Winning the Masters is indisputably one of the biggest achievements in golf, while being handed the Green Jacket at the end of the tournament has many enviable and life-changing perks.
Of course, for every winner there is also a player who just misses out on the title, but who has the most runner-up finishes at the Augusta National Major? Three players share the somewhat unenviable record, with four runner-up finishes. Here are the details...
Ben Hogan won The Masters twice in an outstanding career, but he had double the number of runner-up finishes.
Hogan’s first near miss came in the 1942 tournament when he lost in a playoff to Byron Nelson. Four years later - which was, in fact, the next edition of the Masters after it was cancelled for three years due to the Second World War - he finished runner-up again, on that occasion by one shot to Herman Keiser.
Hogan finally won The Masters in his 10th appearance in 1951, with a second title coming two years later. However, the defending champion then suffered his third runner-up finish in 1954 when Sam Snead clawed back a three-shot deficit on him in the final round to force a playoff. For the second time in his career, Hogan missed out in extra holes. A year later, Hogan again finished runner-up, albeit by seven shots, to Cary Middlecoff.
Jack Nicklaus’s haul of six Masters titles is more than anyone else's. However, like Hogan, he also finished runner-up four times.
Nicklaus’ first close call came in 1964 as he defended the title, although on that occasion he was hardly in the running, needing to claw back nine shots on leader Arnold Palmer heading into the final round. He could only reduce the deficit by three, leaving him tied for second with Dave Marr.
Seven years later, and by that point a three-time Masters champion, there was a far tighter affair as Nicklaus shared the lead with Charles Coody ahead of the final round. It wasn’t to be for the Golden Bear on that occasion, though, as a final round of 72 saw him tied for second with Johnny Miller as Coody claimed the Green Jacket.
In the 1977 edition, Nicklaus had the runner-up spot all to himself when he finished two ahead of Tom Kite and Rik Massengale as Tom Watson won by two, dispelling accusations of being a “choker” with the first of his eight Major titles.
In 1981, Nicklaus finished runner-up at The Masters for the fourth and final time despite leading by four after two rounds. By the end of the third round, Watson led by one over Nicklaus before extending that to two by the end of the tournament, with Nicklaus, not for the first time, sharing the runner-up spot with Johnny Miller. Regardless, Nicklaus had one more day of glory left in him at The Masters, when he claimed the title for the sixth time in 1986.
At least Hogan and Nicklaus experienced winning The Masters – a destiny that never came to the third player to finish runner-up four times, Tom Weiskopf.
His first runner-up finish came in just his second appearance, in 1969, when he went into the final round three behind Billy Casper. By the end of the day, Weiskopf had narrowed the gap to two, but he, Casper and George Knudson missed out to George Archer.
Three years later, Weiskopf finished tied for runner-up again, on that occasion alongside Bobby Mitchell and Bruce Crampton as Jack Nicklaus won for the fourth time.
In 1974, Weiskopf was out of luck for the third time when he and Dave Stockton missed out by two to Gary Player. A year later, that sense of déjà vu must have consumed Weiskopf again when a one-shot overnight lead heading into the fourth round turned into a two-shot deficit, leaving him stranded on 11-under for the tournament alongside Johnny Miller as Jack Nicklaus took the title.
Several players also missed out on the title three times - Tom Watson, Tom Kite, Raymond Floyd and Tom Kite.
