The Masters has come a long way from the time when Bobby Jones invited a bunch of his golf-playing friends to the new course he founded in Augusta, Ga. The Augusta National Invitational Tournament started humbly in 1934 with the fear that the club would not survive. The tournament was soon renamed the Masters, took a pause for World War II, then played every year again beginning in 1946.
Today, it thrives. This week the tournament now known as the Masters will be played for the 90th time.
In honor of the 90th playing of the year’s first major, we compiled a list of 90 facts and records that just might surprise you. Settle in, and get ready for another Masters week.
1: Firsts in golf that can be credited to the Masters include ropelines to control crowds and on-course scoreboards that include red numbers for under-par scores and green for over-par scores to simplify the fan-viewing experience. All are now commonplace in pro golf.
2: Score made by Gene Sarazen on the 15th hole of the final round of the 1935 Masters. The albatross helped him tie Craig Wood, whom he defeated the next day in a 36-hole playoff, and helped put the Masters on the map.
3: Price in dollars for an egg salad and pimento cheese sandwich ($1.50 each), two Masters concessions staples.
4: Albatrosses (double eagles) in Masters history, starting with Sarazen’s “shot heard around the world” that we just described above. The others: Bruce Devlin (No. 8, first round, 1967), Jeff Maggert (No. 13, final round, 1994), Louis Oosthuizen (No. 2, final round, 2012).
5: Number of Masters won by Tiger Woods.
6: Number of Masters won by Jack Nicklaus.
7: Number on the iron that Rory McIlroy donated to Augusta National following his 2025 Masters victory. McIlroy used the 7-iron on his epic approach shot, which he hooked around a pine, on the 15th hole on Sunday.
8: Most cuts made by an amateur, Charles Coe.
9: Highest score ever recorded on the 1st hole, by Ernie Els in 2016, after taking six putts.
10: The 10th Masters, in 1946, was the first following World War II after a three-year break. Herman Keiser won when Ben Hogan three-putted the final green.
11: Birdies in the second round in 2009 by Anthony Kim, a record.
12: Cabins on the grounds of Augusta National. The Butler Cabin was built in 1964 and used in 1965 for the first time as a studio for the broadcast and the champion’s interview.
13: Bobby Jones’s best finish in 12 Masters appearances (a tie for 13th) in the inaugural tournament in 1934.
14: Age of the youngest starter in Masters history, China’s Tianlang Guan, in 2013.
15: Top-5 finishes for Jack Nicklaus, the Masters record. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are tied with 12.
16th: Hole, named "Redbud", which has witnessed the most aces in Masters history, with 24 recorded there.
17th: Hole in 1968 where Roberto De Vicenzo made a birdie 3 but signed instead for a 4, costing himself a spot in a playoff with Bob Goalby. “What a stupid I am,” the Argentine famously said.
18: Number of majors won by Jack Nicklaus, with his last at the 1986 Masters.
19: Number of starts by Sergio Garcia before he won the Masters, the tournament record.
’20: The year (2020) when the Masters was played for the only time in November due to being postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
21: Age of amateur golfer José Luis Ballester, who was spotted urinating in a tributary to Rae's Creek at the 13th hole during the first round of the 2025 Masters. The Spaniard, playing in his first Masters, admitted to the incident, stating he forgot about the nearby restrooms and took the opportunity to relieve himself while waiting for playing partner Justin Thomas to putt.
22: Record for top-10 finishes, by Jack Nicklaus.
23: Age of Seve Ballesteros when he won his first Masters in 1980.
24: Record for consecutive cuts made, by Tiger Woods.
25: Number of cuts made by Ben Crenshaw, who won the Masters twice.
26: Number of amateurs in the field for the 1966 Masters, one of the largest in tournament history.
27: Number of live televised hours this year’s tournament on U.S. TV and streaming, including four new hours (1–3 p.m. ET Thursday and Friday) on Amazon Prime.
28: Birdies in 2015 by winner Jordan Spieth, who set the record for birdies in a single Masters.
