Masters 2016: Top 10 shots ever at Augusta

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The Masters has our undivided attention because we have come to expect the unexpected. 

From memorable chip-ins and must-make putts to iconic celebrations and miracle shots, Augusta National has just about seen it all. 

With plentiful magical Masters shots to choose from down the years, we have pondered, debated and argued to select our top 10.

Let us know what you think. 

10. Adam Scott - 18th hole - 2013 Masters 

Eight months after handing Ernie Els the Open Championship when bogeying the final four holes, Adam Scott buried his major demons to become the first Australian to win the Masters. 

While his winning 15-foot birdie putt on the second play-off hole was special, it was his 25-foot effort on the 72nd to force extra holes with Angel Cabrera that sneaks into our top 10. 

Slick, downhill, with a touch of right-to-left, the ball caught the left side and went down. Scott pumped his fists and roared "C'mon Aussie", before beating Cabrera in near darkness on the 10th green in the play-off. 

9. Jack Nicklaus - 1986 Masters - 17th hole

In arguably the greatest Masters victory ever, a 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus sank a crucial putt on the 17th hole to give him his first outright lead on the back nine during the final round.

With his son and caddie Jackie helping him line up the 12 footer, Nicklaus used the knowledge of five previous Masters wins to read the break.

"The putt looks like it has to go a little right, which it does. But I said to Jackie, 'Rae's Creek, will straighten it up and try to turn back to the left.' He said, 'You sure?' I said, 'It always has'." 

Nicklaus tapped his iconic putt down the hill, walked after it and raised his putter aloft as the ball fell into the cup. The Golden Bear went on to seal his 18th and final major championship just when most had written him off. 

8. Sandy Lyle - 18th hole - 1988 Masters 

The long bunker shot is one of the toughest shots in golf, particularly when you are tied for the lead and have a chance to become the first Briton to win the Masters.

The pumped up Sandy Lyle misjudged his distance off the 18th tee and caught the left sand trap, knowing a par would make a play-off.   

But with a decent lie, the Scot nipped his ball perfectly out of the bunker and sent it some 20-feet past the pin as BBC commentator Peter Alliss exclaimed "that could spin".

The ball screwed back to 10 feet, and Lyle trickled his birdie putt into the middle of the cup to beat Mark Calcavecchia by one shot after leading for most of the tournament. 

7. Louis Oosthuizen - second hole - 2012 Masters 

Louis Oosthuizen may have been denied his second major championship when losing out in a play-off to Bubba Watson at the 2012 Masters, but he took consolation from becoming one of just two players to record an albatross in the tournament. 

From 253 yards out, Oosthuizen flushed a four iron that dropped on the front of the green, scuttled 80 feet on the lightning-fast surface and into the cup. 

The shot also marked the South African's first ever career albatross.

6. Bubba Watson - 13th hole - 2014 Masters

Standing on the tee of the par-five 13th with a two-shot lead in the final round of the Masters, most people would opt for a safe play into the wide open space well right of the trees and creek down the left. Not when your name is Bubba Watson.

The left-hander hit a huge sweeping slice that clipped foliage and still went a colossal 366 yards, leaving him a simple 56-degree sand wedge into the green. Watson two-putted for birdie en route to claiming a second Green Jacket in three years. 

“His drive on 13, I’ll never forget,” said Jordan Spieth, who played alongside Watson. “I thought that it was out of bounds 70 yards left and it was perfect.”

5. Gene Sarazen - 15th hole - 1935 Masters 

Marking just the second Masters ever, back then known as the "Augusta National Invitational Tournament", golf legend Gene Sarazen holed a four-wood from 235 yards for an albatross at the par-five 15th to move into a share of the lead.

The shot was quickly dubbed "the shot heard around the world" and arguably helped put the tournament on the map.  

Sarazen, a seven-time major champion, went on to defeat Craig Wood in the 36-hole play-off for his only Masters title, winning comfortably by five shots. 

4. Larry Mize - 11th hole (second play-off hole) - 1987 Masters

Augusta native Larry Mize produced one of the most memorable Masters moments when he chipped in from the right side of the 11th green in a sudden-death play-off with Greg Norman.

With the Australian on the front edge in two shots, and the American facing the prospect of chipping onto a super-slick putting surface with water behind the pin, Mize broke Norman's heart by draining his chip from about 100 feet to seal his only major victory.

The win was extra sweet for Mize as he once worked on the scoreboard at Augusta National's third hole as a teenager. 

3. Tiger Woods - 16th hole - 2005 Masters 

Tiger Woods's chip-in at the par-three 16th in the final round in 2005 is one of the greatest shots Augusta has seen.

The world number one was stuck on eight major titles and had not won one since the 2002 US Open. Woods trailed Chris DiMarco by four shots going into the final day of a rain-hit tournament but finished his third round in 65 to take a three-shot lead over his countryman. 

A dramatic duel ensued, with Woods clinging to a one-shot lead on the 16th tee. But with DiMarco's ball in the middle of the green, Woods fired his just long, and the ball nestled against the fringe at the back of the green. 

Coaxing a delicate wedge upslope of the pin, Woods's ball turned right and crawled down to the lip of the hole, teetered for what seemed like an eternity before quietly slipping from view. Cue pandemonium among the patrons. 

"Well, here it comes. Oh my goodness. Oh wow. In your life, have you ever seen anything like that?" shouted CBS commentator Verne Lundquist. 

Woods went on to beat DiMarco in a play-off to seal his fourth Masters title.

2. Phil Mickelson - 13th hole - 2010 Masters

Mickelson may have missed the eagle putt, but the swashbuckling left-hander takes our runner-up spot for his stunning six iron from the pine straw on his way to victory in 2010.

From 207 yards out, the crowd favourite eyed a sufficient gap in the pines and threaded his ball over Rae's Creek onto the green, just three feet from the hole. 

Mickelson took two putts for a birdie but his bravado took the tournament away from Lee Westwood and he raced to a three-shot victory and a third Green Jacket. 

"I kept saying that if I trust my swing, I'll pull it off," said Mickelson later.

"It's really one of the few shots that only Phil could pull off," added Westwood.

1. Bubba Watson - 10th hole (second play-off hole) - 2012 Masters 

Watson takes our number one position for his 50-yard hook around the trees on the 10th during the play-off against Louis Oosthuizen in 2012. 

Seemingly out of position with his drive on the second extra hole, the American conjured a miracle shot from 165 yards out of the pine straw, bending his ball around overhanging branches into the heart of the green before two-putting for the win.

"I knew if I had a swing I had a shot," said Watson, who coined the term "Bubba golf" for his creative playing style. 

Rickie Fowler later put it: “Bubba was in the wrong place at the right time.”

Do you agree with our list? What is the best shot you have seen played at the Masters? Share your thoughts in the forum below, on Twitter or on our Facebook page.