There are only 17 players in Masters history who have won the tournament more than once, but no one compares to Jack Nicklaus. At least not yet.
Nicklaus, The Golden Bear, has won the event six times (1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1986) with a massive 23-year gap between his first and final victory. This comes as no surprise, as Nicklaus also holds the record for most total majors with 18, three more than Tiger Woods.
With his most recent victory at the 2019 Masters, Woods climbed out a of tie for second with Arnold Palmer by claiming his fifth green jacket (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019). Woods’ first win in 1997 also still holds the record for the widest margin of victory, as he beat the field by 12 strokes. Of the active players, Woods is the only one within striking distance of Nicklaus.
Behind Palmer’s four wins sit five golfers tied with three victories: Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson. Of that group, only Mickelson is still active, though his last green jacket was in 2010. It may have been 13 years since Mickelson’s last victory at Augusta, but it was only two years ago that he notched another major by winning the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.
Winning the Masters once can make a career, and winning it twice solidifies a real legacy in the game. The nine players who have won it twice include Horton Smith, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw, Jose Maria Olazabal and Bubba Watson. The most recent of those victories was Bubba Watson in 2014, and Watson, along with Langer, are the only players still active among that group.
