Largest 54-Hole Leads Lost in The Masters

What is the largest lead any golfer has taken into the final round of The Masters without converting it into a victory? Six strokes, and that golfer's collapse is one of the most-infamous in our sport's history.

But blowing big 54-hole leads isn't that common in The Masters. In the tournament's history, which dates to 1934, only four times has a golfer led by four strokes or more after the third round but then failed to win.

Largest Leads Lost After Third Round of Masters

• 6 strokes — Greg Norman, 1996 Masters. At the end of the third round, Norman led second-place Nick Faldo by six strokes. At the end of the final round, Norman was in second place, five behind Faldo. An 11-stroke swing, with Norman scoring 78 in that final round to Faldo's 67.

  Norman was still four strokes ahead after the first seven holes, but stumbled badly over the following five holes. On the 12th hole, Norman hit into water and double-bogeyed. Faldo went ahead to stay at that point.

• 5 strokes — Ed Sneed, 1979 Masters. Following the third round, Sneed was five strokes in front of two golfers in second, Craig Stadler and Tom Watson. After the final round, Sneed was tied with Watson and Fuzzy Zoeller, with Zoeller winning the playoff.

  Sneed scored 76 in that final round. But he birdied the 13th and 15th holes and still held a three-stroke lead with three holes left to play. Alas, he then bogeyed all three of those holes to fall into the playoff.

• 4 strokes — Ken Venturi, 1956 Masters. Venturi was a 24-year-old amateur who took a four-stroke lead into the final round. But then Venturi shot 80, and Jack Burke Jr. — who started the final round tied for fourth and eight strokes behind Venturi — scored 71 to win by one stroke.

  Venturi's final-round 80 included a 42 on the back nine. He suffered seven bogeys over those final nine holes.

• 4 strokes — Rory McIlroy, 2011 Masters. McIlroy is the only golfer on this list who didn't finish second. He slipped to a tie for 15th place after blowing the 4-stroke lead he held at the end of the third round.

  McIlroy scored 37 on the front nine in the final round but still held a one-stroke edge. But he triple-bogeyed No. 10, bogeyed No. 11 and double-bogeyed No. 12. McIlroy wound up scoring 80. Charl Schwartzel, who began the final round as one of four players tied for second, birdied the final four holes to win.

Interesting side note: Norman is one of only two golfers who twice failed to win The Masters after having the solo, 54-hole lead. Norman also had the solo lead after three rounds of the 1986 Masters (eventually won by Jack Nicklaus), but his lead was only one stroke that year. (Raymond Floyd is the other golfer. Floyd had the solo lead after three rounds in both the 1985 and 1990 tournaments, but didn't win either. Unlike Norman, though, Floyd did win a different Masters, in 1976.)

Arguably the most-famous final-round collapse in The Masters not listed above occurred in the 2016 Masters, when Jordan Spieth blew a five-stroke lead with nine holes to play. Spieth's lead after the third round was just one that year, however.

Related articles:

• Biggest comebacks to win in The Masters
• Largest winning margins in The Masters
• Lowest winning scores in The Masters

Sources:
Augusta National Golf Club. TheMasters.com, Historical Records & Stats, Runners-Up/Leaders, https://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/stats/historical/leaders.html.
Augusta National Golf Club. The Masters 2024 Media Guide, Records and Statistics.