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
DatesApril 9–12, 1981
LocationAugusta, Georgia
Course(s)Augusta National Golf Club
Organized byAugusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par72
Length6,905 yards (6,314 m)[1]
Field82 players, 48 after cut
Cut148 (+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)

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)

Made the cut
PlayerCountryYear(s) wonR1R2R3R4TotalTo parFinish
Tom Watson United States197771687071280−81
Jack Nicklaus United States1963, 1965,
1966, 1972, 1975		70657572282−6T2
Raymond Floyd United States197675717169286−2T8
George Archer United States196974707271287−1T11
Gay Brewer United States196775687174288ET15
Gary Player South Africa1961, 1974, 197873737171288ET15
Charles Coody United States197174717576296+8T40
Fuzzy Zoeller United States197977707872297+9T43
Tommy Aaron United States197377717679303+1548

Missed the cut
PlayerCountryYear(s) wonR1R2TotalTo par
Arnold Palmer United States1958, 1960,
1962, 1964		7578153+9
Seve Ballesteros Spain19807876154+10
Billy Casper United States19707678154+10
Doug Ford United States19577976155+11
Bob Goalby United States19688075155+11
Sam Snead United States1949, 1952, 19547778155+11
Art Wall Jr. United States19597679155+11

Source:[9][10]

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 9, 1981

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Lon Hinkle United States69−3
Johnny Miller United States
Greg Norman Australia
Curtis Strange United States
T5Isao Aoki Japan70−2
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

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Jack Nicklaus United States70-65=135−9
T2Lon Hinkle United States69-70=139−5
Bruce Lietzke United States72-67=139
Greg Norman Australia69-70=139
Tom Watson United States71-68=139
T6David Graham Australia70-70=140−4
Hubert Green United States70-70=140
T8Jim Colbert United States73-68=141−3
John Cook United States70-71=141
Peter Jacobsen United States71-70=141
Johnny Miller United States69-72=141

Source:[10][12]

Third round

Saturday, April 11, 1981

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Tom Watson United States71-68-70=209−7
2Jack Nicklaus United States70-65-75=210−6
3Greg Norman Australia69-70-72=211−5
T4Bruce Lietzke United States72-67-73=212−4
John Mahaffey United States72-71-69=212
T6John Cook United States70-71-72=213−3
Ben Crenshaw United States71-72-70=213
Lon Hinkle United States69-70-74=213
Peter Jacobsen United States71-70-72=213
T10Gay Brewer United States75-68-71=214−2
David Graham Australia70-70-74=214
Hubert Green United States70-70-74=214
Johnny Miller United States69-72-73=214
Jerry Pate United States71-72-71=214
Dave Stockton United States72-72-70=214
Lanny Wadkins United States72-71-71=214

Source:[13]

Final round

Sunday, April 12, 1981

PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney ($)
1Tom Watson United States71-68-70-71=280−860,000
T2Johnny Miller United States69-72-73-68=282−630,500
Jack Nicklaus United States70-65-75-72=282
4Greg Norman Australia69-70-72-72=283−516,000
T5Tom Kite United States74-72-70-68=284−412,667
Jerry Pate United States71-72-71-70=284
7David Graham Australia70-70-74-71=285−311,167
T8Ben Crenshaw United States71-72-70-73=286−29,667
Raymond Floyd United States75-71-71-69=286
John Mahaffey United States72-71-69-74=286

Source:[1]

Scorecard
Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718
Par454343454443545344
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
KiteEE−1−1EEEEEEE−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.
Preceded by
1980 PGA Championship		 Major Championships Succeeded by
1981 U.S. Open

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