Has anyone won the Masters from start to finish?
Has anyone won the Masters from start to finish? Everyone wants to start fast at the Masters, but the list of champions who lead wire-to-wire is surprising.
Editor's note: Golfweek is providing live coverage from Thursday's first round of the 2025 Masters. To follow along, click here.
Every player who competes at Augusta National wants to get off to a good start, but how often does it turn out that the player who gets the first-round lead winds up winning the Masters?
It turns out only five times in the tournament's history has the player who led the Masters after the first round gone on to hold that lead after the second and third round and then win the tournament.
The first player to ever lead the Masters from start to finish was Craig Wood, who won in 1941 after shooting 66-71-71-72 (280) and defeated Byron Nelson by three shots. Nineteen years later, Arnold Palmer won the 1960 Masters, going wire-to-wire with scores of 67-73-72-70 (282) to defeat Ken Venturi by a shot.
Jack Nicklaus won the 1972 Masters after holding the lead after every round with scores of 68-70-73-74 (286). The Golden Bear was three shots better than runner-up Bruce Crampton. Four years later, Raymond Floyd went wire-to-wire and won the 1976 Masters by shooting 65-66-70-70 (271). He cruised to an eight-shot win over Ben Crenshaw.
The fifth and most-recent player to win the Masters after holding the lead after every round was Jordan Spieth, who, a year after nearly winning at Augusta National, slipped into a green jacket after posting rounds of 64-66-70-70 (270).
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
37 minutes ago
DeChambeau misses cut at US Open, then looks for answers in the rain
OAKMONT, Pa. -- Bryson DeChambeau was the only player beating balls in the rain on the driving range as sundown approached Friday at Oakmont. Those were the last shots he'll hit at this year's U.S. Open. DeChambeau became the first defending champion to miss the cut at the national championship since Gary Woodland in 2020 — his round wrecked by errant drives, knucklers out of the rough and putts that would not drop. DeChambeau shot 7-over 77 to finish the two days at 10 over — three shots off the cutline. Where his signature shot last year at Pinehurst was that 55-yard blast from the bunker that set up the win on the 18th hole Sunday, the moment that told the story this year was the wild lash he took into the rough — also on No. 18 — then the TV cameras picking him up saying 'What was that?' as he regained his balance and headed toward the green. He saved par there and looked in line to make the cut with nine holes to go. It was a stretch of double bogey (bad drive), bogey (missed 6 footer), bogey (missed 7 footer) on 5, 6 and 7 that did in DeChambeau. And so, the fan favorite who also tamed Winged Foot for a title in 2020, and who has starred in four of the last five majors — winning last year's U.S. Open, paying with Rory McIlroy at the Masters and finishing second to Scottie Scheffler at this year's PGA and Xander Schauffele the year before — won't have a role on the weekend at Oakmont. Schauffele made the cut to extend his streak to 66 tournaments, the most since Tiger Woods made 142 straight, ending in 2005. Schauffele hasn't missed a cut at the majors since the Masters in 2022 — that's 14 straight. Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 champion, made one of only five birdies on the uphill, par-4 ninth hole to make the cut on the number. Some other former champions didn't fare as well. Among them are Dustin Johnson (10 over), the winner at Oakmont in 2016, Woodland (10 over), Lucas Glover (8 over) and Wyndham Clark, whose 25-footer for par just missed and left him one off the cut line. Also missing was Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen, who teed off into a ditch on 18, had to take a penalty shot and finished with a double bogey to move to 8 over. And Phil Mickelson's days at the U.S. Open could be coming to an end. Playing in the last Open from his five-year exemption from his PGA win in 2021, Mickelson teed off into the greenside rough on 17 and needed five shots to get down. His double bogey left him at 8 over.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Adam Scott playing 'old man par golf' at U.S. Open, sits 3 shots off lead after 36 holes
Adam Scott playing 'old man par golf' at U.S. Open, sits 3 shots off lead after 36 holes OAKMONT, Pa. – Adam Scott had the line of the day on Thursday to describe the conditions of Oakmont Country Club for the 125th U.S. Open. 'It's really hard. But it's not blow your brains out kind of hard just yet,' he said after shooting 70. One day later, he was asked for a status update. 'Getting there,' he said. 'Guns loaded, maybe.' But so far, it's been relatively stress-free for the Aussie, who is making his 96thconsecutive major appearance at this week's U.S. Open, the longest active streak. After a pair of even-par 70s at Oakmont, he sits T-4, three strokes behind 36-hole leader Sam Burns, and is a legitimate threat to win his second major title. 