The Five Best Masters Tournaments of the Past 30 Years

I look out my window and all I can see are bare trees and gray sky, but the calender insists that spring is on the way. With spring comes the best golf tournament in the United States, the Masters. In honor of the upcoming 2010 version of the Masters, I will take a look back at the best Masters tournaments in the last 30 years. I was going to do the best Masters of all time, but I really can't compare the exploits of a Gene Sarazen or an Arnold Palmer, because I never saw them play at their peak. Also these are the most dramatic moments and best stories, not times when one player dominated the rest of the field. So with that in mind here is my countdown of the five greatest Masters of the last three decades.

5. Kenny Perry in 2009: Last year's Masters was won by Angel Cabrera, but the real star of the show was 48 year old Kenny Perry. He was in the lead after 16 holes in the fourth round, but dropped a shot on the 17th and the 18th. Perry, Cabrera, and Chad Campbell were all tied after 72 holes and would go on to a sudden death playoff. Both Perry and Cabrera would par the first playoff hole, while Campbell carded a bogey and was eliminated from the playoff. In the second playoff hole Cabrera parred, while all Perry could hope for was a bogey, and we were denied our happy ending. If Perry would have won it would have been his first major championship and he would have been the oldest major winner of all time. Instead he was left with a story of what might have been.

4. Larry Mize in 1987: Augusta National was not kind to the world's greatest golfers in 1987. The dry conditions caused the greens to be hard and fast, and the scores to be high. Greg Norman had a 20 foot birdie putt to win the championship, but it slid a hair to the left so he would have to settle for par and a playoff. Three men were in the playoff Norman, Larry Mize, and Seve Ballesteros. Mize was easily the crowd favorite because he grew up in Augusta, Georgia. Ballesteros would three putt on the first playoff hole and leave Norman and Mize to battle it out. On the second playoff hole the Mize magic unfolded as he rolled a 140 ft chip shot right into the cup and the crowd erupted. Norman still had a long putt to tie Mize, but the devastated look on Norman's face pretty much told everyone the tournament was already decided. Norman would miss the putt and the Mize shot would become one of the most famous golf shot's in history.

3. Phil Mickelson in 2004: Mickelson had been saddled the label of the best golfer who had yet to win a major for a few years when he arrived at Augusta National in 2004. Mickelson came into that Easter Sunday with a two stroke lead, but he would relinquish that and actually fall behind by three shots to Ernie Els, who had two eagles in his round of 67, on the 11th hole. Mickelson would surge and wind up tying Els heading to the 18th tee. Mickelson put himself in position to win his first major on the 18th, all he needed was to hit an 18 foot putt. The putt was true and Mickelson, with that now famous jump up in the air, felt the weight of expectations come off his shoulders. That putt is one of my favorite golf moments of all time, the sheer joy expressed by Lefty was what sports is all about.

2. Greg Norman in 1996: Norman has the unfortunate distinction as being the second person on this list because they came up short. Norman held a six shot lead coming into the final round. By the end of the day on Sunday he would lose 11 shots to winner Nick Faldo and finish in second, five shots back. You could not watch Norman play on that Sunday and not feel his pain. You felt bad for him collapsing in front of the whole golfing world. Although it wasn't one of the closest Masters in history, it was filled with it's own special kind of drama.

1. Jack Nicklaus in 1986: Nicklaus was 46 when the Masters began in 1986 and few probably considered him a contender for his a sixth green jacket. Nicklaus was down four strokes coming into the final round to leader Greg Norman. The Golden Bear would hunt down the competition with a 30 on the back nine. He would beat Tom Kite and Greg Norman by one stroke. It would the cherry on top of one of the best careers in golf. Nicklaus still holds the distinction as being the oldest player to ever win a major. On that Sunday in 1986 he rode a wave of emotion from the gallery and became the best feel good story ever produced by the Masters.