When Do Masters Champions Retire

No place treats its champions quite like Augusta National. They are warmly welcomed back each year and can enjoy the hospitality of the club during the week, play the course with a guest on the Sunday before the tournament, attend the Champions Dinner, participate in the Par 3 Contest, and play in the event itself for as long as they like.

That lifetime exemption has been in place since the tournament was inaugurated by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts, but the latter did add a qualifier in a letter sent to Ben Hogan in 1970, in which the chairman wrote: "While the right of each Masters Champion to play in the tournament should be preserved I am wondering if we could not somehow get the word around among the group that anyone who no longer seriously tries to play in the tournament should not play at Augusta."

While it was long accepted that the limited field at The Masters would feature several past champions long beyond their prime, a minor controversy occurred back in 2002 when tournament chairman Hootie Johnson wrote to three past winners, Doug Ford, Gay Brewer and Billy Casper, requesting that they no longer enter the tournament.

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In 2001, Brewer, the champion of 1967, withdrew after the first round, while Ford, the 78-year-old winner in 1957, walked off the course after playing just one hole, and Casper, the victor in 1970, shot rounds of 87 and 80 to miss the cut by a mile.

Johnson even unveiled plans to introduce an age limit, meaning that former champions wouldn't be able to participate beyond the age of 65, but complaints by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus saw the club make a rare u-turn, with the chairman stating: "We will count on our champions to know when their playing careers at the Masters have come to an end."

But that has proven to be a difficult decision for some to make. The allure of playing in the Masters and striding those fairways of Augusta National in front of the passionate gallery is hard to overcome even when champions are no longer competitively relevant.

This year, Bernhard Langer, the winner in 1985 and 1993, is participating for the 41st and final time at the age of 67, saying: "It's emotional. You can tell already my voice is breaking a bit just realising it's going to be my last competitive Masters. The course is just getting too long and I'm getting shorter and shorter. I'm hitting hybrids [into greens] where the other kids are hitting nine-irons, maybe even wedges. So I knew I wasn't going to be in contention anymore."

When Do Masters Champions Retire?

But when do Masters champions decide to retire? We have looked back to see when past winners made the decision to step aside from the tournament.

The aforementioned Ford remains the oldest competitor in Masters history at 78, but in truth he made something of a mockery of the whole thing, failing to make the cut in his last 30 appearances and not even completing 36 holes in six of his final eight attempts.

Arnold Palmer was 74 when he last played in the Masters - completing a 50th consecutive appearance in 2004. The four-time champion was long past competitive - he recorded multiple rounds of 89 and 87 towards the end - but no player was more enduringly popular before he transitioned into becoming an honorary starter.

Somehow, despite missing a year, Gary Player entered an astonishing 52 Masters Tournaments, competing for the last time aged 73 in 2009.

Despite receiving that infamous letter from the chairman, Billy Casper did return to play one last round in 2005, which saw the 73-year-old shoot 106 (including a 14 on the par three 16th), but given that he didn't submit his scorecard, those eye-watering numbers were not officially recorded.

Afterward, Casper, once one of the world's best players, said: "I was only going to play 18 holes - I just had to get it out of my system. I wanted to do it again. A lot of my grandchildren were here."

The great Gene Sarazen (71 in 1973) and Sam Snead (70 in 1983) are the other past champions who went beyond their 60s.

Gay Brewer was 69 in 2001, while Charles Coody and Tommy Aaron were both 68 when they played in their last Masters. 

Langer's age of 67 will match that of Herman Keiser, the 1946 champion, who played one last time in 1982.

Tom Watson and Raymond Floyd were both 66 when they completed their final competitive rounds in 2016 and 2009 respectively, although Floyd agonised about entering the 2010 tournament before deciding that it was time to go.

How Old Are Masters Champions When They Stop Playing?

Jack Nicklaus - the greatest of all Masters champions - was 65 when he made his final appearance in 2005, with his closing round disappointingly finishing on the ninth green due to a two-tee start. Just a few months later, he enjoyed a more fitting farewell at St Andrews in that summer's Open Championship.

In 2023, both Sandy Lyle (65) and Larry Mize (64) made their final competitive appearances in the Masters. Like Augusta native Mize, both Art Wall and Henry Picard were 64 when they played for the last time.

