1978 Masters Tournament
The 1978 Masters Tournament was the 42nd Masters Tournament, held April 6–9 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Gary Player overcame a 7-shot deficit going into the final round to win his third Masters and ninth major championship. Player, age 42, shot a record-tying 64 (−8) in the final round to win by one stroke. The runners-up were Rod Funseth, defending champion Tom Watson, and 54-hole leader Hubert Green, the reigning U.S. Open champion, who shot an even-par 72.[2][3]
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Dates | April 6–9, 1978 |
| 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 | 78 players, 53 after cut |
| Cut | 149 (+5) |
| Winner's share | $45,000 |
| Champion | |
.svg.png){kind=small} | |
| 277 (−11) | |
Tied for tenth place at the start of the round, Player shot a 30 on the back nine in the summer-like heat. He holed seven putts ranging from 10 to 30 feet (3 to 9 m), including a final one of 15 feet (4.6 m) for birdie at 18. The leader in the clubhouse, Player had to wait forty minutes for the final groups to finish. Funseth had five birdies, but his two bogeys were both three-putts and he parred the last three holes. Watson eagled 13 and birdied both 15 and 16, but missed an 8-foot (2.4 m) putt for par on the final hole. After a bogey at 16, Green hit an outstanding approach shot at 18 which left a birdie putt from three feet (0.9 m) to tie, but he missed after being inadvertently distracted by a radio announcer.[2][4][5]
Field
- 1. Masters champions
Tommy Aaron, George Archer (8), Gay Brewer, Billy Casper (8), Charles Coody (10), Raymond Floyd (8,11,12), Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus (4,8,9,10,11,12), Arnold Palmer (8), Gary Player (3,8,9), Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr., Tom Watson (3,8,9,10,11,12)
- Jack Burke, Jr., Jimmy Demaret, Ralph Guldahl, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan, Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, and Gene Sarazen did not play.
- The following categories only apply to Americans
- 2. U.S. Open champions (last five years)
Lou Graham (8,9,10,12), Hubert Green (8,9,11,12), Hale Irwin (8,11,12), Johnny Miller (3), Jerry Pate (8,10,11)
- 3. The Open champions (last five years)
Tom Weiskopf (8,9,11)
- 4. PGA champions (last five years)
Dave Stockton (12), Lee Trevino (11), Lanny Wadkins (10,11,12)
- 5. 1977 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists
Doug Fischesser (a), Ralph Landrum (a), Jay Sigel (7,a)
- John Fought (6,7) forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
- 6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions
Dick Siderowf (7,a)
- Bill Sander (7) forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
- 7. Members of the 1977 U.S. Walker Cup team
Mike Brannan (a), Gary Hallberg (a), Vance Heafner (a), Lindy Miller (a), Fred Ridley (a)
- Scott Simpson forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
- 8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1977 Masters Tournament
Andy Bean, Jim Colbert, Ben Crenshaw (11), Danny Edwards, Lee Elder, Rod Funseth (9), Don January (10,12), Tom Kite, Billy Kratzert (11), Gene Littler (10,11), Rik Massengale, Andy North (11), John Schlee, Bob Wynn
- 9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1977 U.S. Open
Wally Armstrong, Terry Diehl, Al Geiberger (10,11), Jay Haas (11), Joe Inman, Gary Jacobson, Lyn Lott, Mike McCullough, Steve Melnyk, Tom Purtzer
- 10. Top eight players and ties from 1977 PGA Championship
Jerry McGee (11,12)
- 11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters
Miller Barber, Dave Eichelberger, Mike Hill, Mac McLendon, Gil Morgan, Mike Morley, Bill Rogers, Jim Simons, Ed Sneed (12), Leonard Thompson
- 12. Members of the U.S. 1977 Ryder Cup team
- 13. Foreign invitations
Isao Aoki, Seve Ballesteros (11), Bobby Cole (11), Antonio Garrido, David Graham (8), Peter McEvoy (6,a), Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Peter Oosterhuis (9), Masashi Ozaki, Manuel Piñero
- Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.
