Youngest Masters Winner in History

Tiger Woods is the youngest Masters winner in history, taking the 1997 title at 21 years, 3 months and 14 days. Nearly 90 years of the tournament have passed and no one younger has slipped on the green jacket.

The 1997 win was not close, either. Woods won by 12 strokes and finished at 18 under par, both records at the time, so the youngest champion also produced one of the most dominant weeks Augusta has seen. Below is the full list of the youngest Masters champions and what set his record apart.

The youngest Masters winners

Here are the youngest champions in Masters history, by their age on the final day.

Age at win	Champion	Year
21 years, 3 months	Tiger Woods	1997
21 years, 8 months	Jordan Spieth	2015
23 years, few days	Seve Ballesteros	1980
23 years, 2 months	Jack Nicklaus	1963
25 years, 2 months	Byron Nelson	1937
25 years, 5 months	Gary Player	1961

Woods and Spieth are the only champions to win before their 22nd birthday, and they are separated by about five months. Below them, Ballesteros and Nicklaus both won at 23, and the list thins quickly after that.

Woods in 1997: young and untouchable

Woods’s record is doubly striking because of how he won. After an opening nine of 40, he played the rest of the tournament in a way no one could follow, closing at 18 under par to win by 12 shots — still the largest margin in Masters history.

The performance reset expectations for how young a player could dominate a major. It was also his first professional major title, won in only his third start at Augusta as a pro. For the scoring side of that week and since, see our look at the lowest score in Masters history.

Spieth, Ballesteros and Nicklaus

Jordan Spieth’s 2015 win came at 21 years and 8 months, making him the second-youngest champion, and he matched Woods’s 18-under total that week — so the two youngest winners also share the tournament scoring record. Spieth led from the first round to the last, a wire-to-wire victory that few manage at Augusta.

Seve Ballesteros in 1980 and Jack Nicklaus in 1963 both won at 23, each setting the youngest-champion mark in his day before being passed. Nicklaus went on to win the Masters six times in all, the tournament record, showing that an early first win can be the start of something much larger. For the full tally, see the most Masters wins.

Why no teenager has won

The youngest champion is 21, and no player under that age has ever won. Teenagers have made the cut — Guan Tianlang did it at 14 in 2013 — but winning is another matter entirely. The Masters field is built from major champions, tour winners and top amateurs, and beating that group over four rounds at Augusta almost always takes years of experience.

That is why the record has held since 1997. Young players contend from time to time, but the combination of nerve, course knowledge and form needed to win a major rarely comes together before a player’s mid-20s.

The record in context

Woods’s youngest-winner mark sits alongside a fistful of records he set the same week, which is why the 1997 Masters is remembered as a turning point rather than just an early win. It also carried significance beyond golf, as he became the first Black golfer to win the tournament.

For how players even reach Augusta, see our guide on how to qualify for the Masters, and for the season-long race that follows, the FedEx Cup winners. Twenty-one years and three months is the age to beat, and no one has come close in nearly three decades.