29: World ranking of Charl Schwartzel when he won the 2011 Masters, which remains the last time a player outside of the top 25 in the Masters-week Official World Golf Ranking won a green jacket.
30: Number of years since Tiger Woods first appeared in a major, finishing tied for 41st at the 1995 Masters, when he was low amateur.
31: Players’ average distance to the hole after approach shots, higher than the typical PGA Tour average of 26 feet.
’32: Year ANGC first opened for play, in December. But work on the course continued a bit longer …
’33: … and finished this year. One year later it hosted the first Augusta National Invitation Tournament, which would later become the Masters.
34: Number of aces in Masters history, at the 4th (1), 6th (6), 12th (3), 16th (24).
35: Number of yards added to the iconic par-5 13th hole before the 2023 tournament, thanks to the club purchasing and then developing a swath of land from neighboring Augusta Country Club.
36: Span of years in which Jack Nicklaus competed in major championships, starting with the 1962 Masters through the 1998 U.S. Open, 146 in a row.
37: Record for most finishes (and cuts made), by Jack Nicklaus.
’38: Year the Augusta National Invitation Tournament was staged for the fifth time, and last under that name.
’39: The first time the tournament was officially called the Masters, although it had often been referenced that way the first few years.
40: Score for the first nine holes by Tiger Woods during the first round of the 1997 Masters—which he went on to win.
’41: Craig Wood, denied by Gene Sarazen’s albatross, wins and goes on to become the first player to win the Masters and U.S. Open in the same year.
42: Fewest players in a Masters field, in 1938 and 1942. The highest has been 110 in 1962.
43: Tiger Woods’s age when he won his last Masters, in 2019.
44: Number of bunkers at Augusta National.
45: Number of times President Dwight Eisenhower visited Augusta National—five times before becoming president, 29 while in office and 11 after his second term.
46: Size (46L, to be exact) of the jacket given to Jack Nicklaus after his first Masters victory in 1963, one usually worn by New York senator and ANGC member Thomas Dewey—and one that was too big. Nicklaus needed a green jacket size 43. (Dewey lost the 1948 Presidential election to Harry Truman.)
’47: Jimmy Demaret won a second straight Masters while becoming the first player to record four sub-par rounds. In 1950 Demaret would win again to become the Masters’ first three-time champion.
’48: Claude Harmon, a club pro and father to acclaimed teacher Butch Harmon, wins the Masters. It was his only PGA Tour victory.
49: Highest score shot on the first nine, by Charles Kunkle in the final round in 1956. (Four players have shot 49 on the first nine.) Kunkle also holds the “honor” of the highest Masters score of 95, shot in the same round.
50: Number of Masters played by Arnold Palmer, starting in 1955 through 2004.
’51: Ben Hogan, 38, wins the first of his two Masters titles. It was the fifth of what would eventually lead to nine major wins in his career.
52: Most starts in Masters history, by Gary Player.
53: Age of Byron Nelson when he played the Masters in 1965 for the final time. He tied for 15th.
’54: Sam Snead wins his seventh and final major title, in a playoff over Ben Hogan. It was his third Masters win, and he would become an honorary starter at the tournament in 1984.
55: Current age of Mike Weir and Phil Mickelson, the first two left-handed golfers to win the Masters. Weir won in 2003 and Mickelson won the first of his three in 2004. (Weir will play this year, Mickelson withdrew last week due to a family matter.)
’56: The first year when CBS televised the third and fourth rounds. The network has done so ever since.
’57: The only year, in 25 total appearances, where Ben Hogan missed the cut—and he missed it by one stroke.
58: Jack Nicklaus’s age in 1998 when he tied for sixth, the oldest to finish in the top 10.
59: Best-ball score for Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose in the final round of last year’s Masters.
’60: Arnold Palmer birdied the last two holes to win his second Masters by one shot over Ken Venturi. Often forgotten: following the second round, Dow Finsterwald was assessed a two-stroke penalty for practice-putting on a green following the conclusion of the hole. He finished third, two strokes back of Palmer.
