A look at some of the anniversaries this year at the Masters:
75 years ago (1941): Craig Wood went wire-to-wire to win his first major, and it was a long time coming. Wood was on the wrong end of Gene Sarazen making an albatross on the 15th hole in 1935 and winning a playoff. He lost in a playoff in the 1933 British Open, and went two 18-hole playoffs with Byron Nelson before losing the 1939 U.S. Open. He also lost in 38 holes to Paul Runyan in the 1934 PGA Championship. Not this time. He opened with a 66 for a five-shot lead and didn't let anyone closer than three shots the rest of the way. No one matched that feat until Jordan Spieth last year.
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50 years ago (1966): Not surprisingly, Jack Nicklaus made history at Augusta National, even if it wasn't pretty at times. One year after he set the 72-hole record at 271 to beat Arnold Palmer and Gary Player by nine shots, he finished at even-par 288. What followed was the first three-man playoff at the Masters with Gay Brewer and Tommy Jacobs. Nicklaus shot 70 for a two-shot win over Jacobs (Brewer faded to a 78) and became the first back-to-back winner of the Masters. The tradition was the defending champion to help the winner into the green jacket, and thus another first that year. Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts said Nicklaus should put the jacket on himself.
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25 years ago (1991): In his first tournament since going to No. 1 in the world, Ian Woosnam made a 5-foot par putt on the 18th hole to win his first (and only) major. The emotion the wee Welshman showed when he holed that putt was about more than a green jacket. He battled the back nine with the beloved Tom Watson, and the gallery was decisively in favor of the eight-time major champion. Woosnam, Olazabal and Watson were all tied playing the 18th. Olazabal in the group ahead made bogey. Watson drove into the trees and wound up three-putting for a double bogey.
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20 years ago (1996): Nick Faldo closed with a 67 — the best score of the final round — for a third Masters that is remembered more for Greg Norman's collapse. Norman opened with a record-tying 63 and stretched his lead to six shots going into the final round. No one had ever lost a lead that large in PGA Tour history. Playing alongside his longtime nemesis, Norman's collapse began when his approach to ninth spun off the green. He missed the green on No. 10, missed a 3-foot putt on No. 11 to slip into a tie and found the water on No. 12 for a double bogey. Two shots behind playing the 16th, he hit into the water. Norman closed with a 78. Starting the final round with a six-shot lead, he ended it five shots behind.
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10 years ago (2006): Phil Mickelson won his second Masters and his second straight major coming after the PGA Championship at Baltusrol the previous August. He won by two shots over Tim Clark, though the real challenge came from Fred Couples, trying to become at 46 the oldest Masters champion. Couples missed a 3-foot par putt on No. 11, but the big blow was on the 14th. He had a 4-foot birdie putt to pull within one shot and three-putted to fall three shots behind. Mickelson was on top of his game, and he went to the U.S. Open with a chance to join Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan as the only players to win three straight majors. That was at Winged Foot, where Mickelson made double bogey on the final hole to lose by one.
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