Three golfers whose only major title came at the Masters

When Rory McIlroy fell into Harry Diamond’s arms behind the 18th green at Augusta last April, the tears came in gasping, uncontrollable waves. He had just put a 7-iron to six feet on the playoff hole: birdie, green jacket, career Grand Slam– but the burden of what he had endured to get there broke him completely.

Before last year’s victory, Wee Rors endured fourteen years of pure torture at Augusta National, a run that began with that disastrous Sunday afternoon collapse in 2011, when the Northern Irishman threw away a four-stroke lead in an attempt to win his first major. And even in his year of triumph, he still almost capitulated in true McIlroy style, crumbling on the back nine to steady himself in the play-offs.

McIlroy and Scheffler Lock Horns

Now the reigning champion is preparing to return to Augusta, but this time he will finally attend the Champions Dinner, facing Scottie Scheffler. The young Texan is currently the undisputed king of golf, and the reality is grim: defending his crown could be more difficult than waiting fourteen years to win. The bookmakers certainly seem to agree.

Online betting sites have installed Scheffler as the short-priced 3.75 betting favorite to reign supreme at the Masters for the third time. McIlroy, meanwhile, is the favorite by 7.50 seconds, but while he may be high on the odds list, a handy online betting tool shows just how much disparity there is between the two frontrunners.

Screenshots of the popular betting calculator can be found here: https://thunderpick.io/betting-calculators/arbitrage-hedge-calculator

As you can see from the betting calculator above, a €100 bet on Scheffler would return around €275 in winnings, as opposed to a mighty €650 on McIlroy. So can the Northern Irishman defend his crown? Or will 2025 be his only triumph at Augusta?

Last year’s victory completed Rory’s career grand slam, but some players have only managed one major title over the years. For this illustrious list, that one triumph came on the lush greenery of Augusta.

Hideki Matsuyama

Japan held its breath as Hideki Matsuyama’s approach shot on 15 flew past the green and splashed into the pond on 16 – the water hazard that wasn’t even on the same hole and barely in the same zip code. He led the 2021 Masters by four with four to play and had gotten aggressive on the par-5, and now the wheels were in danger of coming off completely. Xander Schauffele had just birdied 15 to close within two, and suddenly the Japanese star stood above a chip with the weight of an entire country’s golf history on his shoulders. The bogey hurt, but he clawed, gritted and somehow held on for a one-off win that made him the first Japanese man to win a major championship.

Five years later, it is still the only major title in his trophy cabinet.

What’s crazy about Matsuyama’s single-major status is how consistently excellent he’s been everywhere else. Eight PGA Tour wins. World number 2 at his peak. Joint runner-up at the 2017 US Open at Erin Hills, where Brooks Koepka walked away from the court, but Matsuyama gave himself chances. He has won multiple World Golf Championships, dismantled fields at the Phoenix Open and Memorial, and appeared at major tournaments with legitimate odds. The talent has never been in doubt, but at 33 years old the pressure is starting to mount if he is to avoid becoming a one-hit wonder.

Patrick Reed

Patrick Reed doesn’t care that half the golf world wishes someone else (anyone) had won in 2018. He doesn’t care that the Augusta crowd roared louder for Jordan Spieth’s Sunday 64 than it did for his steady, grinding march to victory. Reed birdied 12 and 14, absorbed every challenge thrown his way, and when his par putt on 18 raced past three feet, he buried the comebacker like a man who expected nothing less. Fifteen under. One-off victory. “Captain America” majored, and if you have a problem with it, that’s your problem.

The 2018 US Open at Shinnecock Hills, two months later, felt like his chance to prove the Masters wasn’t a fluke. He battled all week, staying in the mix and finishing tied for fourth as Brooks Koepka claimed back-to-back US Opens. Close, but not close enough: the story of Reed’s post-Augusta career. Controversy has followed him like a shadow, but remove the noise and you’re left with this: Patrick Reed has won the Masters. Many more ‘likable’ players never did that.

Sergio Garcia

April 9, 2017 would have been Seve Ballesteros’ 60th birthday. The poetry of Sergio García – the temperamental Spaniard who had asked 73 major championships when, and not if – finally broke through that weekend was not lost on anyone.

The play-off against Justin Rose felt predestined, fate wrapped in a Spanish flag. García’s eagle on 15 came from an 8-iron that caught the flagstick and settled 15 feet away, the kind of shot that separates champions from also-rans. When Rose’s drive found trees on the playoff hole and his par attempt failed, García didn’t so much celebrate as exhale: 37 years of waiting, wondering if he would become a great player again without a major, released in one moment.

But why couldn’t he ever do it again? The love catalog is brutal. Four-putting 16 at Carnoustie in 2007 while competing in the Open Championship. Losing the play-off at the same Open to Pádraig Harrington. The 1999 PGA Championship in Medinah, where a 19-year-old kid nearly knocked down Tiger Woods in his prime and fell one shot short. García gave himself chances – plenty of them – but only Augusta delivered the storybook ending.

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