5 Iconic Comebacks in Masters History

Seventy-two holes, four days: The Masters Tournament is less a sprint and more a marathon. The first few days allow a pack of PGA competitors to emerge from the rest, carrying a comfortable lead into the all-important Sunday, with the title of the most prestigious golf tournament in the world — and a customized dinner — on the line. 

Throughout the event's history, those comfortable leads have evaporated time and again, with a handful of incredible comebacks standing out as among the best in Masters history. These rallies are not only some of the greatest in the tournament's history, but also in all of golf.

Awful weather conditions ruled the 1956 Masters. Whipping winds knocked nearly every golfer off his game.

Jack Burke Jr. was no exception, entering the final day of the tournament with an eight-stroke deficit to amateur Ken Venturi. Normally, that would be more than enough to sink anyone in the biggest tournament around.

Still, Burke used his edge in experience to slowly chip away at the deficit, ending as one of two players who finished below par. The only other was Venturi, but Burke's 71 allowed him to win by a single stroke. It remains the largest comeback in Masters Tournament history.

While Burke is still the record-setter, Gary Player came within a whisper of tying him just over 20 years later. Instead of wind, Augusta, Georgia, was bathed in summer-like heat for the 1978 Masters Tournament, one in which Player struggled mightily through the first three days of play.

As always, everything came down to Sunday. Player shot 6-under-par 30, navigating the notoriously difficult 12th and 16th holes to place himself in the lead. 

The drama was not over yet. A three-competitor group behind Player took an extra hour to finish, forcing the leading man to wait in agony to see if the title would be his. All three failed to catch Player, sealing his seven-stroke comeback to steal the biggest tournament in golf.

Fuzzy Zoeller's comeback was not as big as the other two listed above, but a couple of other factors arguably make it the most impressive of the bunch. A year after Player had delivered a stunner, Zoeller entered the Masters field for the first time.

The first two days were ones to forget, but by Friday night, he was only trailing by six strokes — a wide margin, but a beatable one.

A hard day's work on Sunday saw Zoeller draw into a three-way tie with Ed Sneed and Tom Watson. A playoff was in order. After all three parred the 10th hole, a birdie from Zoeller secured the tournament victory. Zoeller remains the most recent champion to win the Masters on his first trip to the big stage, etching his name in golf's history books forever.

By the end of the second day, Nick Faldo looked to be in solid shape to make a run at the podium. However, a disastrous Saturday seemed to sink him, placing him six strokes behind the leader of the pack, Greg Norman.

Always displaying a cool confidence, Norman seemed to be on the precipice of walking into a green jacket. The idea that a player who spent over six years atop golf's rankings could choke a six-stroke lead was almost unthinkable.

Faldo was one of the few who believed differently. His excellent play was as big a part of the comeback as Norman's struggles.

The Brit surged past his opponent to win by a decisive five strokes. While the margin was not considered insurmountable, Faldo's ability to rally past a legend of the game will forever make this Masters memorable.

The 2011 Masters featured Charl Schwartzel trying to make a comeback against a couple of the modern greats, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.

By the end of the third day of play, McIlroy's once-healthy lead had been slashed badly, with Schwartzel and a wide field of other contenders trailing by only four strokes. It took an absurdly good closing performance from the South African to ice his first Masters victory, one that he secured by producing a birdie on the last four holes of the course.

Schwartzel's incredible finishing touches were the icing on the cake of a fantastic, gritty performance that saw him become the third South African to wear a green jacket.

Golf stands out for the psychological challenges it presents to its players. There is ample time to think between shots, especially when the opportunity of a lifetime is on the line

All five of the men above overcame not only the stress of competition, but a huge deficit on the biggest stage in golf to claim one of the most prestigious victories in all of sports.