MAIN EVENT
sterling
SILVER
The first Major of the year takes place this month and with it comes the famed Green Jacket, of course – but spare a thought for those who have finished second
By BRENDAN BARRATT
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The Women’s Open tees off at Royal Porthcawl
As the saying goes, to the victor the spoils. In the case of The Masters, the champion receives not only a perfectly-fitting Green Jacket and a lifetime invitation to the most coveted of meals – the Champions Dinner – but, of course, a permanent place in golfing history.
Since the tournament was first played in 1935, there have only ever been 56 winners, of which only 35 are still around to recount their heroics.
By contrast, there have been 156 players who have finished runner up in the Masters – 23 of whom agonisingly achieved the feat on multiple occasions. Spare a thought for Tom Weiskopf, who finished second on four occasions without ever winning.
As if to cement their legacy on the near-miss hall of fame, the Masters remains the only Major that records the names of its runners up alongside the yearly champions on its permanent trophy, on display in the clubhouse.
It's not all doom and gloom for the silver medallist, however. These days, a podium position in the Masters earns the player a cheque in the region of $2-million, significant world ranking points and invitations to all three of the other Majors that year.
It also earns them a lifetime of what-might-have-beens.
For Ernie Els, twice a runner up at the Masters, his loss to Phil Mickelson in 2004 created the deepest of scar tissue. This was the Major that got away – one he desired most and, for a few minutes, seemed to have well within his grasp.
Els fired a final round of 67, which included two eagles, to set himself up as the clubhouse leader. Out on the course, Mickelson – without a Major at this stage of his career and a man with an unwanted reputation for bottling it – needed a spectacular finish to deny Els his fourth Major title.
Sure enough, Phil the Thrill made it happen. Birdies at 12, 13, 14, 16 and 18 were enough to kickstart a career that had promised so much but delivered relatively little up to then.
'Not winning The Masters, that will forever leave a sour taste in my mouth,' Els later reflected. 'It's such an amazing event with so much prestige and it means so much, but the better player won that day.
'I finished second to Phil while playing one of my best rounds ever that Sunday, making really clutch putts and some birdies on the back nine. That really hurt.'
For Els, Augusta National was a course that was surprisingly not a great fit for his game – and a career of near misses certainly took its emotional toll.
SA'S BEST PERFORMERS
1st
Gary Player
(1961, 1974, 1978)
Trevor Immelman (2008)
Charl Schwartzel (2011)
2nd
Gary Player (1962, 1965)
Ernie Els (2000, 2004)
Retief Goosen (2002, 2007)
Tim Clark (2006)
Rory Sabbatini (2007)
Louis Oosthuizen (2012)
3rd
Gary Player (1970)
Retief Goosen (2006)
Charl Schwartzel (2017)
5th
Gary Player (1963, 1964)
David Frost (1995)
Ernie Els (2002)
Dylan Frittelli (2020)
6th
Gary Player (1960, 1967, 1971, 1980)
Ernie Els (2001)
7th
Gary Player (1968)
8th
Gary Player (1959)
David Frost (1988)
Ernie Els (1994)
10th
Gary Player (1972)
David Frost (1996)
Charl Schwartzel (2022)
SA AT THE 2026 MASTERS
Casey Jarvis
Aldrich Potgieter
Charl Schwartzel
'I just never got that harmony from the golf course,' he said. 'I was always going against the grain a little bit. To be honest with you, I won't miss the place… I had enough of it.
'The final round in '04 was a highlight. I'm glad that I had the experience that Nicklaus and Phil and Tiger and all the great Masters players had in that I was in the mix once, I mean really in the heat of it. That Sunday was phenomenal.'
While South Africa can celebrate three Masters champions in Gary Player (1961, 1974, 1978), Trevor Immelman (2008) and Charl Schwartzel (2011), many others have come agonisingly close. For some, like Tim Clark and Rory Sabbatini, it represents their highest ever finish in a Major.
Of course, Clark would go on to claim the 2010 Players Championship and Sabbatini is an Olympic silver medallist, but there is little doubt they would swap these wins in a heartbeat for a Green Jacket.
Louis Oosthuizen is another who could justifiably be kept awake at night thinking of his close call in the 2012 Masters.
A playoff loss to Bubba Watson – and his miracle shot from the trees – could have got him down, but the South African responded in the best way possible; winning a European Tour event in Malaysia by three shots the following week. Despite the painful loss, Oothuizen managed to keep things in perspective.
'I just go out there and play the game, I get on with things,' he explained. 'Golf is not everything in life. I played well. I didn't throw it away, I didn't hit any bad, bad shots. Bubba won it. He hit a great shot out of the trees and I don't feel like I threw it away.'
Retief Goosen's is another South African whose name is on the Masters trophy – for his two second-place finishes, in 2002 and 2007 (alongside Sabbatini).
The former still burns.
Tied for the lead heading into the final round, and playing alongside Tiger Woods, Goosen made three early bogeys to fall out of contention early and ultimately finished three strokes behind champion Woods.
'I was nervous, for sure, and kind of deflated myself on the first few holes, hitting three three-putts in the first eight holes. I'm disappointed that I wasn't able to put any pressure on (Tiger),' Goosen said.
Gary Player finished runner-up twice, and in 1962 he came within a shot of claiming back-to-back Masters titles when he lost to Arnold Palmer in a playoff.
Finishing runner-up in the Masters is certainly not the end of the world. For some, it just feels like it.
HARRY HOW | DAVID CANNON | CRAIG JONES | ANDREW REDLINGTON | AUGUSTA NATIONAL | GETTY IMAGES
