Lowest Final-Round Scores in Masters History
The 18-hole scoring record in The Masters is 63. But, so far, nobody has scored a 63 in the fourth and final round of the tournament. A score of 64 is the best-ever in the tournament's final round.
So far there have been eight 64s scores in the final round of The Masters, by eight different golfers. And only one of the golfers who closed with a 64 failed to finish in the Top 10. One of them even won the tournament.
Maurice Bembridge, a 6-time European Tour winner who played The Masters only four times, was the first golfer to card a final-round 64 at Augusta National. He did so in the 1974 Masters. At the time, his 64 tied the tournament's overall scoring record. Bembridge closed on the back nine with a 30, which also tied the tournament's then-record for best back-nine score.
The List: Fourth-Round Scoring Record in The Masters
The record is 64 and these are all the golfers who've scored 64 in the tournament's final round:- Maurice Bembridge, 1974: Scored 34 on the front nine, 30 on the back nine. Moved from 35th at the start of the final round to a tie for ninth place.
- Hale Irwin, 1975: Scored 32-32. Began the fourth round tied for 19th, finish tied for fourth.
- Gary Player, 1978: Scored 34-30. Was tied for 10th place when the final round began, finished as the tournament champion.
- Greg Norman, 1988: Scored 30-34, was just the second golfer to record a 30 on the front nine during The Masters. Began the fourth round tied for 25th, finished tied for fifth place.
- David Toms, 1998: Scored 35-29, was just the second golfer to record a 29 on the back nine. Was in 26th place at the start of the final round, finished sixth.
- Bo Van Pelt, 2012: Scored 34-30. Was tied for 52nd going into the fourth round, finished tied for 17th. His 64 included a hole-in-one.
- Jordan Spieth, 2018: Shot 31-33. Entered the fourth round tied for ninth place, ended the tournament in solo third place.
- Rory McIlroy, 2022: Shot 32-32. Was tied for ninth going into the final round, finished in solo second place.
The golfer who finished worst after a final-round 64 was Van Pelt, in 17th place (but his 64 did include a hole-in-one). The golfer who finished best after a final-round 64 was Player, the only one on the list whose 64 pushed him to victory.
Player started that final round of the 1978 Masters tied for 10th place, but seven strokes off the lead of Hubert Green. Green, along with Tom Watson and Rod Funseth, finished runner-up, one stroke behind Player. Player closed out the round, and the victory, with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole. At age 42, he was, at the time, the oldest winner of The Masters (a record since broken).
The first 63 in Masters Tournament history was scored in 1986, so when Bembridge, Irwin and Player scored their 64s they all tied the then-tournament scoring record for 18 holes. Player, in his 1978 comeback victory, also tied the then-back nine scoring record of 30 (since lowered), just as Bembridge had done several years earlier in his final-round 64.
Spieth (in 2018) and McIlroy (in 2022) began the final round in best position among those golfers on the list — both were tied for ninth place after the third rounds of their respective Masters. But Spieth was nine strokes off the lead in 2018, with his fourth-round 64 surging him into solo third. And McIlroy was 10 strokes off the lead in 2022, with his Round 4 64 pushing him up to solo second.
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