1978 Masters Tournament Explained

1978 Masters Tournament
Dates:April 6–9, 1978
Location:Augusta, Georgia
Course:Augusta National Golf Club
Org:Augusta National Golf Club
Tour:PGA Tour
Par:72
Yardage:7040yd[1]
Field:78 players, 53 after cut
Cut:149 (+5)
Winners Share:$45,000
Champion: Gary Player
Score:277 (−11)
Previous:1977
Next:1979
Map:USA#USA Georgia
Map Relief:yes
Map Label:Augusta National
Coordinates:33.503°N -82.02°W

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]

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 10feetto30feetft (toft), including a final one of 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 8feet 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.[3] [4] [5]

Player became the oldest winner of the Masters and the first over forty in nearly a quarter century; Sam Snead won his third green jacket at age 41 in 1954. Player retained the honor for eight years, until Jack Nicklaus won his sixth at 46 in 1986.

Field

1. Masters championsTommy 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)
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-finalistsDoug Fischesser (a), Ralph Landrum (a), Jay Sigel (7,a)
6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur championsDick Siderowf (7,a)
7. Members of the 1977 U.S. Walker Cup teamMike Brannan (a), Gary Hallberg (a), Vance Heafner (a), Lindy Miller (a), Fred Ridley (a)
8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1977 Masters TournamentAndy 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. OpenWally 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 ChampionshipJerry McGee (11,12)
11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous MastersMiller 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 teamDave Hill
13. Foreign invitationsIsao 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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 6, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 68 −4
2 69 −3
T3 70 −2
T5 71 −1
T8 72 E
Leonard Thompson
Source:[6]

Second round

Friday, April 7, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1 73-66=139 −5
70-69=139
T3 73-67=140 −4
72-68=140
T5 72-69=141 −3
72-69=141
73-68=141
T8 72-70=142 −2
75-67=142
69-73=142
72-70=142
73-69=142
Source:[7]

Third round

Saturday, April 8, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
172-69-65=206 −10
T2 73-66-70=209 −7
73-68-68=209
472-68-70=210 −6
T5 75-69-67=211 −5
73-67-71=211
70-74-67=211
70-69-72=211
9 72-70-70=212 −4
T10 74-71-68=213 −3
73-71-69=213
72-72-69=213
72-71-70=213
Source:[8]

Final round

Sunday, April 9, 1978

Final leaderboard

Champion
Silver Cup winner (low amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
Top 10!Place!!Player!!Score!!To par!!Money (US$)
1 Gary Player (c) 72-72-69-64=277 −11 45,000
T2 73-66-70-69=278 −10 21,667
72-69-65-72=278
Tom Watson (c) 73-68-68-69=278
T5 72-70-70-68=280 −8 11,750
70-74-67-69=280
7 Jack Nicklaus (c) 72-73-69-67=281 −7 10,000
8 73-67-71-71=282 −6 8,500
T9 75-69-67-72=283 −5 6,750
69-73-72-69=283

Sources:[9] [10]

Scorecard

Hole  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10 11  12 131415161718
Par454343454443545344
Player −3−4−4−5−5−5−4−4−5−6−6−7−8−8−9−10−10−11
Funseth−7−8−8−8−7−7−7−8−8−9−9−9−10−9−10−10−10−10
Green −9−10−10−10−9−9−9−10−10−10−9−9−10−10−11−10−10−10
Watson −7−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−10−9−10−11−11−10
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
EagleBirdieBogey
Source:[4]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: The Masters leader  - Oh, Schlee . . Parascenzo . Marino . April 7, 1978 . 10 . August 18, 2021.
  2. News: 3rd win to Player in Masters . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Parascenzo . Marino . April 10, 1978 . 17 . August 18, 2021.
  3. And then there was one . . Jenkins . Dan . Dan Jenkins . April 17, 1978 . 16 . August 18, 2021.
  4. News: Champ Player fired 64, then 'choked'. Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Loomis. Tom. April 10, 1978. 14 .
  5. Web site: What Are the Worst Choke Jobs in Golf History?. 2015-04-11. 2015-04-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20150407034201/http://golf.about.com/od/golfersmen/p/hubert_green.htm. dead.
  6. News: Schlee tames Masters field . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). Associated Press . April 7, 1978 . 3D.
  7. News: Trevino plays to center stage at Masters . Eugene Register-Guard . (Oregon). Associated Press . April 8, 1978 . 1C.
  8. News: Green chips his way three ahead in Masters. Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service . April 9, 1978 . 2B.
  9. Web site: Masters – Past Winners & Results . Augusta National Inc. . April 20, 2021.
  10. Web site: Past results – Masters tournament . PGA Tour . April 20, 2021.

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