Winning The Masters and donning the Green Jacket is incredibly hard for any golfer to do, let alone one not in his prime. A young golfer winning The Masters and overcoming the pressure of facing the best golfers in the world on the biggest stage is fairly rare to see, and the same can be said about an older golfer past his prime.
44-year-old Justin Rose is attempting to become the oldest first-time golfer to win at The Masters. He entered Round 3 of The Masters in sole possession of the lead with 8-under, but with a crowded field right behind him, it will be tough for him to pull off something nobody has ever done before for the first time at his age.
With that in mind, let's take a look at the oldest first-time winner of the tournament.
Who is the oldest first-time winner at The Masters?
In his 15th attempt, Mark O'Meara finally achieved what he had set out to do - win at The Masters. He accomplished this historic feat in 1998 at the ripe age of 41. This victory came down to the bitter end, but O'Meara sunk a key birdie in the 18th hole to win the tournament by one stroke over David Duval and Fred Couples. He shot 9-under overall.
Not only did O'Meara become the oldest individual to win The Masters for the first time, but his Masters win wound up being his first-ever major tournament win. Prior to this victory, he was considered one of the best golfers to have never won a major tournament, so getting this monkey off his back was huge.
Who is the oldest winner at The Masters?
While O'Meara was the oldest individual to win The Masters for the first time, he is not the oldest Masters winner. That title, of course, belongs to the legendary Jack Nicklaus, who won The Masters at 46 years of age in 1986 in one of the most impressive feats in golf history.
Nicklaus' one-shot win earned him the title of the oldest golfer to ever win The Masters, and the second-oldest golfer to win any major tournament. Nicklaus being the one to accomplish this feat isn't shocking considering he's won more Masters tournaments than anybody, but that doesn't take away from his ability to do so at 46 years of age. Rose winning would be extremely impressive, but he's still a couple of years away from having the chance to overtake Nicklaus as the true veteran leader of this historic tournament.