#10: First Masters Win, 1958
Arnold Palmer’s first Masters win was one for the ages, a prize fight in 1958 that showed the best of his fighting spirit.
Palmer came out swinging after reportedly overhearing Ben Hogan in the locker room wonder aloud “how the hell Palmer got an invitation to the Masters.” The defining moment came on the final day, on the par-3 No.12 when Palmer’s ball embedded in the muddy turf behind the green. An official said to play it as it lay, but Palmer believed he was entitled to relief and challenged. It was an audacious thing to do at golf's hallowed ground, but as Palmer wrote in A Golfer's Life, his conviction on being right was so strong that he played a second ball, risking disqualification. One shot ahead of Ken Venturi, Palmer made double bogey with the embedded first and par with the dropped second. Two holes later Bobby Jones himself announced Palmer’s 3 at 12 would stand, leading to his one-shot win, his first Masters and his first major.
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