Nationalities in the field
| North America (67) | South America (0) | Europe (5) | Oceania (1) | Asia (3) | Africa (2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
Past champions in the field
Made the cut
| Player | Country | Year(s) won | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Total | To par | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gary Player | | 1961, 1974 | 72 | 72 | 69 | 64 | 277 | −11 | 1 |
| Tom Watson | | 1977 | 73 | 68 | 68 | 69 | 278 | −10 | T2 |
| Jack Nicklaus | | 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975 | 72 | 73 | 69 | 67 | 281 | −7 | 7 |
| Raymond Floyd | | 1976 | 76 | 71 | 71 | 68 | 286 | −2 | T16 |
| Gay Brewer | | 1967 | 73 | 71 | 69 | 77 | 290 | +2 | T29 |
| Tommy Aaron | | 1973 | 73 | 74 | 71 | 74 | 292 | +4 | 36 |
| Arnold Palmer | | 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964 | 73 | 69 | 74 | 77 | 293 | +5 | T37 |
| Bob Goalby | | 1968 | 73 | 75 | 78 | 75 | 301 | +13 | 52 |
Missed the cut
| Player | Country | Year(s) won | R1 | R2 | Total | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Coody | | 1971 | 75 | 75 | 150 | +6 |
| Billy Casper | | 1970 | 76 | 75 | 151 | +7 |
| Art Wall, Jr. | | 1959 | 74 | 78 | 152 | +8 |
| Doug Ford | | 1957 | 78 | 76 | 154 | +10 |
| Sam Snead | | 1949, 1952, 1954 | 79 | 75 | 154 | +10 |
| George Archer | | 1969 | 81 | WD |
Source:[6]
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, April 6, 1978
Source:[7]
Second round
Friday, April 7, 1978
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Rod Funseth | | 73-66=139 | −5 |
| Lee Trevino | | 70-69=139 | ||
| T3 | Hale Irwin | | 73-67=140 | −4 |
| Gene Littler | | 72-68=140 | ||
| T5 | Hubert Green | | 72-69=141 | −3 |
| Leonard Thompson | | 72-69=141 | ||
| Tom Watson | | 73-68=141 | ||
| T8 | Wally Armstrong | | 72-70=142 | −2 |
| Miller Barber | | 75-67=142 | ||
| Joe Inman | | 69-73=142 | ||
| Don January | | 72-70=142 | ||
| Arnold Palmer | | 73-69=142 |
Source:[6]
Third round
Saturday, April 8, 1978
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hubert Green | | 72-69-65=206 | −10 |
| T2 | Rod Funseth | | 73-66-70=209 | −7 |
| Tom Watson | | 73-68-68=209 | ||
| 4 | Gene Littler | | 72-68-70=210 | −6 |
| T5 | David Graham | | 75-69-67=211 | −5 |
| Hale Irwin | | 73-67-71=211 | ||
| Billy Kratzert | | 70-74-67=211 | ||
| Lee Trevino | | 70-69-72=211 | ||
| 9 | Wally Armstrong | | 72-70-70=212 | −4 |
| T10 | Seve Ballesteros | .svg.png){kind=small} | 74-71-68=213 | −3 |
| Gay Brewer | | 73-71-69=213 | ||
| Gary Player | | 72-72-69=213 | ||
| Tom Weiskopf | | 72-71-70=213 |
Source:[8]
Final round
Sunday, April 9, 1978
| Place | Player | Country | Score | To par | Money ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Player | | 72-72-69-64=277 | −11 | 45,000 |
| T2 | Rod Funseth | | 73-66-70-69=278 | −10 | 21,667 |
| Hubert Green | | 72-69-65-72=278 | |||
| Tom Watson | | 73-68-68-69=278 | |||
| T5 | Wally Armstrong | | 72-70-70-68=280 | −8 | 11,750 |
| Billy Kratzert | | 70-74-67-69=280 | |||
| 7 | Jack Nicklaus | | 72-73-69-67=281 | −7 | 10,000 |
| 8 | Hale Irwin | | 73-67-71-71=282 | −6 | 8,500 |
| T9 | David Graham | | 75-69-67-72=283 | −5 | 6,750 |
| Joe Inman | | 69-73-72-69=283 |
Scorecard
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| −3 | −4 | −4 | −5 | −5 | −5 | −4 | −4 | −5 | −6 | −6 | −7 | −8 | −8 | −9 | −10 | −10 | −11 |
| −7 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −7 | −7 | −7 | −8 | −8 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −10 | −9 | −10 | −10 | −10 | −10 |
| −9 | −10 | −10 | −10 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −10 | −10 | −10 | −9 | −9 | −10 | −10 | −11 | −10 | −10 | −10 |
| −7 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −8 | −10 | −9 | −10 | −11 | −11 | −10 |
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Eagle Birdie Bogey
Source:[4]
References
- Parascenzo, Marino (April 7, 1978). "The Masters leader – Oh, Schlee". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 10.
- Jenkins, Dan (April 17, 1978). "And then there was one". Sports Illustrated. p. 16.
- Parascenzo, Marino (April 10, 1978). "3rd win to Player in Masters". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 17.
- Loomis, Tom (April 10, 1978). "Champ Player fired 64, then 'choked'". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 14.
- http://golf.about.com/od/golfersmen/p/hubert_green.htm
- "Trevino plays to center stage at Masters". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. April 8, 1978. p. 1C.
- "Schlee tames Masters field". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. April 7, 1978. p. 3D.
- "Green chips his way three ahead in Masters". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service. April 9, 1978. p. 2B.
External links
- Masters.com – past winners
- About.com – 1978 Masters
- Augusta.com – 1978 Masters leaderboard and scorecards