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]

1978 Masters Tournament
Tournament information
DatesApril 6–9, 1978
LocationAugusta, Georgia
33.503°N 82.020°W / 33.503; -82.020
Course(s)Augusta National Golf Club
Organized byAugusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par72
Length7,040 yards (6,437 m)[1]
Field78 players, 53 after cut
Cut149 (+5)
Winner's share$45,000
Champion
Gary Player
277 (−11)
Location map
Augusta National
Location in the United States
Augusta National
Location in Georgia

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.[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 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)

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)

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

Dave Hill

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.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 6, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 John Schlee68−4
2 Joe Inman69−3
T3 Billy Kratzert70−2
Lee Trevino
T5 Tom Kite71−1
Jerry McGee
Steve Melnyk
T8 Wally Armstrong72E
Hubert Green
Dave Hill
Don January
Gene Littler
Lyn Lott
Mac McLendon
Jack Nicklaus
Jerry Pate
Gary Player
Leonard Thompson
Tom Weiskopf

Source:[6]

Second round

Friday, April 7, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1 Rod Funseth73-66=139−5
Lee Trevino70-69=139
T3 Hale Irwin73-67=140−4
Gene Littler72-68=140
T5 Hubert Green72-69=141−3
Leonard Thompson72-69=141
Tom Watson73-68=141
T8 Wally Armstrong72-70=142−2
Miller Barber75-67=142
Joe Inman69-73=142
Don January72-70=142
Arnold Palmer73-69=142

Source:[7]

Third round

Saturday, April 8, 1978

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 Hubert Green72-69-65=206−10
T2 Rod Funseth73-66-70=209−7
Tom Watson73-68-68=209
4 Gene Littler72-68-70=210−6
T5 David Graham75-69-67=211−5
Hale Irwin73-67-71=211
Billy Kratzert70-74-67=211
Lee Trevino70-69-72=211
9 Wally Armstrong72-70-70=212−4
T10 Seve Ballesteros74-71-68=213−3
Gay Brewer73-71-69=213
Gary Player72-72-69=213
Tom Weiskopf72-71-70=213

Source:[8]

Final round

Sunday, April 9, 1978

Final leaderboard
Champion
Silver Cup winner (low amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
Top 10
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)
1 Gary Player (c)72-72-69-64=277−1145,000
T2 Rod Funseth73-66-70-69=278−1021,667
Hubert Green72-69-65-72=278
Tom Watson (c)73-68-68-69=278
T5 Wally Armstrong72-70-70-68=280−811,750
Billy Kratzert70-74-67-69=280
7 Jack Nicklaus (c)72-73-69-67=281−710,000
8 Hale Irwin73-67-71-71=282−68,500
T9 David Graham75-69-67-72=283−56,750
Joe Inman69-73-72-69=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

Eagle Birdie Bogey

Source:[4]

References
  1. Parascenzo, Marino (April 7, 1978). "The Masters leader – Oh, Schlee". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 10. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  2. Parascenzo, Marino (April 10, 1978). "3rd win to Player in Masters". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 17. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  3. Jenkins, Dan (April 17, 1978). "And then there was one". Sports Illustrated. p. 16. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  4. Loomis, Tom (April 10, 1978). "Champ Player fired 64, then 'choked'". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). p. 14.
  5. "What Are the Worst Choke Jobs in Golf History?". Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  6. "Schlee tames Masters field". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. April 7, 1978. p. 3D.
  7. "Trevino plays to center stage at Masters". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. April 8, 1978. p. 1C.
  8. "Green chips his way three ahead in Masters". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service. April 9, 1978. p. 2B.
  9. "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  10. "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
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