Doing the Masters math: How long does it take to win a jacket?

We know what it takes to win the Masters. What we hadn't thought about was how long it takes to win. Melanie Hauser broke out the calculator and asked a few experts, and puts forth her treatise on why so many winners take so long to finally don that coveted Green Jacket.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Contributor

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- You’ve heard what it takes to win at Augusta National.

But have you thought about how long it takes to win a jacket?

Some players never come close.  To a Green Jacket or a top 10. Even after decades of invitations.

Others find nothing but heartache. Yes, think Greg Norman. Or Tom Kite. Or Curtis Strange.

No matter how much they stretch their imagination, no matter how many rounds they play here, they can’t find the road to the Butler Cabin as the sun sets on that Sunday evening.

Others like Ben Crenshaw find magical, mystical moments that carry them through the week and into the history books. Or Larry Mize, who chipped-and-then-ran his way to a shot for the ages.

Then there are those gifted beyond belief who seem to have made slipping on a Green Jacket part of their biennial routine. Think Tiger Woods. Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo in their primes.

So is there a magic number of Masters?

We did the math looking at 27 winners here on the property and … well, they averaged winning in their seventh Masters: 7.25 to be exact.

At the high end was Mark O’Meara, who won in his 15th start. Billy Casper won in his 14th and Ben Crenshaw won his first in his 13th (11th as a pro).  Ray Floyd and Phil Mickelson needed a dozen (11th).

On the short end?

Everyone’s got that answer – Fuzzy Zoeller, who won on his first try.

Hadn’t happened since the early Augusta National Invitation days of Horton Smith, followed by Gene Sarazen.

Hasn’t happened since.

“Special, wasn’t it?,’’ Zoeller said, standing on the Augusta National porch. “I can’t put my hand on why it hasn’t happened again. There’s so much talent that’s come through here. Kids with a hell of a lot more talent than I ever had.”

Crenshaw agreed. “I was more the norm. You look at Fuzzy and that’s completely different. It takes a while. It just does.’’

There’s the subtle – and not so subtle – breaks on the greens. The elevations. The wind that dances down fairways when you can’t see a pin flag fluttering.

“And the little shots,’’ Crenshaw said. “They come to you after awhile. You just have to learn them. And that’s hard.’’

Ya think? It’s a conversation Woods and O’Meara had Tuesday during their practice round.

“It’s very difficult to win in your first time -- even Tiger says that,’’ O’Meara said. “The little idiosyncrasies around this course. how to play a chip or a bump-and-run here. It takes time.’’

The key, though, is always putting. You can come into the week driving the ball well, have an awesome short game too. But if you don’t make the putts … you don’t win.

“When Fuzzy won, when I won, when Tiger won, when Faldo won … we were all putting well,’’ O’Meara said. “You don’t win a major tournament without putting well.

“Although this is a big-boy course now – which certainly says something about it – take a look. Zach Johnson won here and never went for any of the par 5s. So if you don’t hit it long,  you have to have phenomenal short game and putt well.’’

Or chip in like Mize, who tied for 11th in his first Masters.

“I do think it’s very difficult to win here on your first time,’’ Mize said. “Not impossible. But there’s a reason why only one guy has done it.”

And how did he do it? Well, first, he was playing well coming in. Second, he’s Fuzzy and nothing much intimidates him. Third, he had some help from Ed Sneed and Tom Watson, who shared second after the playoff.

And fourth --  and most importantly – Zoelller had a local club caddie.
Jeriah Beard – better known as Jerry – won Zoeller in a bagroom-style lottery. Zoeller and Couples were up and Jerry got the luck of that draw.

“Jerry led me around like a blind man that week,’’ Zoeller said. “He had heard that I could hit it and he said this is a place where you have to hit it. We clicked from the get-go.’’

And once you do, the caddies who know this place – like Carl Jackson, who totes for Crenshaw – can  make a huge difference.

“You have to put yourself in their hands,’’ Crenshaw said.

Like in ‘95, when it was Jackson who not only helped with local knowledge, but straightened out a swing problem for Crenshaw during a Monday practice round.
 
When Zoeller won, the club required players to use local caddies. Today, it doesn’t, although some players do use them for March practice rounds.

“There’s something to the local knowledge,’’ Zoeller said. “I’ve always said (players’) big mistake is not taking a local caddie, at least their first year.

“I was talking to (psychologist) Bob Rotella last year. He said they take the local caddies the week before. I told him, ‘Bobby, It’s not like having one stand next to your bag out there during the tournament.’

The Fuzzy-Jerry team was, Crenshaw said, akin to Tony Lema winning the 1964 British Open. He had legendary caddie Tip Anderson on his bag.

“And that,’’ Crenshaw said, “was the first time (Lema) had played St. Andrews.’’

Today’s up-and-comers know that no rookie has won since Zoeller, but it doesn’t keep them from trying. Woods tied for 41st in his first Masters as an amateur, missed the cut, then won one for the ages – by a dozen shots on his third attempt.

Ernie Els tied for eighth in his first Masters; Adam Scott tied for ninth. And Luke Donald? The accurate Brit tied for third in his first Masters in 2005 and shared 10th in his third. Yes, they’re all still looking for a win.

“It’s such a special event,’’  Donald said. “You draw on that. Your attitude is better on the golf course. You can play well that first time.

“A lot of people said not going to be a great golf course for you (because of the length), but  I kind of saw it in a different way. You still had to hit great iron shots and keep it in positions on the greens where you had putts at birdies. So I saw it as an advantage because you had to be very precise coming in.’’

Zoeller was playing well coming into the 1979 event and he didn’t care if no rookie had ever won. He didn’t listen to it.

He needed a two-hole playoff, but  . . . he made the putt at the 11th hole that night and . . . well, let him tell the story.

“When I was over the putt on 11 from 5 feet – it’s amazing how your mind works -- my mind was flashing back to all those times on the putting green when I’d had a putt that distance just playing by myself on the putting green,’’ he said. “Oh, it was happening. They all went in back then, so I said, you can make this. Oh, this is a piece of cake.

“Boom. My dream came true, that’s all I can tell you.’’

For the rest of the champions, yes, it took longer. But all of them will tell you one thing – it’s in the putting.

So, Zoeller said, leaning on a column, “for any young kid out there who practice putts a lot – and that’s something – train your mind to be putting for something. For a championship. For a Masters, an Open … sometimes that dream comes alive.’’

Whether it’s on the first try, the seventh or the 15th.