Masters Winners: The Complete List of Every Champion (1934–2026)

Quick Answer: Rory McIlroy is the reigning Masters champion, winning in 2026 by one shot over Scottie Scheffler to defend his 2025 title. Jack Nicklaus has won the most Masters overall with six green jackets. Below is the full list of Masters winners, every champion from 1934 through 2026, with scores.

I’ve kept a running list of Masters champions taped inside an old golf notebook since I was twelve, back when Tiger Woods was still chasing Jack Nicklaus’s record instead of trailing it by one. Every April I add a line. This year I wrote “Rory McIlroy, -12, back-to-back” and underlined it twice, because nobody had pulled that off since Tiger himself in 2001 and 2002. Below is the full list of Masters winners, every champion from Horton Smith in 1934 through McIlroy in 2026, along with the records, the trivia, and the questions golfers actually type into Google.

Every Masters Winner, Year by Year (1934–2026)

Augusta National has hosted ninety tournaments since 1934. The event skipped 1943 through 1945 for World War II, and the club raised cattle and turkeys on the grounds instead. Each playoff gets its own note in the table below, since the tournament has used three different formats over the decades: 36 holes, 18 holes, and today’s sudden-death format.

Who Has Won the Masters the Most Times?

Jack Nicklaus sits alone at the top with six green jackets: 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, and 1986. Tiger Woods is next with five, then Arnold Palmer with four. Five golfers have won three times each: Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, and Phil Mickelson.

Eleven golfers have won exactly twice, and McIlroy is the newest name on that list after 2026. Nineteen different golfers have now won multiple green jackets. That leaves 38 champions who won their only Masters and never got back to Butler Cabin for a second fitting, which is its own kind of heartbreak once you sit with it.

Rory McIlroy’s Back-to-Back Green Jackets: A Very Short List

Only four players in 90 tournaments have won consecutive Masters. I watched McIlroy do it live, and it didn’t look anything like a coronation. He built a record six-stroke lead through 36 holes, then went one-over in round three and watched Cameron Young catch him outright heading into Sunday.

He steadied himself with birdies at 12 and 13, then survived a bogey on the last to beat Scheffler by a single shot. That is not how legends usually describe cruising to history, and it’s exactly why this one felt earned rather than inevitable.

McIlroy’s title defense beats Tiger’s 2001-02 double for pure drama, and I’ll happily argue that one at any 19th hole. Tiger’s second win came comfortably. McIlroy’s nearly slipped away twice.

Masters Records: Youngest, Oldest, and Most Dominant Wins

Tiger Woods is the youngest Masters winner in history. He won in 1997 at 21 years and 104 days old, and he did it by 12 strokes with a score of 270, a margin nobody has come within six shots of matching since. Jack Nicklaus sits at the other end of the timeline. He claimed his sixth jacket in 1986 at 46 years and 82 days old, making him both the winningest champion and the oldest.

Dustin Johnson holds the low 72-hole score at 268, set in 2020 at a tournament the pandemic pushed to November, on a softer, faster course than April usually produces. That record falls again before Woods’s 12-shot margin ever does. Blowout wins depend on everyone else having a bad week at the same time, and that’s a much rarer alignment than one hot player shooting a low number on a friendly setup.

Greg Norman and Nick Price share the single-round scoring record at 63, set a decade apart in 1996 and 1986. No amateur has ever won the Masters, though a few came painfully close, including Billy Joe Patton in 1954, who finished one shot out of the Snead-Hogan playoff.

Masters Winners by the Numbers

A few facts worth knowing before you dive into the FAQ below.

1. Tournaments played: 90 (1934–2026, skipping 1943–45)
2. Unique champions: 57 different golfers have combined to win those 90 titles
3. Most wins: Jack Nicklaus, 6
4. First international winner: Gary Player, South Africa, 1961
5. First left-handed winner: Mike Weir, 2003, also the first Canadian to win any men’s major
6. Back-to-back winners: 4 (Nicklaus, Faldo, Woods, McIlroy)
7. Playoff format used today: sudden-death, starting on the 18th tee

How the Winner’s Purse Has Grown

Horton Smith took home $1,500 from a $5,000 purse in 1934, and the club could barely afford that. Seventeen Augusta National members personally chipped in to cover it. Nicklaus earned $20,000 for his first win in 1963, then $144,000 for his sixth in 1986, a jump that says as much about golf’s TV money as it does about inflation.

By 2025, the total purse had reached $21,000,000, with $4,200,000 going to McIlroy alone. That single check is nearly three times what the entire tournament paid out in prize money as recently as the mid-1990s.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who has won the most Masters titles?

Jack Nicklaus, with six: 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, and 1986.

Who is the youngest Masters winner?

Tiger Woods, who won his first green jacket in 1997 at 21 years and 104 days old.

Who is the oldest Masters winner?

Jack Nicklaus, who won his sixth and final title in 1986 at 46 years and 82 days old.

Has an amateur ever won the Masters?

No amateur has ever won. The closest calls belong to Frank Stranahan, who finished T-2 in 1947, and Billy Joe Patton, who missed a 1954 playoff by one stroke.

Has anyone ever won the Masters on their first try?

Yes, though it’s rare. Horton Smith did it in the inaugural 1934 event, Gene Sarazen followed in 1935, and Fuzzy Zoeller is the only player to do it in the modern era, in 1979.

Who has won back-to-back Masters titles?

Only four golfers: Jack Nicklaus (1965–66), Nick Faldo (1989–90), Tiger Woods (2001–02), and Rory McIlroy (2025–26).

Who holds the largest margin of victory at the Masters?

Tiger Woods, who won by 12 strokes in 1997, still the widest margin in tournament history.

The Bottom Line

That’s the complete list, every champion from a nursery-turned-golf-course in 1934 to McIlroy walking off the 18th green with a second straight green jacket this April. If you came here looking for next year’s betting favorites, this isn’t that page. This is the full record, every champion, every score, nothing projected.

Fifty-seven golfers have done what only one player can do each spring. Add your own line to the list next April, the way I’ve been doing since I was twelve. For a closer look at this year’s runner-up and his own major championship résumé, check out our breakdown of Scottie Scheffler’s career.