Three Golfers Whose Only Major Title Came at the Masters

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

Before last year’s triumph, Wee Rors had to suffer through 14 years of pure torture at Augusta National, a run that began with that disastrous Sunday afternoon collapse back in 2011, where the Northern Irishman threw away a four-stroke lead in a bid for his maiden major. And even in his year of triumph, he still very nearly capitulated in true McIlroy style, crumbling on the back nine only to steady himself in the playoff.

McIlroy and Scheffler Lock Horns

Now the reigning champ is gearing up to return to Augusta, only this time he’ll finally be attending the Champions Dinner, sitting across from Scottie Scheffler. The young Texan is golf’s undisputed king right now, and the reality is stark: defending his crown might be harder than that 14-year wait to win it was. 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 7.50 second-favorite, but while he may be high in the odds list, a useful online betting tool shows just how much disparity there is between the two frontrunners.

Screenshots taken from the popular betting calculator found here: https://thunderpick.io/betting-calculators/arbitrage-hedge-calculator

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

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

Hideki Matsuyama

Japan held its breath when 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 was barely in the same zip code. Leading the 2021 Masters by four with four to play, he’d gone aggressive on the par-5, and now the wheels threatened to come off completely. Xander Schauffele had just birdied 15 to close within two, and suddenly the Japanese star stood over a chip with the weight of an entire nation’s golf history on his shoulders. The bogey hurt, but he scrambled, grinded, and somehow held on for a one-shot victory that made him the first Japanese man to win a major championship.

Five years on, and it remains the sole major title in his trophy cabinet.

What’s maddening about Matsuyama’s single-major status is how consistently excellent he’s been everywhere else. Eight PGA Tour wins. World No. 2 at his peak. Joint runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, where Brooks Koepka ran away from the field, but Matsuyama gave himself chances. He’s won multiple World Golf Championships, dismantled fields at the Phoenix Open and Memorial, and shown up at majors with legitimate chances. The talent’s never been questioned, but at 33 years of age, the pressure is starting to ramp up if he wants to avoid being a one-hit wonder.

Patrick Reed

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

The 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, two months later, felt like his chance to prove the Masters wasn’t a fluke. He contended all week, stayed in the mix, and finished tied for fourth as Brooks Koepka claimed back-to-back U.S. Opens. Close, but not close enough—the story of Reed’s post-Augusta career. Controversy has followed him like a shadow, but strip away the noise, and you’re left with this: Patrick Reed won the Masters. Plenty more “likable” players never did.

Sergio García

April 9, 2017, would’ve been Seve Ballesteros’s 60th birthday. The poetry of Sergio García—the temperamental Spaniard who’d spent 73 major championships asking when, not if—finally breaking through on that exact weekend wasn’t lost on anyone.

The playoff against Justin Rose felt preordained, destiny wrapped in a Spanish flag. García’s eagle on 15 came from an 8-iron that caught the flagstick and settled 14 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 missed, García didn’t celebrate so much as exhale—37 years of waiting, of wondering if he’d end up another great player without a major, released in one moment.

But why couldn’t he ever do it again? The heartbreak catalog is brutal. Four-putting 16 at Carnoustie in 2007 while in contention at the Open Championship. Losing the playoff at that same Open to Pádraig Harrington. The 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, where a 19-year-old kid nearly took down Tiger Woods in his prime, falling one shot short. García gave himself chances—plenty of them—but Augusta alone provided the storybook ending.