The best players who never slipped on the Green Jacket at the Masters
Only a select few have earned the distinction of being called Masters champion. But the list of players who didn’t win is almost as impressive.
The list of past Masters champions reads like a litany of the greatest names to ever play the game. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods have all put on the coveted Green Jacket on Masters Sundays.
For every great champion, however, there is another great player who never got to experience it. Whether through a series of near-misses or years spent out of contention at Augusta National, these players may have become legends at other venues but never translated that success to Augusta.
Here is a list of the five best players who never won the Masters.
5. Ernie Els
Phil Mickelson’s leap into the air after holing the winning putt at the 2004 Masters is one of the most enduring images in golf, capturing the moment one legend of the game finally won the Green Jacket. Lost in that moment, however, is that the same putt denied another future Hall of Famer.
Ernie Els has ridden his smooth swing to 19 career PGA Tour titles and four major championships. But losing to Mickelson by a shot in that 2004 tournament is the closest the South African has ever been to winning the Masters. He’s played the tournament 23 times, the last in 2017, with two runner-up finishes. In addition to his missed opportunity in 2004, he finished three shots behind Vijay Singh in 2000.
His recent history at Augusta National hasn’t been quite as positive. His second-place finish in 2004 remains his last top-10. In 2016 he began the tournament by six-putting from three feet on the opening hole. Els will turn 50 later this year, and his chance to slip on that coveted Green Jacket has likely passed him by.
Els, though, admits he won’t be disappointed if he never sees Augusta National again. “To be honest with you, I won’t miss the place,” he said earlier this year. “I had enough of it, especially the last five years I played it terribly.”
He had a great career at Augusta, one that will end with a whimper rather than a bang.