1981 Masters Tournament

The 1981 Masters Tournament was the 45th Masters Tournament, held April 9–12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Tom Watson won his second green jacket and fifth major title by two strokes over Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.

1981 Masters Tournament

Tournament information
Dates	April 9–12, 1981
Location	Augusta, Georgia
Course(s)	Augusta National Golf Club
Organized by	Augusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,905 yards (6,314 m)[1]
Field	82 players, 48 after cut
Cut	148 (+4)
Prize fund	$362,587
Winner's share	$60,000
Champion
Tom Watson
280 (−8)

Augusta 

Location in the United States

Five-time champion Nicklaus shot a bogey-free 65 on Friday and led by four strokes after 36 holes,[2] but a 75 on Saturday put him a stroke behind Watson entering the final round. It was the fourth runner-up finish for Nicklaus at the Masters and the third for Miller.[3][4][5] Nicklaus won his sixth Masters five years later in 1986 at age 46.

Defending champion Seve Ballesteros shot 154 (+10) and missed the cut by six strokes;[2] he also missed the cut as defending champion in 1984. Lee Trevino, needing a green jacket to complete the career grand slam, also shot 154 with an ailing back.[2] His best finishes at Augusta were tenth place ties in 1975 and 1985.

Greg Norman, age 26, appeared in his first Masters and was fourth, the first of his eight top-five finishes at Augusta. He was runner-up three times, in 1986, 1987, and 1996.

This was the first Masters with bentgrass greens, which were formerly Bermuda and ryegrass.[6][7][8]

Field

1. Masters champions

Tommy Aaron, George Archer, Seve Ballesteros (3,8), Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Raymond Floyd (8,11), Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus (2,3,4,9,10), Arnold Palmer (8), Gary Player (8), Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr., Tom Watson (3,8,9,11), Fuzzy Zoeller (8,12)

• 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)

Hubert Green (8,12), Hale Irwin (9,11,12), Andy North (8,9), Jerry Pate (8)

3. The Open champions (last five years)

Johnny Miller (11)

4. PGA champions (last five years)

John Mahaffey (11,12), Dave Stockton, Lanny Wadkins (12)

5. 1980 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists

Jim Holtgrieve (7,a), Bob Lewis (a), Hal Sutton (6,7,a), Dick von Tacky (a)

6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions

Jay Sigel (7,a)

• Mark O'Meara forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

7. Members of the 1980 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team

Bob Tway (a)

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1980 Masters Tournament

Andy Bean (10,11,12), Jim Colbert, Ben Crenshaw (11), Ed Fiori, Gibby Gilbert, Jay Haas, Tom Kite (11,12), Billy Kratzert (11), Gil Morgan (9,10,12), Larry Nelson (11,12), Calvin Peete, Jack Renner, Jim Simons, J. C. Snead

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1980 U.S. Open

Keith Fergus, Joe Hager, Mark Hayes (12), Lon Hinkle (10), Joe Inman, Pat McGowan, Mike Morley, Mike Reid, Bill Rogers (10,11), Ed Sneed, Craig Stadler, Curtis Strange (10,11), Lee Trevino (10,11,12), Bobby Wadkins

10. Top eight players and ties from 1980 PGA Championship

Howard Twitty (11), Bobby Walzel

11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters

John Cook, Bob Gilder, Phil Hancock, Scott Hoch, Peter Jacobsen, Wayne Levi, Bruce Lietzke, Mark Pfeil, Don Pooley, Scott Simpson, Mike Sullivan, Doug Tewell

12. Members of the U.S. 1979 Ryder Cup team

Lee Elder

13. Foreign invitations

Isao Aoki (9), Bruce Devlin (9), Duncan Evans (6,a), David Graham (4,8,11), Dan Halldorson (11), Sandy Lyle, Jack Newton (8), Greg Norman, Norio Suzuki

• Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.

Nationalities in the field

North America (72)	South America (0)	Europe (3)	Oceania (4)	Asia (2)	Africa (1)
Canada (1)		Scotland (1)	Australia (4)	Japan (2)	South Africa (1)
United States (71)		Wales (1)
		Spain (1)

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	71	68	70	71	280	−8	1
Jack Nicklaus	United States	1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975	70	65	75	72	282	−6	T2
Raymond Floyd	United States	1976	75	71	71	69	286	−2	T8
George Archer	United States	1969	74	70	72	71	287	−1	T11
Gay Brewer	United States	1967	75	68	71	74	288	E	T15
Gary Player	South Africa	1961, 1974, 1978	73	73	71	71	288	E	T15
Charles Coody	United States	1971	74	71	75	76	296	+8	T40
Fuzzy Zoeller	United States	1979	77	70	78	72	297	+9	T43
Tommy Aaron	United States	1973	77	71	76	79	303	+15	48

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	Total	To par
Arnold Palmer	United States	1958, 1960, 1962, 1964	75	78	153	+9
Seve Ballesteros	Spain	1980	78	76	154	+10
Billy Casper	United States	1970	76	78	154	+10
Doug Ford	United States	1957	79	76	155	+11
Bob Goalby	United States	1968	80	75	155	+11
Sam Snead	United States	1949, 1952, 1954	77	78	155	+11
Art Wall, Jr.	United States	1959	76	79	155	+11

