Golf is a game of nuance, tradition, and – let’s be honest – absurdly specific statistics. Nowhere is this more evident than at Augusta National, home of the Masters, where history is tallied in green jackets and granular data. Forget fairways hit or average proximity to the hole. We're diving into the weird, wonderful world of quirky Masters numbers – the kind of stats you only bring up when trying to win a bet, or an argument, or just annoy your playing partners.

Let’s start with heartbreak. Finishing second at the Masters once is painful. Doing it four times? That’s practically a character arc. Ben Hogan (1942, 1946, 1954, 1955), Jack Nicklaus (1964, 1971, 1977, 1981), and Tom Weiskopf (1969, 1972, 1974, 1975) share the dubious honour of the most runner-up finishes. Weiskopf in particular might’ve wondered if Augusta’s pines had it out for him personally.

On the flip side, there’s total domination. Only five men have gone wire-to-wire at the Masters – leading outright after every round. Craig Wood in 1941 got the party started. Arnold Palmer (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1972), Raymond Floyd (1976) and Jordan Spieth (2015) kept the exclusive club small and smug.

And then there’s Tianlang Guan, the youngest-ever player at the Masters. In 2013, the Chinese amateur teed it up at Augusta at the age of 14. Not only did he play, he made the cut. Yep, while most of us were still trying to get through the early years of high school, Guan was navigating Amen Corner.

Tiger Woods, always a record magnet, also holds one of the more underappreciated feats: 16 straight rounds at par or better, from the third round in 2007 to the second round in 2011. That’s not a weekend hot streak – that’s sustained greatness over years. Peak Tiger was ... inevitable.

Now, if you’re the type who thinks the Masters doesn’t really start until the back nine on Sunday, consider this: the lowest-ever score on the back nine is 29. Mark Calcavecchia (1992) and David Toms (1998) went nuclear with birdies raining down like spring pollen. And if you're more of a front-nine fan, you're in luck: 30 is the best score out there, a mark shared by seven different players, from Johnny Miller in 1975 to Min Woo Lee in 2022.

MARK CALCAVECCHIA CHIPS THE BALL OUT OF A BUNKER DURING THE U.S MASTERS IN 1992. (PHOTO: STEPHEN MUNDAY/ALLSPORT)

Consistency, though, might be the most elusive golf virtue. Stuart Appleby managed 50 straight holes without a bogey at Augusta from 2001, including 45 pars and five birdies. That’s zen-level golf in a pressure cooker.

Speaking of longevity, the King himself, Arnold Palmer, made 50 consecutive starts at the Masters from 1955 to 2004. That’s five decades of Magnolia Lane strolls, and one of the purest streaks in sports.

Of course, no one has gone low at Augusta more often than Jack Nicklaus. With 71 subpar rounds in 163 starts (that’s over 43 percent, math fans), Jack didn’t just compete – he consistently scored. And yes, he also co-holds that runner-up record, just to keep things interesting.

And finally, let’s raise a toast to South Africa’s Gary Player, who, in 2009, became the oldest Masters starter at the age of 73. Fitting for the man who may have invented the phrase “age is just a number.”