1979 Masters Tournament

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

1979 Masters Tournament
Tournament information
DatesApril 12–15, 1979
LocationAugusta, Georgia
Course(s)Augusta National Golf Club
Organized byAugusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par72
Length7,040 yards (6,437 m)[1]
Field72 players, 45 after cut
Cut145 (+1)
Winner's share$50,000
Champion
Fuzzy Zoeller
280 (−8), playoff

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.

Field

1. Masters champions

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

The following categories only apply to Americans
2. U.S. Open champions (last five years)

Lou Graham (12), Hubert Green (8,11,12), Hale Irwin (8,9,12), Andy North (9), Jerry Pate (8,9,10,11)

3. The Open champions (last five years)

Johnny Miller (9)

4. PGA champions (last five years)

Dave Stockton (9,12), Lee Trevino (8,9,10,11), Lanny Wadkins (8,11,12)

5. 1978 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists

Bobby Clampett (7,a), John Cook (6,7,a), Scott Hoch (7,a), Mike Peck (a)

6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions
  • John Fought forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
7. Members of the 1978 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team

Jay Sigel (a)

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1978 Masters Tournament

Wally Armstrong, Miller Barber, Andy Bean (9,10,11), Rod Funseth (11), Joe Inman (9), Don January (12), Tom Kite (11), Billy Kratzert (9), Gene Littler, Jerry McGee (12), Lindy Miller, Gil Morgan (10,11), Ed Sneed (12), Leonard Thompson, Tom Weiskopf (9,10)

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1978 U.S. Open

Mike McCullough, Artie McNickle, J. C. Snead

10. Top eight players and ties from 1978 PGA Championship

Craig Stadler

11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters

Bob Byman, Ben Crenshaw, Lee Elder, Jerry Heard, Lon Hinkle, Barry Jaeckel, Bruce Lietzke, Mark McCumber, Mac McLendon, Larry Nelson, Jim Simons, Ron Streck, Fuzzy Zoeller

12. Members of the U.S. 1977 Ryder Cup team

Dave Hill

13. Foreign invitations

Isao Aoki, Seve Ballesteros (8,9), Nick Faldo, David Graham (8), Graham Marsh (10), Peter McEvoy (6,a), Jack Newton (11), Peter Oosterhuis (8), Simon Owen, Masashi Ozaki, Victor Regalado (11), Bob Shearer (9)

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

Nationalities in the field

North America (60)South America (0)Europe (4)Oceania (5)Asia (2)Africa (1)
 Mexico (1) England (3) Australia (4) Japan (2) South Africa (1)
 United States (59) Spain (1) New Zealand (1)

Made the cut

PlayerCountryYear(s) wonR1R2R3R4TotalTo parFinish
Tom Watson United States197768717071280−8T2
Jack Nicklaus United States1963, 1965,
1966, 1972, 1975
69717269281−74
Raymond Floyd United States197670687377288ET17
Gary Player South Africa1961, 1974, 197871727471288ET17
Tommy Aaron United States197372737670291+3T28
Charles Coody United States197171727476293+5T34
Billy Casper United States197069758075299+1143

Missed the cut

PlayerCountryYear(s) wonR1R2TotalTo par
Arnold Palmer United States1958, 1960,
1962, 1964
7472146+2
Sam Snead United States1949, 1952, 19547474148+4
Art Wall Jr. United States19597475149+5
Gay Brewer United States19677575150+6
Bob Goalby United States19687981160+16
Doug Ford United States195777WD

Source:[6]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 12, 1979

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Bruce Lietzke United States67−5
T2Tom Watson United States68−4
Joe Inman United States
Leonard Thompson United States
Ed Sneed United States
T6Craig Stadler United States69−3
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
T1Ed Sneed United States68-67=135−9
Craig Stadler United States69-66=135
T3Raymond Floyd United States70-68=138−6
Leonard Thompson United States68-70=138
T5Miller Barber United States75-64=139−5
Tom Watson United States68-71=139
Joe Inman United States68-71=139
T8Seve Ballesteros Spain72-68=140−4
Jack Nicklaus United States69-71=140
Lou Graham United States69-71=140
Lindy Miller United States73-67=140

Third round

Saturday, April 14, 1979

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Ed Sneed United States68-67-69=204−12
T2Tom Watson United States68-71-70=209−7
Craig Stadler United States69-66-74=209
T4Bruce Lietzke United States67-75-68=210−6
Fuzzy Zoeller United States70-71-69=210
T6Tom Kite United States71-72-68=211−5
Jack Newton Australia70-72-69=211
Miller Barber United States75-64-72=211
Raymond Floyd United States70-68-73=211
Leonard Thompson United States68-70-73=211

Final round

Sunday, April 15, 1979

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney ($)
T1Fuzzy Zoeller United States70-71-69-70=280−8Playoff
Tom Watson United States68-71-70-71=280
Ed Sneed United States68-67-69-76=280
4Jack Nicklaus United States69-71-72-69=281−715,000
5Tom Kite United States71-72-68-72=283−513,000
6Bruce Lietzke United States67-75-68-74=284−411,500
T7Craig Stadler United States69-66-74-76=285−39,000
Leonard Thompson United States68-70-73-74=285
Lanny Wadkins United States73-69-70-73=285
T10Hubert Green United States74-69-72-71=286−26,500
Gene Littler United States74-71-69-72=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 
Par454343454443545344
Zoeller−6−6−6−5−5−5−5−6−6−6−6−5−6−6−7−7−8−8
Sneed−12−12−12−11−11−10−10−10−10−9−9−9−10−10−11−10−9−8
Watson−7−8−9−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−7−8−8−8−8
Nicklaus−4−5−5−4−4−4−4−5−5−6−6−6−7−7−7−8−7−7
Kite−5−5−5−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−7−7−7−5−5−5
Lietzke−6−6−6−6−5−5−5−5−5−5−4−4−3−3−3−3−4−4
Stadler−6−7−8−8−8−8−7−7−6−4−3−2−4−2−2−2−3−3
Thompson−4−4−4−3−3−3−3−4−4−4−4−3−4−3−3−3−3−3
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 ($)
1Fuzzy Zoeller United States4-3−150,000
T2Ed Sneed United States4-x30,000
Tom Watson United States4-4
  • Sudden-death playoff began on hole #10 and ended at hole #11, when Zoeller birdied.[2]

References

  1. "Masters scores (final)". Youngstown Vindicator. Associated Press. April 16, 1979. p. 16.
  2. "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. "1979 Masters". databasegolf.com. Retrieved June 25, 2012.

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