Winning the Masters Tournament is extremely difficult. Only 56 players have done it, just 17 of them have done it more than once, and only three have successfully defended their title from one year to the next.
As a result, there are few true winning streaks at The Masters. However, there have been some, and they have earned the admiration of all fans, present and future.
Several players have won two or more editions every other season. These are the cases of Horton Smith (1934, 1936), Phil Mickelson (2004, 2006) and Bubba Watson (2012, 2014).
Particularly impressive was the streak shared by Sam Snead and Ben Hogan between 1951 and 1954. Hogan and Snead dominated the Masters in those four seasons, with the former winning in 1951 and 1953 and the latter in 1952 and 1954. Hogan also finished second in 1954 and 1955.
Another world golf legend, Arnold Palmer, starred in another of the most impressive streaks in the history of the event, winning four titles in seven editions, but always with a season in between (1958, 1960, 1962, 1964). As if that weren’t enough, Palmer added a runner-up finish in 1961 and another in 1965. Who did he lose to? Well, a couple of guys named Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.
Precisely, “The Golden Bear” has a story or two to tell when it comes to winning streaks at The Masters. Nicklaus was the first to successfully defend his title, winning the Green Jacket in 1965 and 1966. Two decades later, Sir Nick Faldo followed suit by winning in 1989 and 1990.
The third player to dominate Augusta National two years in a row was Tiger Woods, who won back-to-back green jackets in 2001 and 2002. No one else has done it since.
Expanding the scope of what we consider a “streak,” we see that Woods himself won four of his five titles in a span of just nine years. Mickelson won his three green jackets in just seven years, while Faldo (also 3) won them in eight editions.
Sam Snead won his three titles in six seasons. Seve Ballesteros won his two titles in four years, the same time it took Jimmy Demaret to win his second and third.
Is that impressive or what!?
The ultimate winning streak at The Masters
None of these accomplishments, however, surpasses the ultimate Masters winning streak, which belongs to none other than Jack Nicklaus. No one has ever dominated Augusta National the way “The Golden Bear” did between 1963 and 1965.
Nicklaus won his first green jacket in 1963, beating Tony Lema by one stroke. A year later, he finished second, six shots behind Arnold Palmer. In 1964, Nicklaus won again, beating Palmer himself and Gary Player by nine strokes, and in 1965, he completed the feat by defeating Tommy Jacobs and Jay Brewer in a playoff to win his third title.
Let’s let that sink in for a minute. What you just read means that Nicklaus came within seven shots of a streak of four consecutive titles of the Masters, something no one has ever come close to accomplishing. Not in their wildest dreams.
Agreed?