The widely admired two-time champion Ben Crenshaw emotionally bowed out in 2015 at the age of 63, but after several years of not breaking 80, conceded that he "probably stayed too long."

Ian Woosnam announced his retirement at least a couple of times before he eventually did step back, but the 1991 winner had one last go on the 30th anniversary of his victory, missing the cut after rounds of 76 and 77 aged 63.

12 months later, the Welshman posted on social media: "Thought long and hard about playing the Masters again this year and in the future, but it's time for me to watch the young guys play."

Other Masters champions who played into their 60s include Craig Wood (62), Mark O'Meara (61), Ralph Guldahl (61), and Craig Stadler (60).

Fuzzy Zoeller was a comparatively youthful 57 when he stepped aside in 2009, while Bob Goalby was the same age when he last played in 1986.

Three-time winner Jimmy Demaret was 56 for his farewell Masters in 1967, the same tournament that 54-year-old Ben Hogan made his last after the legendary Texan posted a top-ten finish.

Claude Harmon and Byron Nelson were both 54 in their final appearances, as was the first Masters champion, Horton Smith, who died just months after playing in the 1963 tournament.

1969 champion George Archer made the cut in 1992 and the 52-year-old decided to leave on a high, while both Jack Burke (51) and Cary Middlecoff (50) stopped playing earlier than most.

It's two European icons who are the youngest to have retired from the Masters. Seve Ballesteros was days shy of his 50th birthday when he played in the 2007 tournament, with the iconic Spaniard announcing his retirement from competitive golf later that year following many seasons of struggle and toil on the course. Tragically, he soon faced a battle of a different kind that would ultimately take his life.

Nick Faldo, the champion of 1989, 1990 and 1996 was just 48 when he played in the 2006 Masters. Taking up position as the lead analyst for CBS, Faldo never again played in the tournament, although he did compete regularly in The Open Championship before his farewell at the Old Course in 2015.

2008 champion Trevor Immelman is in the booth these days for CBS and hasn't played since 2019 when he was 39, but the South African could yet make future tournament appearances should he wish to.

As for other champions who soon have a decision to make, Fred Couples is 65 but hasn't put a date on a farewell yet, while Jose Maria Olazabal is 59. Vijay Singh - at 62 - was expected to play in 2025 before withdrawing due to injury. Mike Weir and Phil Mickelson are both 54, while convicted domestic abuser Angel Cabrera, who is back this year, is 55.

Tiger Woods - sadly missing this time - and Zach Johnson are both 49 and edging towards senior golf age.

If you break down the numbers, the average age of a Masters champion in their final appearance is 62, with the median being 63.

The Masters is unique in that it allows its legends to select their own departure date from its tournament, and, understandably, it's a bittersweet moment for these champions when that decision is finally made.

Year/Age That Masters Champions Played Their Final Tournament

Nick Faldo (2006 - 48)

Seve Ballesteros (2007 - 49)

Cary Middlecoff (1971 - 50)

Jack Burke (1974 - 51)

George Archer (1992 - 52)

Horton Smith (1963 - 54)

Byron Nelson (1966 - 54)

Ben Hogan (1967 - 54)

Claude Harmon (1971 - 54)

Jimmy Demaret (1967 - 56)

Bob Goalby (1986 – 57)

Fuzzy Zoeller (2009 - 57)

Craig Stadler (2014 - 60)

Ralph Guldahl (1973 - 61)

Mark O'Meara (2018 - 61)

Craig Wood (1964 - 62)

Ben Crenshaw (2015 - 63)

Ian Woosnam (2021 - 63)

Henry Picard (1970 - 64)

Art Wall (1988 - 64)

Larry Mize (2023 - 64)

Jack Nicklaus (2005 - 65)

Sandy Lyle (2023 - 65)

Raymond Floyd (2009 - 66)

Tom Watson (2016 - 66)

Herman Keiser (1982 - 67)

Bernhard Langer (2025 - 67)

Charles Coody (2006 - 68)

Tommy Aaron (2005 - 68)

Gay Brewer (2001 - 69)

Sam Snead (1983 - 70)

Gene Sarazen (1973 - 71)

Billy Casper (2005 - 73)

Gary Player (2009 - 73)

Arnold Palmer (2004 - 74)

Doug Ford (2001 - 78)

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