While each edition of The Masters focuses on the battle developing at the top of the leaderboard, which is typically dominated by professionals, among the amateurs in the field, there is a contest that is won by the player finishing with the lowest score who makes the cut.
Since 1952, that achievement has been recognised with the awarding of the Silver Cup, and in 2023, Sam Bennett became the latest recipient after his impressive T16 at Augusta National.
However, only seven of the players who have won the low amateur have gone on to claim the Major. Here is how each joined the exclusive list.
Cary Middlecoff
- Low Amateur: 1946
- The Masters: 1955
Middlecoff had already served notice of his credentials by winning PGA Tour event the North and South Open as an amateur in 1945, and he was far from overawed by the experience of taking part in his first edition of The Masters the following year.
Even after the first round, it was clear Middlecoff was there to compete, with a round of 72 seeing him level with two-time Masters winner Bryon Nelson in a T6. Rounds of 76, 74 and 71 followed as Middlecoff finished T12 to claim the low amateur as Herman Keiser took the title.
Nine years later, it was Middlecoff’s time to claim the Green Jacket. By that point, he had multiple PGA Tour wins and had won the 1949 US Open. Middlecoff had also achieved three-top 10 finishes at The Masters, so it wasn’t a surprise when he produced a dominant performance to win by seven shots over Ben Hogan and become the first player to win the Major and the low amateur.
Jack Nicklaus
- Low Amateur: 1960
- The Masters: 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1986
After missing the cut in his maiden start at The Masters, in 1959, Nicklaus put that behind him to finish T13 the year after and be named low amateur at the age of 20. At that point, Nicklaus was even considering retaining his amateur status while earning a living selling insurance, but he turned professional and the rest is history.
Among Nicklaus’ record haul of 18 Major titles, six came at The Masters, with the first of those just three years after his low amateur performance. Further Masters titles followed in 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 and, finally, 1986, when Nicklaus became the oldest player to win the Major, aged 46 years, 2 months, 23 days – a record that is still in place.
Ben Crenshaw
- Low Amateur: 1972, 1973
- The Masters: 1984, 1985
Crenshaw became Masters low amateur in his first Augusta National appearance in 1972 when he finished T19, but not content with that achievement, he repeated the feat a year later, this time with a T24.
Crenshaw turned professional soon after, but despite five top-10 finishes at The Masters in his next 10 appearances, he didn’t claim the Green Jacket until 1984, when he beat Tom Watson by two.
The two-time Masters low amateur then became a two-time winner of the Major 11 years later with a one-shot victory over Davis Love III.
Phil Mickelson
- Low Amateur: 1991
- The Masters: 2004, 2006, 2010
Three months after Mickelson became only the sixth amateur to win a PGA Tour event at the 1991 Northern Telecom Open, he became low amateur at The Masters, finishing T46.
Mickelson turned pro a year later, and that set him on a path to many more wins, including six Major titles, three of which have come at The Masters.
A win at Augusta National appeared an inevitability for Mickelson from early in his professional career after he made seven-top 10 finishes before he joined the list of low amateur winners to claim the Green Jacket 13 years after first making his mark on the tournament.
That came with a one-shot win over Ernie Els and, two years later, he had his second title, this time after beating Tim Clark by two. In 2010, Mickelson claimed his third Masters title with a three-shot win over Lee Westwood.
Tiger Woods
- Low Amateur: 1995
- The Masters: 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019
Over a year before Woods’ famous “Hello, world” introduction to the professional game at the 1996 Greater Milwaukee Open, he finished T41 to claim The Masters low amateur.
While that was an impressive opening to his Augusta National career, it had nothing on what was to come.
It only took Woods two more years to claim the Green Jacket, and he did it in serious style, beating nearest challenger Tom Kite by 12 – the largest margin of victory at the tournament in history.
He was far from finished there, with further wins coming in 2001, 2001 and 2005 before, at the age of 43, he rolled back the years to claim his fifth Masters title, and 15th Major win overall, with a one-shot win over Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele.
Sergio Garcia
- Low Amateur: 1999
- The Masters: 2017
Spaniard Garcia’s first Masters performance came 25 years ago, and he was named low amateur after finishing T38 as compatriot Jose Maria Olazabal took the title.
Incredibly, he’s only missed one edition since then, in 2020, and it’ll likely be some time until he is absent from another after he won the 2017 event to earn a lifetime exemption.
That was Garcia’s his first, and only, Major win so far, and it went the distance, with Garcia eventually beating Justin Rose in a playoff to add his name to the list of players with a low amateur title and Green Jacket.
Hideki Matsuyama
- Low Amateur: 2011
- The Masters: 2021
Victory at the 2010 Asian Amateur Championship earned Matsuyama a place at the 2011 Masters. That also gave him the honor of being the first Japanese amateur to take part in the Major, and he took his chance with both hands, finishing T27 to be named low amateur.
Further appearances followed both as an amateur and after turning pro in 2013, including top-10 finishes in 2015 and 2016, before Matsuyama won the title a decade after his initial success at Augusta National, where he beat Will Zalatoris by a shot. That made him the seventh and, to date, most recent entrant into the list of low amateur and Masters winners.
