1979 Masters Tournament

1979 Masters Tournament
Tournament information
Dates April 12–15, 1979
Location Augusta, Georgia
Course(s) Augusta National Golf Club
Organized by Augusta National Golf Club
Tour(s) PGA Tour
Statistics
Par 72
Length 7,040 yards (6,437 m)[1]
Field 72 players, 45 after cut
Cut 145 (+1)
Winner's share $50,000
Champion
United States Fuzzy Zoeller
280 (−8), playoff
«1978
1980»

The 1979 Masters Tournament was the 43rd Masters Tournament, held April 12–15 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Fuzzy Zoeller won his only Masters, the first of his two major titles, with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff with Ed Sneed and Tom Watson.[2] Jack Nicklaus climbed up the leaderboard on Sunday with a 69 (−3), but bogeyed 17 to finish a stroke out of the playoff; Tom Kite had a double bogey at 16 for an even par 72 in the final round to finish fifth, three strokes back.[3]

Second and third round leader Sneed seemed to have a commanding three-shot lead with only three holes to go, but bogeyed the final three holes to card a final round 76 (+4) and fell into the playoff. It was the debut of the sudden-death format at Augusta, adopted by the Masters in 1976.[4] Its last playoff was nine years earlier in 1970, then a full 18-hole round on Monday.

The sudden-death playoff began on the tenth hole, a downhill par-4, where all three players missed birdie putts and parred. On the second hole, the par-4 11th, Sneed failed to hole a bunker shot and Watson a birdie putt, and then Zoeller made his from 6 feet (2 m) to win.[5]

Zoeller, age 27, was the first to win the Masters in his initial attempt since Gene Sarazen in 1935, the second edition of the tournament.[2] In his fifth season on tour, it was Zoeller's second win, the first came less than three months earlier at the Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational. He won his other major five years later at the 1984 U.S. Open, also in a playoff.

The second round was suspended for two hours Friday afternoon due to heavy rain and tornado warnings. Due to the delay, not all golfers were able to complete their second rounds on Friday and the cut line was not determined until these rounds were completed on Saturday morning. Normally scheduled to conclude on the second Sunday of April, this Masters was held a week later, as was 1984.

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player Country Year(s) won R1 R2 R3 R4 Total To par Finish
Tom Watson United States 1977 68 71 70 71 280 −8 T2
Jack Nicklaus  United States 1963, 1965,
1966, 1972, 1975
69 71 72 69 281 −7 4
Raymond Floyd  United States 1976 70 68 73 77 288 E T17
Gary Player  South Africa 1961, 1974, 1978 71 72 74 71 288 E T17
Tommy Aaron  United States 1973 72 73 76 70 291 +3 T28
Charles Coody  United States 1971 71 72 74 76 293 +5 T34
Billy Casper  United States 1970 69 75 80 75 299 +11 43

Missed the cut

Player Country Year(s) won R1 R2 Total To par
Arnold Palmer  United States 1958, 1960,
1962, 1964
74 72 146 +2
Sam Snead  United States 1949, 1952, 1954 74 74 148 +4
Art Wall, Jr. United States 1959 74 75 149 +5
Gay Brewer  United States 1967 75 75 150 +6
Bob Goalby United States 1968 79 81 160 +16
Doug Ford United States 1957 77 WD

Source:[6]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 12, 1979

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1 Bruce Lietzke  United States 67 −5
T2 Tom Watson  United States 68 −4
Joe Inman  United States
Leonard Thompson  United States
Ed Sneed  United States
T6 Craig Stadler  United States 69 −3
Jack Nicklaus  United States
Lou Graham  United States
Billy Casper  United States
Andy Bean  United States

Second round

Friday, April 13, 1979
Saturday, April 14, 1979

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1 Ed Sneed  United States 68-67=135 −9
Craig Stadler  United States 69-66=135
T3 Raymond Floyd  United States 70-68=138 −6
Leonard Thompson  United States 68-70=138
T5 Miller Barber  United States 75-64=139 −5
Tom Watson  United States 68-71=139
Joe Inman  United States 68-71=139
T8 Seve Ballesteros  Spain 72-68=140 −4
Jack Nicklaus  United States 69-71=140
Lou Graham  United States 69-71=140
Lindy Miller  United States 73-67=140

Third round

Saturday, April 14, 1979

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1 Ed Sneed  United States 68-67-69=204 −12
T2 Tom Watson  United States 68-71-70=209 −7
Craig Stadler  United States 69-66-74=209
T4 Bruce Lietzke  United States 67-75-68=210 −6
Fuzzy Zoeller  United States 70-71-69=210
T6 Tom Kite  United States 71-72-68=211 −5
Jack Newton  Australia 70-72-69=211
Miller Barber  United States 75-64-72=211
Raymond Floyd  United States 70-68-73=211
Leonard Thompson  United States 68-70-73=211

Final round

Sunday, April 15, 1979

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney ($)
T1Fuzzy Zoeller  United States 70-71-69-70=280 −8 Playoff
Tom Watson  United States 68-71-70-71=280
Ed Sneed  United States 68-67-69-76=280
4 Jack Nicklaus  United States 69-71-72-69=281 −7 15,000
5 Tom Kite  United States 71-72-68-72=283 −5 13,000
6 Bruce Lietzke  United States 67-75-68-74=284 −4 11,500
T7 Craig Stadler  United States 69-66-74-76=285 −3 9,000
Leonard Thompson  United States 68-70-73-74=285
Lanny Wadkins  United States 73-69-70-73=285
T10 Hubert Green  United States 74-69-72-71=286 −2 6,500
Gene Littler  United States 74-71-69-72=286

Source:[1][6]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18 
Par454343454 443545344
United States Zoeller −6−6−6−5−5−5−5−6−6−6−6−5−6−6−7−7−8−8
United States Sneed −12−12−12−11−11−10−10−10−10−9−9−9−10−10−11−10−9−8
United States Watson −7−8−9−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−7−8−8−8−8
United States Nicklaus −4−5−5−4−4−4−4−5−5−6−6−6−7−7−7−8−7−7
United States Kite −5−5−5−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−7−7−7−5−5−5
United States Lietzke −6−6−6−6−5−5−5−5−5−5−4−4−3−3−3−3−4−4
United States Stadler −6−7−8−8−8−8−7−7−6−4−3−2−4−2−2−2−3−3
United States Thompson −4−4−4−3−3−3−3−4−4−4−4−3−4−3−3−3−3−3
United States Wadkins −2−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−1−2−2−1E−1−2−3−3−3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[2]

Playoff

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney ($)
1 Fuzzy Zoeller  United States 4-3 −150,000
T2 Ed Sneed  United States 4-x 30,000
Tom Watson  United States 4-4

References

  1. 1 2 "Masters scores (final)". Youngstown Vindicator. Associated Press. April 16, 1979. p. 16.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Sneed's collapse gives Zoeller win". Eugene Register-Guard. wire services. April 16, 1979. p. 1B.
  3. "Zoeller is surprise winner following Masters playoff". Youngstown Vindicator. Associated Press. April 16, 1979. p. 16.
  4. "Masters playoff format is changed". CNN.com. April 7, 2004. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  5. Jenkins, Dan (April 23, 1979). "Fuzzy came in loud and clear". Sports Illustrated: 30. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
  6. 1 2 "1979 Masters". databasegolf.com. Retrieved June 25, 2012.

External links

Coordinates: 33°30′11″N 82°01′12″W / 33.503°N 82.020°W / 33.503; -82.020

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