AUGUSTA, Ga. — A look at some of the anniversaries this year at the Masters based on The Associated Press account of those victories:
75 years ago (1950)
Jimmy Demaret won his third, and record-breaking, Masters golf tournament today after Jim Ferrier had the title in his grasp and threw it away. Playing golf as sensational as his Easter garb, Jimmy shot the final round in 69 strokes, three under par, for a 72-hole total of 283. Ferrier, who started the day with a two-stroke lead over the field and four over Demaret, lost it all on the last six holes. ... He went over on five of the next six to finish two strokes behind the new champion. Ben Hogan, regarded as Ferrier’s most serious challenger when the final round began, couldn’t hold the pace, finishing with a 76 for 288.
50 years ago (1975)
Jack Nicklaus stood on the 16th hole, Augusta’s par-3 Red Bud hole, looking at a 40-foot sidehill putt. His ears were still ringing from the cheers of thousands lining the long par-5 No. 15 behind him where Tom Weiskopf had just knocked home a 12-footer for a birdie that sent him into the lead. “Sometimes you get a feeling about these things,” Nicklaus said. “I thought I could make the putt.” Weiskopf, momentarily shaken, left his 5-iron tee shot 80 feet short on No. 16 and watch his approach putt roll left, still 18 feet away. He bogeyed and there was a two-shot shift in those dying moments of one of the great golf tournaments ever played. Nicklaus emerged the winner with an unprecedented fifth Masters title.
25 years ago (2000)
The last leg of Vijay Singh’s improbable journey was an uphill climb to the 18th green at Augusta National. That was the easy part. The Fiji native had toiled in the jungle, pounding balls in stifling heat and wondering where it all might lead. He found out Sunday when he slipped the green jacket over his broad shoulders. Singh beat back the biggest stars in golf to claim its most prestigious prize. He stared down a challenge from David Duval, ignored an early charge by Tiger Woods, and calmly held off Ernie Els at the end.
20 years ago (2005)
The ball scooted up the slope and crawled down toward the hole. There, for two agonizing seconds, it hung on the edge before disappearing into the cup. A shot for the ages, sheer magic from Tiger Woods’ glorious past in the Masters. Just as stunning as that chip was the mess that followed — shots into the trees and the sand, a rare collapse by the greatest closer in golf on the verge of blowing a final-round lead in a major for the first time. The one thing that looked familiar, finally, was Woods wearing a green jacket. But he kept a breathless gallery guessing to the very end, when he delivered his best two shots under stifling pressure and made a 15-foot birdie putt to beat Chris DiMarco in a playoff to win his fourth Masters.
10 years ago (2015)
Jordan Spieth tapped in his final putt to cap off a record performance and bent over in relief. He just as easily could have been taking a bow. This was a Masters for the ages. Not since Tiger Woods in 1997 has a 21-year-old faced so little stress while making a mockery of par in a major. Not since Raymond Floyd in 1976 has anyone withstood the pressure of leading for all four rounds at Augusta National. Only one other Masters champion — Craig Wood in 1941 — has never let anyone closer to him than three shots the entire way. Spieth took his place among the best in the game Sunday when he closed with a 2-under 70 for a four-shot victory over Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose, becoming the second-youngest champion behind Woods to wear a green jacket.
5 years ago (2020)
In this one-of-a-kind Masters that had no fans and no roars, Dustin Johnson made sure it had no drama. And when he polished off his five-shot victory Sunday with lowest score in tournament history, he had no words. Only tears. Looking smart in his Masters green jacket he dreamed his whole life of winning, Johnson spoke to a small gathering on the putting green in absence of the official ceremony, but only briefly. In control of every aspect of his game on a course that never allows anyone to relax, he couldn’t speak when it was over. Johnson overcame a nervous start that conjured memories of past majors he failed to finish off, and then delivered a command performance that added his own touch to a Masters unlike another. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the first played in November. Johnson closed with a 4-under 68 and finished at 20-under 268, breaking by two shots the record set by Tiger Woods in 1997 and matched by Jordan Spieth in 2015.
