Augusta agony: The five unluckiest golfers who came closest without winning

Lifting a trophy after the glory of victory is a feeling like no other.

How strange, then, that the winner of the Masters enjoys a very different honour – and one every golfer craves.

Because no post-victory ritual – not even lifting the Claret Jug after winning the Open – compares with entering the Butler Cabin and extending your arms backwards into a new Green Jacket.

For most golfers that addition to the wardrobe remains a pipe dream. And for a few it has become an agony.

Yes, one golfer has been second at Augusta National four times without winning and four golfers have done so on three occasions.

They are the unlikely five who are green with envy instead of dressed in green. Let’s meet them.

Tom Weiskopf – 1969, 1972, 1974, 1975

Know for his elegant swing and ferocious temper, Weiskopf won the 1973 Open but that one major triumph was less than his great game deserved.

Moreover, he was mighty unlucky at Augusta. In 1969, just his second tournament start, he came up one shot shy of George Archer’s winning total.

Having proved himself a good fit, he then spent the 70s being bettered by legends. In 1972 he was tied second behind Jack Nicklaus and in 1974 tied second behind Gary Player.

The one that really hurt, however, was 1975. It has gone down in the books as one of the great Masters finales and Weiskopf, the pre-round leader, still led after 14 holes.

But Nicklaus pipped him again after he missed an eight-foot putt on 18 for birdie to force a play-off.

Johnny Miller – 1971, 1975 and 1981

Miller was a lot like Weiskopf: tall, blond, great swing and didn’t win as many majors as he should have done.

In his case it was two (the 1973 US Open and the 1976 Open), and again the Masters provided a lot of hurt with three runner-up finishes.

The first was tough. He was 23-years-old in 1971 and had started the final round four shots back of the lead.

Then he found himself 6-under for the round through 14 holes which sent him to 9-under for the tournament, two shots clear of his nearest challengers Charles Coody and Jack Nicklaus.

But Miller fell back to 7-under, Nicklaus stayed there, and Coody snatched the win.

Four years later he tied with Weiskopf behind Nicklaus after that thrilling final round. He had an 18-feet birdie putt at the last to force a play-off, but missed it.

Miller had won his US Open with a thrilling final round charge and he was at it again in 1981 at Augusta.

Five off the pace after the third round he carded a Sunday 68 to set a target only Tom Watson could beat.

Tom Kite – 1983, 1986 and 1997

Between 1975 and 1986 the bespectacled Kite was superb at Augusta. In that 12 year stretch he only twice failed to finish top 10 and he contended, too.

But his three runner-up finishes all came when the champion’s efforts were not just good but remarkable.

In 1983 he was tied second, four shots behind the winner Seve Ballesteros. 14 years later he was solo second, just the 12 shots behind Tiger Woods.

And, in between, in 1986 he was in the running during one of the all-time great final rounds. For much of it he was chasing Ballesteros again, then Nicklaus went on a tear.

Kite hung tough and had a 12-foot birdie putt on 18 to tie Nicklaus, but it slipped by.

Greg Norman – 1986, 1987 and 1996

In 1986 Norman won the first of his two major championships – the Open – but before then he suffered the agony of being, like Kite and Ballesteros, a member of the cast in the great Nicklaus production of the 1986 Masters.

A year later he was back tussling with the great Spaniard and they tied Larry Mize after 72 holes.

Ballesteros departed on the first extra hole and on the second extra hole (the 11th) Mize missed the green and then outrageously holed his chip.

If Norman thought that was agony, he knew nothing.

In 1996 he was superb through 54 holes. He played the final 12 holes of his first round in 9-under and led by six shots after 54 holes.

The journalist Peter Dobereiner bumped into Norman that night and said: “Well done, Greg, not even you can cock this one up.”

Next day, Norman swung faster and shorter. His playing partner Nick Faldo was the most ruthless golfer in the world.

It was a bad combination. Faldo won by five.

Justin Rose – 2015, 2017 and 2025

The most recent entry to this elite-but-unwanted club and the man who, of all of them, has come closest to victory of all of them.

How so? Because he was twice denied in extra holes.

Before then, in 2015, he’d played the final round in the final group with the eventual champion Jordan Spieth who led by four.

Rose twice got within three of the American but eventually the gap of four was revived.

Two years later, Rose and his European Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia were tied at the top of the 54 hole leaderboard.

Once again Rose would playing the final round in the final group.

Garcia edged ahead and then opened up a three shot lead but by the turn Rose had closed it. Through 13 holes Rose led by two. Then Garcia closed the gap. A Rose birdie at 16 put him one clear again, but a bogey at 17 was crucial.

The two were tied after 72 holes and Garcia made birdie to win on the first play-off hole.

Then to 2025. Rose thrashed a first round 65 and then seemed to step back and away from the limelight. Rory McIlroy stepped forward and seemed destined to claim the career grand slam.

On Sunday, though, Rose was inspired.

He made five birdies in seven holes midway through his round and closed with another at 18 to set a tough target. McIlroy blinked at 18, made bogey, and they headed back to the 18th tee.

But there was to be more pain. McIlroy’s birdie won the Green Jacket, Rose could only smile, congratulate his friend on making history and wonder “What if?”

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