'I'm playing old-man-par golf at the moment,' he said of eight birdies and eight bogeys and the rest pars at the midway point of the season's third major. Scott, who will turn 45 on the eve of the British Open next month, knows it has been more than 12 years since he won his lone major at the 2013 Masters and his window to add to his total may be running out. How would he describe his window? 'Ajar,' he deadpanned to laughter. 'I'd be pretty proud of winning this thing on the weekend,' he said. 'Right now, that's really what I'm here to do, and I feel like there's probably not been many signs to anyone else but me the last month or six weeks that my game is looking better. But I definitely feel more confident than I have been this year.' Scott is winless on the PGA Tour since the 2020 Genesis Invitational and hasn't recorded a top-10 finish this season. He blamed his iron game, but that part of his game has come alive so far this week to go along with a fairway finder off the tee. He ranks second in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, which has taken much of the stress off the rest of his game, and he ranks seventh in both SG: Tee to Green and Approach the Green and fourth in proximity to the hole. Golf Channel's Paul McGinley summed up well what the veteran Scott has been able to do so far at a place where he experienced one of his lowest of lows in 2007 when he missed the cut. 'The golf swing hasn't changed, but this is kind of out of left field,' McGinley said. 'All of his numbers are bad this year, he hasn't had a top 10… so for him to show up and drive it as well as he has, hit his irons as well as he has, and play with this kind of form, I mean, he looks like a guy who can go out there, put some numbers up on the board and add to his major championship total, and nobody would have really talked about him coming into this week.' Scott visited Oakmont for a practice round the Monday after the Memorial and then made a conscious decision to avoid playing the course too much before the championship got underway. He played early Monday, took Tuesday off and did nine holes Wednesday morning. 'Not that I know the course so well but I didn't want to see balls in the rough and hacking around for three days,' he said. Last month, he made a late run at the PGA Championship before backing up a bit. He'd like nothing more than to be in the trophy hunt and see if his experience can deliver him another major moment. 'I think another major more would really go a long way in fulfilling my own self, when it's all said and done,' he said. 'This is all I'm really playing for are these big events. There's probably eight of them off the top of my mind a year that I really want to win.'
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
6 most surprising golfers to miss the cut at the U.S. Open (including Bryson DeChambeau!)
6 most surprising golfers to miss the cut at the U.S. Open (including Bryson DeChambeau!) It's been a competitive showing at the third major of the year, and we said goodbye to several golfers favored to compete for a title at the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylviania. Reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy just barely made the cut at 6-over with a birdie on the 18th hole, but with the cut line set at 7-over, the defending U.S. Open champion wasn't so lucky. Bryson DeChambeau had a rough outing this week at Oakmont, and he headlined the list of golfers who were expected to compete in the U.S. Open that ultimately won't be continuing into the weekend. Here are the six most surprising from the first two rounds. Bryson DeChambeau (+10) Make Cut Odds: -750 Miss Cut Odds: +500 DeChambeau, the defending U.S. Open champion, entered with some of the best odds to make the cut. But after shooting a solid 73 in Round 1, DeChambeau was 7-over on Friday with a performance that included eight bogeys and a double bogey. The two-time U.S. Open champion will wait another year for a three-peat. Joaquin Niemann (+10) Make Cut Odds: -400 Miss Cut Odds: +300 Niemann turned in double bogeys on both Days 1 and 2, and after shooting a 75 in back-to-back rounds, he's heading home from Oakmont. Shane Lowry (+17) Make Cut Odds: -300 Miss Cut Odds: +230 Lowry never had it this week, shooting a 9-over 79 before turning in a 78 on Friday. Lowry finished tied for second at the U.S. Open in 2016, but he'll have to wait another year to match that effort. OOPS: Shane Lowry forgets to mark his ball on the 14th green at Oakmont Sepp Straka (+11) Make Cut Odds: -275 Miss Cut Odds: +210 Straka put himself in a tough spot with an 8-over round on Thursday that featured four bogeys and a pair of double bogeys. He was better on Friday as he shot a three-over 73, but that didn't help him climb back toward the cut line as he exited at 11-over. Justin Thomas (+12) Make Cut Odds: -250 Miss Cut Odds: +200 The two-time major champion was hoping to capture his first U.S. Open title this week, but that will have to wait at least another year after Thomas shot six-over on both Thursday and Friday. His Round 2 showing had its moments with four birdies, but those were overshadowed by his six bogeys and a pair of double bogeys. Min Woo Lee (+9) Make Cut Odds: -150 Miss Cut Odds: +200 Lee did his best to salvage a rough Round 1 showing, in which he shot 9-over, with a solid 72 in Round 2. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to put himself above the cut line in his run in the U.S. Open.
