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
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]
Field72 players, 45 after cut
Cut145 (+1)
Winner's share$50,000
Champion
Fuzzy Zoeller
280 (−8), playoff
Location map
Augusta National
Location in the United States
Augusta National
Location in Georgia

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][1]

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.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 12, 1979

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 Bruce Lietzke67−5
T2 Tom Watson68−4
Joe Inman
Leonard Thompson
Ed Sneed
T6 Craig Stadler69−3
Jack Nicklaus
Lou Graham
Billy Casper
Andy Bean

Second round

Friday, April 13, 1979
Saturday, April 14, 1979

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
T1 Ed Sneed68-67=135−9
Craig Stadler69-66=135
T3 Raymond Floyd70-68=138−6
Leonard Thompson68-70=138
T5 Miller Barber75-64=139−5
Tom Watson68-71=139
Joe Inman68-71=139
T8 Seve Ballesteros72-68=140−4
Jack Nicklaus69-71=140
Lou Graham69-71=140
Lindy Miller73-67=140

Third round

Saturday, April 14, 1979

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1 Ed Sneed68-67-69=204−12
T2 Tom Watson68-71-70=209−7
Craig Stadler69-66-74=209
T4 Bruce Lietzke67-75-68=210−6
Fuzzy Zoeller70-71-69=210
T6 Tom Kite71-72-68=211−5
Jack Newton70-72-69=211
Miller Barber75-64-72=211
Raymond Floyd70-68-73=211
Leonard Thompson68-70-73=211

Final round

Sunday, April 15, 1979

Final leaderboard
Champion
Silver Cup winner (low amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
Top 10
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)
T1 Ed Sneed68-67-69-76=280−8Playoff
Tom Watson (c)68-71-70-71=280
Fuzzy Zoeller70-71-69-70=280
4 Jack Nicklaus (c)69-71-72-69=281−715,000
5 Tom Kite71-72-68-72=283−513,000
6 Bruce Lietzke67-75-68-74=284−411,500
T7 Craig Stadler69-66-74-76=285−39,000
Leonard Thompson68-70-73-74=285
Lanny Wadkins73-69-70-73=285
T10 Hubert Green74-69-72-71=286−26,500
Gene Littler74-71-69-72=286

Sources:[6][7]

Scorecard
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
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)
1 Fuzzy Zoeller4-3−150,000
T2 Ed Sneed4-x30,000
Tom Watson4-4
  • 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. p. 30. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
  6. "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  7. "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
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