Source:[9][10]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 9, 1981

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Lon Hinkle	United States	69	−3
	Johnny Miller	United States
	Greg Norman	Australia
	Curtis Strange	United States
T5	Isao Aoki	Japan	70	−2
	John Cook	United States
	David Graham	Australia
	Hubert Green	United States
	Jim Holtgrieve (a)	United States
	Jack Nicklaus	United States
	Jim Simons	United States

Source:[11]

Second round

Friday, April 10, 1981

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Jack Nicklaus	United States	70-65=135	−9
T2	Lon Hinkle	United States	69-70=139	−5
	Bruce Lietzke	United States	72-67=139
	Greg Norman	Australia	69-70=139
	Tom Watson	United States	71-68=139
T6	David Graham	Australia	70-70=140	−4
	Hubert Green	United States	70-70=140
T8	Jim Colbert	United States	73-68=141	−3
	John Cook	United States	70-71=141
	Peter Jacobsen	United States	71-70=141
	Johnny Miller	United States	69-72=141

Source:[10][12]

Third round

Saturday, April 11, 1981

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Tom Watson	United States	71-68-70=209	−7
2	Jack Nicklaus	United States	70-65-75=210	−6
3	Greg Norman	Australia	69-70-72=211	−5
T4	Bruce Lietzke	United States	72-67-73=212	−4
	John Mahaffey	United States	72-71-69=212
T6	John Cook	United States	70-71-72=213	−3
	Ben Crenshaw	United States	71-72-70=213
	Lon Hinkle	United States	69-70-74=213
	Peter Jacobsen	United States	71-70-72=213
T10	Gay Brewer	United States	75-68-71=214	−2
	David Graham	Australia	70-70-74=214
	Hubert Green	United States	70-70-74=214
	Johnny Miller	United States	69-72-73=214
	Jerry Pate	United States	71-72-71=214
	Dave Stockton	United States	72-72-70=214
	Lanny Wadkins	United States	72-71-71=214

Source:[13]

Final round

Sunday, April 12, 1981

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Tom Watson	United States	71-68-70-71=280	−8	60,000
T2	Johnny Miller	United States	69-72-73-68=282	−6	30,500
	Jack Nicklaus	United States	70-65-75-72=282
4	Greg Norman	Australia	69-70-72-72=283	−5	16,000
T5	Tom Kite	United States	74-72-70-68=284	−4	12,667
	Jerry Pate	United States	71-72-71-70=284
7	David Graham	Australia	70-70-74-71=285	−3	11,167
T8	Ben Crenshaw	United States	71-72-70-73=286	−2	9,667
	Raymond Floyd	United States	75-71-71-69=286
	John Mahaffey	United States	72-71-69-74=286

Source:[1]

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
Watson	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8	−7	−7	−8	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8
Miller	−3	−4	−4	−3	−3	−2	−2	−3	−4	−3	−3	−3	−4	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6
Nicklaus	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−4	−4	−4	−4	−5	−4	−5	−6	−6	−6
Norman	−5	−5	−4	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−5	−3	−3	−3	−4	−4	−5	−5	−5	−5
Kite	E	E	−1	−1	E	E	E	E	E	E	E	−1	−2	−2	−3	−3	−4	−4
Pate	−2	−3	−4	−3	−3	−2	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−1	−2	−2	−3	−3	−4	−4

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[4]

References

1. "Masters Scores". Youngstown Vindicator. (Ohio). Associated Press. April 13, 1981. p. 17.
2. "Nicklaus has 65, tops Masters". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). Associated Press. April 11, 1981. p. 1D.
3. Jenkins, Dan (April 20, 1981). "True Grit at Augusta". Sports Illustrated. p. 34.
4. "Watson wins second Masters". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). April 13, 1981. p. 17.
5. Green, Bob (April 13, 1981). "Watson holds on for Masters win". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. p. 13.
6. "Masters sports bent grass furor". The Dispatch. (Lexington, North Carolina). Associated Press. April 8, 1981. p. 13.
7. "Nicklaus, Watson remain the ones to watch". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. April 9, 1981. p. 37.
8. Boswell, Thomas (April 7, 1982). "Everything normal at Augusta National". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). p. 21.
9. "1981 Masters". databasegolf.com. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
10. "Golf scoreboard: Masters". Pittsburgh Press. April 11, 1981. p. A9.
11. "Masters scores". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. April 10, 1981. p. 26.
12. "Golf: Masters leaders". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). April 11, 1981. p. 2D.
13. "Golf: Masters leaders". Sunday Star-News. (Wilmington, North Carolina). April 12, 1981. p. 2D.

External links

• Masters.com – past winners and results
• About.com – 1981 Masters
• Augusta.com – 1981 Masters leaderboard and scorecards

Preceded by 1980 PGA Championship	Major Championships	Succeeded by 1981 U.S. Open