Countdown: My 8th Favorite Hole At Augusta National
Welcome
Countdown time! We’re tantalizingly close to the 2018 Masters so I’m doing a daily countdown of my favorite holes at Augusta National. Not a math guy but according to my calculations, we should wrap this thing up on the Friday of Masters Week. Perfect timing.
18 holes. 18 days. Here’s my 8th favorite.
18th hole, 465 yards, par 4 — Holly
We’re getting into very difficult territory at this point. The 18th hole at Augusta National is the scene of some of the greatest moments in golf, and I’m going to say it’s not even a top-7 hole on the course? That’s tough. Honestly you could wake me up tomorrow and the next 4 or 5 holes in this countdown could be in a completely different order in my head. They’re that close. They’re that good.
But today I’ve made up my mind — my 8th favorite hole at Augusta is the 18th.
That narrow shoot makes this one of the most recognizable shots in golf. It wasn’t always this way; in 1934, the left was wide open and there were no fairway bunkers.
But the green’s always been severe. At the 1946 Masters, Ben Hogan three-jacked from 12 feet to lose by 1. The green was redone that summer.
The fairway bunkers were added in 1967 and the hole’s looked much like today’s version ever since, just shorter and less narrow. It was stretched out to its current distance in 2001.
It’s always played uphill and served as an iconic amphitheater for the conclusion of golf’s most prestigious event.
Here are some looks from the 1947 and 1948 Masters.
Here’s Arnie at the 1966 Masters.
And here are similar looks from more recent years.
It now takes a 300-yard poke to even reach the first fairway bunker and nearly 340 to carry the second. The beauty of this hole is that it truly can yield a variety of scores.
Phil Mickelson secured his first major with an 18-foot birdie putt here.
Adam Scott and Angel Cabrera both birdied to get into a playoff at the 2013 Masters.
Last year, both Sergio and Rose missed short birdie looks before Rose ultimately bogeyed it to Sergio’s birdie in the playoff.
Tiger, in 2005, birdied the 18th to fall back into a lead with Chris DiMarco then turned around and, minutes later, did this on the same hole.
Greg Norman made a horrific bogey here to come up 1 short to Jack in the famous 1986 Masters after flaring his approach shot into the gallery right.
Contrarily, Mark O’Meara won the 1998 Masters by a single shot with this birdie, featured below in a funny Asian language.
This hole is as iconic a finishing hole as there is in golf. It’s tough but manageable, serves as an ideal setting for the tournament’s conclusion, and relentlessly produces drama. I love it.
My 8th favorite hole at Augusta National = the 18th hole.
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