview with Golf Digest, saying: “This will be my last Masters. It’s time. I’m 64 and the golf course is getting longer, and I have found that I have not gotten longer as I get older. It is a young man’s golf course, there’s no doubt.”
In total he made 40 appearances at the Major, but will be forever remembered for his moment of magic 37 years ago.
Jack Nicklaus
Among Nicklaus’ 18 Major wins were six at The Masters, with the last of them coming in 1986.
Nicklaus achieved his final top-10 finish at Augusta National 12 years later, when he was 58, but he stepped away seven years after that, and nowadays admits he can no longer play, with even the Par-3 Contest, which he announced his retirement from in 2022, proving too much.
The living legend still attends the event as one of the honorary starters.
Mark O'Meara
O’Meara won The Masters the year Nicklaus made his last top-10 at Augusta National, and he went onto compete at the tournament another 19 times before calling it a day after the 2018 event.
Per the Augusta Chronicle, Minutes after missing the cut, O’Meara said: “That was it for me - I’m done,” before qualifying his decision by saying: “It’s just a tough golf course when you’re 61.”
Gary Player
By the time of the three-time Masters winner's 2009 and final appearance, Player had made a record 52 starts, missing only one edition since 1957. However, despite his extraordinary history with the event, his opinion of it appears to have soured in recent years.
Player said in an interview with The Times in 2023: “After all I’ve contributed to the tournament and been an ambassador for them, I can’t go and have a practice round there with my three grandchildren without having to beg a member to play with us, and there’s always some excuse. It’s terribly, terribly sad.”
Despite that, in 2023, at the age of 87, Player continued his role at the Major as one of three honorary starters along with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.
Craig Stadler
Stadler won the tournament in 1982 and claimed three more top-10 finishes in the years that followed before making his final appearance in 2014.
His timing surely couldn’t have been better - he appeared for the last time the same year his son, Kevin, made his Masters debut.
Tom Watson
Like Nicklaus and Player, Watson was an honorary starter at the 2023 Masters, which he achieved after recovering from surgery following a go-karting accident five months earlier.
By then, it had been seven years since the two-time winner last took up his place in the field, and it ended in an emotional send-off after his 134th round at the tournament.
“I’ve been blessed to be able to play here," Watson told the Augusta Chronicle. "I hope I entertained some fans here. I appreciate their applause for me and the way they treated me. There were lots of hats off to Tom today. It was really pretty special.”
However, he wasn’t even done with victory at Augusta National at that point. In 2018, he became the oldest player to win the Par-3 Contest at the age of 68.
Four years after that, Watson joined Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus as an honorary starter.
Ian Woosnam
Woosnam, who won the title in 1991, shot 76-77 in his final round in 2021, a year after saying: “That’s my last go.”
He admitted to the Augusta Chronicle that he’d taken some persuading to prolong his Masters career by a year, saying: “My wife made me come back. She said, ‘Go and play.’ So I thought I’d come back and have another go.”
Woosnam still wasn’t quite sure that would be his farewell appearance, but admitted putting struggles at the course were an issue for a player as competitive as him. Three years on, and, so far, Woosnam is sticking to his decision not to make another return.
Fuzzy Zoeller
Fuzzy Zoeller decided to walk away from The Masters on the 30th anniversary of his win on his first attempt - making him one of just three golfers to win The Masters on debut.
In total, Zoeller made 31 appearances at The Masters, but he never managed a repeat of his 1979 victory, with a T10 three years later the closest he came again.
Zoeller, who had his daughter Gretchen on the bag for him during his final appearance, said afterwards: “I hope everybody’s had fun, because I’ve enjoyed my ride.”
