Maybe The Craziest Masters’ Stat

The Masters has been around for 84-years. Nearly 6,500 players have entered. Yet, not a one has achieved this particular accomplishment–shooting four rounds in the 60s in one Masters.

Yes, not even Tiger Woods’ record-setting 1997 win. He shot a 40 on Thursday’s front nine before rallying for a 30 on the back.

GolfWorld.com E. Michael Johnson aptly describes the close calls and why it still is up for grabs.

6,467 golfers have teed it up and 4,159 of them have played all four rounds of the tournament. Not one of them, however, has shot four rounds in the 60s in one Masters.

Consider that it has happened on 40 occasions in the other three majors: 27 times at the PGA Championship, 10 times at the Open Championship and even three times in the U.S. Open, generally considered the stingiest major in terms of rounds in relation to par.

In fact, there’s not another event on the PGA Tour calendar (discounting the one-year-old CJ Cup at Nine Bridges) where shooting four sub-70 rounds has not occurred, including 30 events last season. Counted among those were all four of the FedEx Cup events.

Forty times in Masters history has a player shot three rounds in the 60s, a feat accomplished by 33 different golfers. Included among them is Phil Mickelson, who has done it four separate occasions.

Twelve times players had a chance heading into the final round to conquer golf’s version of Mount Everest. Some failed epicly; Craig Parry’s 78 in 1992 and Ed Sneed’s 76 in 1979 being the biggest breakdowns. Other times, a player simply wants to protect his lead and avoid doing something that could lead to disaster. Six eventual champions came into the final round with a chance to break 70 each day, but securing a green jacket meant more than another line in the record book. A 74 was good enough for Gary Player in 1961, and a 75 worked for Trevor Immelman in 2008.