The Best Sports Illustrated Covers As Chosen by the SI Golf Staff

This month Sports Illustrated celebrates its 70th anniversary, and golf has been a big part of the magazine since its beginning. (O.K., technically it started with issue No. 2. More on that shortly.) As part of our celebration the SI Golf staff looked back at the magazine’s rich collection of golf covers—there were more than 150 to peruse—and selected a few that still jumped off the screen at us. What’s your favorite? Let us hear it on X, formerly Twitter.

Here’s our list of favorites, in chronological order from the second SI cover ever, in 1954.

Golf bags, 1954

Milwaukee Braves slugger Eddie Mathews was on the first SI cover on Aug. 16, 1954, which has long been a collector’s item. But what was on the second cover? Simply a photo of a group of golf bags, shot at Augusta National in 1954 with no headline or further context. It’s such a gloriously random piece from a startup magazine just starting to find its footing—and it’s framed on my wall above where I’m typing right now. — John Schwarb

“The Crosby,” January 23, 1961

There’s just something about seeing iconic spots on a golf course, frozen in time all of these years. You can get lost gazing at the 7th green at Pebble in any era, including this gorgeous shot from 1960. —Jeff Ritter

U.S. Open Preview, June 10, 1968

The assignment was to pick our favorites, but this one was so quirky I just couldn’t resist shining a light on it. It’s before my era, but I think that may be a Strat-O-Matic board? Either way, props to the editors who came up with a cover treatment that nearly 60 years later made me stop dead in my tracks to say, “Huh?” —Jeff Ritter

“End of an Era,” September 1, 1969

Like anyone fortunate enough to spend a little time with Palmer during his lifetime, I treasure the memories from my experiences with him. This particular cover image is great (look at those creases on Arnie’s forehead!), but it’s the caption that makes it—SI editors apparently suggest that as Palmer turns the big 4-0, he will no longer be as relevant. They had it partially correct: Palmer never won another major championship. But the cover missed the mark in the best possible fashion, as Palmer went on to have an almost incalculable global impact. Some highlights: he won five senior-tour majors and gave that tour life, he launched a design company that built more than 300 courses; he helped kick-start the Golf Channel; he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and perhaps most significantly, he started the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando. And so the verdict is in: with this cover the Arnold Palmer Era did not end. He was just getting started. —Jeff Ritter

“One for the Ages,” April 21, 1986

One of the greatest Masters of them all, this cover doesn’t feature the most iconic moment from the event (SI captured it, but didn’t use it for the cover), but it’s a great shot of the Golden Bear talking to his ball en route to his sixth and most stunning green jacket. I can’t look at this cover without wishing I’d been there to witness it in person. —Jeff Ritter

“Agony at Augusta,” 1996 Masters, Greg Norman

Middle-age golf fans don’t need the text on the cover to know what this was. John Biever’s photo is an all-timer hitting every note with the top of the Shark’s straw hat, the logo-gloved hand resting on his knee and holding the blade 4-iron that let him down (along with other clubs) on a nightmare Masters Sunday.  — John Schwarb

“One Cool Cat,” Sportsman of the Year, 2000

At the height of his powers, and a few months before he won his second Masters to complete the “Tiger Slam,” Woods posed for SI in Hawaii for the SOTY issue, channeling Charlie Chaplin in an image that’s unexpectedly playful for a golfer who had absolutely seized control of the sport. —Jeff Ritter

“Masterstroke,” 2004 Masters, Phil Mickelson

The story of Phil Mickelson’s early career was his failure to win a major, specifically 0-for-41 as a pro going to Augusta in 2004. But he finally broke through with a birdie on the 72nd hole to beat Ernie Els, and when the putt dropped he went airborne along with everyone else around the 18th. There would be more major heartbreak (keep reading) but at least the monkey was off his back. — John Schwarb

“The Crack-Up,” 2006 U.S. Open, Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson’s head is in his hands after he let slip away a golden opportunity to win the U.S. Open he never captured. Mickelson doubled-bogeyed the final hole at Winged Foot and later remarked “I just can’t believe I did that.” It was one of his six runner-up finishes in the tournament. — Bob Harig

In memoriam, 2016, Arnold Palmer

Upon the death of Arnold Palmer at age 87 in 2016, SI went with an iconic photo of Arnie from his glory days, decked out in an iconic Cardigan sweater that exemplified the Arnie look. — Bob Harig

2017 Masters Preview Issue

While this pic of a pensive Spieth is sharp and the hype surrounding the 2017 Masters was large, this cover cracks my list strictly for sentimental reasons—it was my first cover byline with the magazine, eight years after SI first hired me as a nights-and-weekends editor. It was a thrill to be sitting at my desk in New York when SI’s venerable golf editor, Mark Godich, strolled by and casually quipped, “O.K., you’ve got the cover.” Much has changed since that moment—I have a wife, two kids and a home in Texas, and the game of golf has evolved in ways few could’ve foreseen. But that 2017 Masters turned out to be a good one (with another fantastic SI cover), and seven years later Spieth is still a fascinating psychological case study. —Jeff Ritter

2019 Masters, Tiger Woods

No words were necessary. While this is the last time Tiger was featured on the cover, it might be the best. The exultation, the reaction, said it all as Woods won the Masters for the fifth time and a 15th major title—11 years after his most recent. — Bob Harig