Among PGA Tour majors, the Masters presents possibly the best chance for a longshot to take home the Green Jacket. The field is smaller, the stakes are higher, and truly great players can melt down at any time to open the door for an unknown. We are going to look at the the longest shots to don the emerald threads at the Masters all-time (aka the last 35-ish years).
Biggest Longshots to Win the Masters Since 1990
5. Hideki Matsuyama (+6000, 2021)
There are conflicting odds retrospectively on Matsuyama pre-Masters 2021; some report him in the 45-1 to one range, others longer than that. We’ll go with the longest report we found, which was +6000.
Matsuyama’s 2021 win was certainly unexpected in a field that saw Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm also finish top 5, but perhaps even more surprising was a non-full PGA Tour member in Will Zalatoris finishing runner-up — and only losing by a stroke. Matsuyama had a rough final round to make things interesting, but he kept his composure enough to hold off Zalatoris — who has since become a mainstay on the leaderboard in majors.
4. Charl Schwartzel (+10000, 2011)
No offense to Schwartzel, but this was an all-time choke job by Rory McIlroy. McIlroy led after each of the first three rounds and went into Sunday with a four-shot lead — Schwartzel was among a second-place group that included K.J. Choi, Jason Day and 2009 winner Angel Cabrera.
McIlroy put up a triple and a double on Sunday and ended up shooting 80 to finish an incomprehensible 10 strokes back. Props to Schwartzel, though, because he shot 66 to edge out Day and Adam Scott by two strokes.
3. Angel Cabrera (+12500, 2009)
Speaking of Cabrera, who took seventh in 2011, two years earlier he had one of the more exciting ends to a Masters in recent memory. Chad Campbell led after the first and second rounds, but Cabrera stayed steady by going 68-68-69 to take the lead heading into Sunday.
Kenny Perry seemed like the guy to beat in Round 4, leading most of the day after a handful of birdies, but he bogeyed (choked) on 17 and 18 to allow Cabrera and Campbell into a playoff. Cabrera held off the other two to win the Masters — though honestly, this was a longshot Masters for the ages since any of those guys would have been at least somewhat unexpected.
2. Zach Johnson (+12500, 2007)
Johnson’s 2007 win began a three-year run of who knows what the ever-loving eff is going to happen at Augusta. This was prime Tiger Woods era, who had won in 2005 and was the favorite to win in 2007. It ended being quite the difficult weekend, as only nine golfers finished under par in Round 1 and just three were under after two rounds.
By the end of Round 3, Woods and Justin Rose were one stroke back of Stuart Appleby, who was +2 for the tournament, while Johnson hung around at +4. Johnson shot 69 on Sunday, however, to move to +1 and hold off Woods, Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini at +3.
1. Trevor Immelman (+15000, 2008)
As crazy as Johnson’s win was, he has since gone on to win another major and become a crucial representative of U.S. Golf. Immelman, on the other hand, was a one-off of one-offs. This win was one of 11 professional wins he had his whole career and his only major top-5.
Was it a fluke? Perhaps, but Immelman had at least a share of the lead after all four rounds, and with a three-stroke victory over Woods in second, his lead was never really threatened on Sunday. What’s even more interesting is that Immelman kind of stunk in Round 4 with a 75, but it didn’t matter. His win came with the longest odds since 1990, and only 10 golfers pre-tournament in 2008 were considered less likely to win.
