Highest Single-Hole Scores Ever in The Masters

What is the worst score on a single hole in the history of The Masters Tournament? The tournament record for single-hole high score is 13, a tally recorded by three golfers so far.

Those three high scores of 13 were made on three different holes at Augusta National Golf Club. Two of those holes were par-5 holes, but one of them was a par-3 hole.

These are the golfers who share the Masters record for highest score on a single hole:

13 strokes, Tommy Nakajima, Hole 13, 1978

Tommy Nakajima went on to be one of the winningest golfers in the history of the Japan Tour (nearly 50 victories). But at the 1978 Masters he was making his tournament debut. He got off to a rough start, scoring 80 in Round 1. But things were about to get rougher.

Nakajima was even-par through 12 holes of the second round when he reached the par-5 13th hole. Following a good drive, he went for the green in two, but instead duck-hooked a ball into the Rae's Creek tributary left of the fairway.

After a penalty drop, Nakajima mis-hit his next attempt weakly up the fairway, then put his next shot into the creek again where it crosses in front of the green. Then he tried to play the ball out of the water. But his ball just popped up and fell back down onto his foot — another penalty.

Then Nakajima and his caddied fumbled his sand wedge, which fell into the water. And that was a penalty for grounding a club in a hazard. He finally got the ball out of the water on his next attempt, sending it over the green. Nakajima finally chipped onto the green, then two-putted for his 13. He wound up scoring 80 again and missed the cut.

Later that year at the 1978 British Open, Nakajima had a putt to tie the third-round lead on The Old Course's 17th hole, the Road Hole. Instead he putted into the bunker and took four tries to get out, scoring a 9. That bunker is still sometimes referred to as "the Sands of Nakajima."

13 strokes, Tom Weiskopf, Hole 12, 1980

This can be called the worst single-hole score ever made in The Masters because it happened on a par-3, making this 13 10-over par (the other two being 8-over par), a "decuple bogey."

It was the first round of the 1980 Masters, and Tom Weiskopf, who never won The Masters but shares the tournament record with four runner-up finishes, was 2-over par when he reached the par-3 12th hole. And then he hit five balls into the water.

Weiskopf's tee shot on the 145-yard hole hit the embankment short of the green, and the ball rolled back down into Rae's Creek.

He moved up to the designated drop circle ("within 20 yards of the green," according to news accounts) for his next attempt. But his drop into the drop zone settled down into a depression. He hit that one into the water, too. Then, as Dave Kindred of The Washington Post put it in his next-day story about Weiskopf's adventure, the golfer "bounced, chili-dipped and fat-blooped three more balls into the damned crick."

On his sixth overall attempt, and fifth from the drop circle, Weiskopf finally got a ball onto the green, then putted out for his 13. He scored 85 for the round. With a 79 in Round 2, he missed the cut.

13 strokes, Sergio Garcia, Hole 15, 2018

The third score of 13 overall in Masters history was the second made on a par-5 hole, making it the second "octuple bogey." But Sergio Garcia's misfortune happened when he was the defending champion, having won the 2017 Masters.

But at the 2018 Masters, winning wasn't in the cards for Garcia. He was 2-over through the first round when he arrived at the 15th hole. After a booming drive, he had only 200 yards left to the green.

And his approach shot hit the green. But then it spun back and to the left, down the slope, into the water. Garcia dropped and did it again. Then again. And again. And again. Five balls into the pond on the left-front of the 15th green.

On his sixth attempt — his 12th stroke, counting penalties — Garcia finally kept a ball on the green. He sank the putt for his 13. Garcia finished with an 81, then shot 78 in Round 2 and missed the cut.

And those are the three worst single-hole scores ever at The Masters ... so far. When Nakajima recorded the first 13 in 1978, whose record did he "best"? By 1978, only one golfer had ever recorded a 12 on a hole in The Masters. That was Frank Walsh on the par-5 No. 8 hole in 1935.

Related articles:

Sources:
Augusta National Golf Club. "Historical Records & Stats," Highest And Lowest Scores, https://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/stats/historical/high_and_low_scores.html.
Augusta National Golf Club. "Hole No. 13, Azalea," TheMasters.com, https://www.masters.com/en_US/course/hole13.html.
Augusta National Golf Club. "Hole No. 15, Firethorn," TheMasters.com, https://www.masters.com/en_US/course/hole15.html.
Beall, Joel. "Sergio Garcia sets record with octuple-bogey 13 on Augusta National's 15th hole," GolfDigest.com, April 5, 2018, https://www.golfdigest.com/story/masters-2018-sergio-garcia-sets-record-with-octuple-bogey-13-on-augusta-nationals-15th-hole.
Brenner, Morgan. The Majors of Golf*, Volume 2, 2009, McFarland and Company.
Kindred, Dave. "The Fall of Terrible Tom," The Washington Post, April 10, 1980, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1980/04/11/the-fall-of-terrible-tom/0af788bb-70a8-4209-bb10-efb747a23d44/.
Quinn, Brennan. "The pro who made a 13 in the Masters and a 9 in the British Open," GolfDigest.com, April 22, 2020, https://www.golfdigest.com/story/tommy-nakajima-the-pro-who-made-a-13-in-the-masters-and-a-9-in-the-british-open.
(*affiliate link, commissions earned)