Largest Margins of Victory in The Masters Tournament
What is the most strokes by which anyone has won The Masters Tournament? The largest margin of victory in any Masters is 12 strokes. That is also the only double-digit win; there really haven't been a lot of Masters blowouts.
Tiger Woods set the current record for biggest winning margin in this tournament at the 1997 Masters. Woods was in fourth place after a 70 in the first round, but moved into first with a 66 in the second round. In Round 3, Woods shot 65 and opened a 9-stroke edge. He didn't let up in the final round, closing with a 69 to finish at 18-under par with a total of 270.
Woods' final score was the new tournament scoring record at the time (since broken). But the margin-of-victory record he set still stands as the Masters Tournament record.
The List: Biggest Wins in The Masters
- 12 strokes — Tiger Woods, 1997 Masters, 270. Runner-up: Tom Kite.
- 9 strokes — Jack Nicklaus, 1965 Masters, 271. Runners-up: Arnold Palmer, Gary Player. This was one of only three times the "Big 3" finished 1-2-3 on the PGA Tour, although Nicklaus' runaway meant there wasn't any drama. This is tied for Nicklaus' largest margin of victory in any PGA Tour tournament.
- 8 strokes — Raymond Floyd, 1976 Masters, 271. Runner-up: Ben Crenshaw. Floyd won wire-to-wire, holding the solo lead after each round.
- 7 strokes — Cary Middlecoff, 1955 Masters, 279. Runner-up: Ben Hogan. Middlecoff led by four after 54 holes, then shot 70 in the final round, Hogan 73, to produced the final 7-stroke margin.
- 6 strokes — Arnold Palmer, 1964 Masters, 276. Runners-up: Dave Marr, Jack Nicklaus. This was the last of Palmer's seven total wins in major championships.
- 5 strokes — Claude Harmon, 1948 Masters, 279. Runner-up: Cary Middlecoff.
- 5 strokes — Ben Hogan, 1953 Masters, 274. Runner-up: Ed Oliver. Oliver tied the tournament's previous scoring record of 279, which means that Hogan shattered that scoring record by five strokes.
- 5 strokes — Nick Faldo, 1996 Masters, 276. Runner-up: Greg Norman. Norman began the final round with a 6-stroke lead over Faldo, but Faldo shot 67 and Norman 78.
- 5 strokes — Dustin Johnson, 2020 Masters, 268. Runners-up: Sung-jae Im, Cameron Smith.
The Top 3 on the list above — Woods, Nicklaus, Floyd — all also make the list of the largest margins of victory in any of the four majors.
