What are the best all-time finishes by an amateur at the Masters?

Amateurs have always been a major part of the Masters.

From the Amateur Dinner to the Crow’s Nest and Silver Cup, amateurs at the Masters are a focal point of the week at Augusta National Golf Club. They have made some memorable runs throughout the history of the event, including Sam Bennett in 2023, eventually finishing T-14.

Although an amateur has never won the Masters, 11 have finished inside the top 10, including three runner-up finishes. The best finish this century was Ryan Moore is 2005 at T-11 and Casey Wittenberg in 2004 at T-13.

There are five amateurs teeing it up in the 2024 edition of the Masters.

Here’s a look at the best all-time finishes by an amateur at the Masters.

T-9: Charles Coe, 1962

(L-R) Charles Coe, Chris Brasher, Edward Harvie Ward and William J Patton, attending a British Sportsman’s Club Luncheon held in their honor, Savoy Hotel, London, May 19th 1959. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Coe is one of the best amateur golfers in history, and he had three top-10 finishes at the Masters. His other Masters accolades are: most top-25 finishes (9); top-10 finishes (3); eagles (6), rounds played (67) and most times low amateur (6). He won low amateur honors in four different decades. (40s, 50s, 60s and 70s).

T-8: Billy Joe Patton, 1959; Harvie Ward, 1955

Horton Smith, 1934 and 1936 Masters Champion, holds an umbrella over Billy Joe Patton, on his left, and Ed Furgol to his right during the 1955 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in April in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Augusta National/Getty Images)

Patton, along with Coe, are the only two Masters participants to finish in the top 10 three times. For Ward, in 11 Masters appearances, he finished in the top 10 twice, in the top 25 five times, and only missed two cuts.

8th: Billy Joe Patton, 1958

Bobby Jones (right) presents the silver cup trophy to Billy Joe Patton, the low amateur in the 1954 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Patton, who died Jan. 1 at age 88, finished one stroke out of a playoff between Ben Hogan (second from left) and champion Sam Snead (background).

The second of Patton’s three top-10 finishes.

T-7: Jack Nicklaus, 1961

Jack Nicklaus holds his trophies after winning the NCAA Golf Championship at Purdue, West Lafayette, Ind., June 24, 1961. Nicklaus beat Ohio State teammate Mike Podolski, 5 and 3, for the collegiate crown. (AP Photo)

Nicklaus won the Masters six times. In 1961, he finished T-7 as an amateur, perhaps foreshowing his greatness at Augusta National.

6th: Charles Coe, 1959; Lawson Little, 1935

Gary Player describes his win as Charles R. Coe, right, one of two runners-up, listens during the 1961 Masters Tournament Presentation Ceremony at Augusta National Golf Club on April 10, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Augusta National/Getty Images)

For Coe, it was his second-best finish at the Masters in 1959.

Gene Sarazen’s famous albatross is what the second playing of the Masters is most known for, but Little became the first amateur to record a top finish, placing T-6.

4th: Harvie Ward, 1957

Ward is one of two golfers to win the U.S., British, and Canadian Amateurs. He won the U.S. Am in consecutive years from 1955-56. He also played on three Walker Cup teams, winning all six of his matches.

3rd: Billy Joe Patton, 1958

Billy Joe Patton searches for his ball in the creek at hole No. 13 in the final round of the 1954 Masters.

In the 1954 Masters, Patton came within one stroke of being in a three-man playoff with Ben Hogan and Sam Snead. His final round 71 included a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole and a double bogey on the par-5 13th, when he tried to reach the green in two and put his ball into Rae’s Creek.

T-2: Frank Stranahan, 1947; Charles R. Coe, 1961

American golfer Frank Stranahan drives from the first tee during the first qualifying round of the British Open Golf Championship at Sandwich, Kent. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

Frank Stranahan was a powerlifter and golfer, and he had five runner-up finishes in major championships. For Coe, it was his third top-10 finish at the Masters, but the T-2 was his best.

2nd: Ken Venturi, 1956

Ken Venturi drives off from 14h tee during the final round of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta, Ga., on April 6, 1956.

1956 was a historic Masters year. It was the first time CBS televised it, and has continued every year since. It was the last year the Masters didn’t have a 36-hole cut. And it’s the year amateur Ken Venturi finished solo second after leading after the three first rounds. Venturi was eight shots ahead of eventual winner Jack Burke Jr., but an 8-over final round was his undoing.