61: Number of Magnolia trees (approximately) along Magnolia Lane, the famous main entrance to the club.
62: Major championship scoring record, which has yet to be shot at a Masters. Five players have shot 62s in majors, including Xander Schauffele at the 2023 U.S. Open and the 2024 PGA Championship. Branden Grace was the first player to do it in 2017 at the British Open.
63: Scoring record held by Nick Price (third round in 1986) and Greg Norman (first round in 1996).
64: Before Price, the longtime Masters scoring record set originally by Lloyd Mangrum in 1940. It has been shot eight times during the final round but just once by a winner: Gary Player in 1978.
65: Third-round score of Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters, giving him a nine-shot advantage through 54 holes in his first major as a pro.
66: Score by Ben Hogan in the third round of the 1967 Masters that put him two back of the lead before he eventually tied for 10th. It was his final Masters.
67: Most rounds played in the Masters by an amateur, Charlie Coe.
68: First-round score for Tony Finau in his first Masters, in 2018, one day after he grotesquely dislocated (then popped back into place) his ankle while celebrating an ace in the Par-3 Contest.
69: Age of Masters and Augusta National founder Bobby Jones at his death, in 1971 after a long illness. Jones won seven of the professional majors along with five U.S. Amateurs and one British Amateur.
70: Most holes led in the tournament, by Herman Keiser in 1946.
’71: The Masters isn’t the first major championship of the year for the first time in its history; the PGA Championship was played in Florida in February (and won by Jack Nicklaus).
72: The record 72-hole score is a 268 (20-under par) by Dustin Johnson in 2020.
’73: Tommy Aaron wins the Masters, the first to do so by player wearing eyeglasses.
74: Final-round score by winner Herman Keiser at the 1946 Masters, the only time he finished in the top 10 of a major.
75: Highest final-round score by a winner, by Arnold Palmer (1962) and Trevor Immelman (2008).
76: Third-round score for 2007 Masters winner Zach Johnson; no one broke 70 on a day with unusually cold temperatures and wind gusts reaching 33 mph.
77: Highest score in any round by a winner, by Sam Snead (1962) and Nick Faldo (1989).
’78: Gary Player wins his third Masters in 1978 after starting the final round seven shots back. It’s the second-largest Sunday rally in Masters history, behind Jack Burke Jr. in 1956, who came back from eight strokes behind entering the final round.
79: Age of oldest starter Fred McLeod, in 1962. Fred Couples is the oldest finisher, at 63 in 2023.
80: Final-round score for Rory McIlroy in the 2011 Masters, after leading by four shots going into Sunday.
’81: Augusta National switches to bentgrass greens from Bermuda, despite the surface being more associated with northern climates. The club has a SubAir heating and cooling system under each of its greens to drain water and keep green-speeds consistent.
82: Tiger Woods’s highest Masters score, shot during the third round in 2024, where he made his 24th consecutive cut.
’83: The last year the Masters had a Monday finish due to poor weather. Seve Ballesteros won his second green jacket by four shots over Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite.
84: Age of two-time Masters champion Ben Hogan when he died in 1997.
85: Jack Nicklaus’s highest score in the Masters, shot during the first round in 2003 when he was 63 years old.
’86: Jack Nicklaus wins his sixth Masters, his 18th major title (20 if you include his two U.S. Amateurs) and 73rd PGA Tour event, capping his career. (Perhaps you heard about it.)
’87: In an often-replayed finish, Larry Mize chips in from off the green on the 11th hole for a stunning birdie and a playoff win over Greg Norman. Seve Ballesteros had bowed out of the playoff on the first extra hole, which was then the par-4 10th.
88: The number of spectators, approximately, who were at the first tee to watch Tiger Woods tee off in 2020 as the defending champion. The attendance was severely limited to essentially club members and media due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed the event to the fall.
’89: En route to victory, Sir Nick Faldo holes a 100-foot birdie putt on the par-5 2nd hole in the third round, widely considered to be the longest holed putt in Masters history.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as 90 Masters Facts Every Golf Fan Should Know for This Year’s 90th Tournament.
