If you’re winning The Masters at any point in your golfing career, then you’ve done something right.
Some of the greatest ever golfers have won that beloved green jacket and some, like Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus to name but a few, have multiple titles.
Augusta National, for many anyway, is the be-all and end-all of golf tournaments.
That’s been the same throughout the decades right from the very first champions in the 30s and 40s like Byron Nelson, through to the modern day with the likes of Scottie Scheffler.
Of course, one boom period for golf in general was the 1980s as a number of top stars like Bernhard Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson were all going strong.
And harping back to The Masters in 1982, it’s worth taking a look at Craig Stadler, who won the event at Augusta amidst a stunning patch of form.
How Craig Stadler dominated golf in the 1980s
Back in 1982, a name relatively unknown to most modern fans of the game, Craig Stadler, rocked up to Augusta National and won it.
Stadler led the tournament from round two onwards but on the final day, allowed Dan Pohl to reel him in and force a playoff. However, Stadler held his nerve to make par in the playoff as Pohl missed from inside ten feet and the rest is history.
However, when you look back Stadler in 1982, and indeed the years previous, it was no fluke, as cited by Matt Adams, who had Stadler on a recent episode of his Fairways of Life podcast.
Wait until you hear this history. 30 professional wins. 13 of those were on the PGA Tour. Nine on the PGA Tour Champions. Two senior majors as well. The 03 senior Players and the 04 Tradition. He was a two time United States Ryder Cup player. He won the 1973 US amateur. Get this. 652 PGA Tour starts. 97 major championship starts. 263 PGA Tour Champions starts. All told total tour starts 915. Career top 10’s, 196. That is 21% of the time. Let that sink in for a second. Remarkable,” Adams reeled off.
“Career top fives, 107. That’s 12% of the time. Runner up 28 times. From 1980-85 Craig had one of the best stretches in golf history.
“In 150 starts he had eight wins including that Masters. 10 runner-up finishes. Seven third placed finishes and 53 top 10 finishes. This being said Craig finished in the top 10 on average every three events for six straight years.”
Craig Stadler’s overall Masters record
Despite having a win to his name, Craig Stadler has also flopped at Augusta on more than one occasion.
Prior to winning in 1982, he had missed the cut twice, finished in tie for seventh, before finishing T26 and T43.
In fairness, he did follow up his win with two T6 finishes and third place in the next six Masters tournaments, albeit with another cut in there as well.
All in all, Stadler played in 38 Masters tournaments, winning once, finishing top ten five times and finishing inside the top 25 on nine occasions.
He did miss the cut 17 times though, albeit seven of those came as he was an elder statesman of the game between 2008 and 2014.
Still, Craig Stadler has his name in the Augusta history books and as the stats show, there was no fluke about his performance back in 82.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
