1937 Masters Tournament


The 1937 Masters Tournament was the fourth Masters Tournament, held April 1–4 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.
Opening with a six-under 66, Byron Nelson led after the first and second rounds, but a 75 on Saturday dropped him four strokes back, in a tie for third. On the final nine on Sunday, he gained six strokes on third round leader Ralph Guldahl over two holes and won the tournament by two strokes. Compared to Guldahl's 5–6, Nelson played the 12th and 13th holes 2–3, respectively. The Nelson Bridge, over Rae's Creek departing the 13th tee, was dedicated in 1958 to commemorate the feat.
At age 25, this was the first of Nelson's five major titles; he won the Masters again in 1942, which was not held again until 1946. Guldahl rebounded and won three majors over the next two years: the U.S. Open in 1937 and 1938 and the Masters in 1939.
Sam Snead made his Masters debut and finished 18th. The purse was $5,000 with a winner's share of $1,500.

Past champions in the field

First round

Thursday, April 1, 1937
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Byron Nelson66−6
2Ralph Guldahl69−3
T3Ed Dudley70−2
T3Wiffy Cox70−2
T3Lawson Little70−2
T6Leonard Dodson71−1
T6Tony Manero71−1
T6Johnny Revolta71−1
T6Jimmy Thomson
71−1
T10Vic Ghezzi72E
T10Al Espinosa72E

Source:

Second round

Friday, April 2, 1937
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Byron Nelson66-72=138−6
T2Ralph Guldahl69-72=141−3
T2Ed Dudley70-71=141−3
T4Harry Cooper
73-69=142−2
T4Wiffy Cox70-72=142−2
T6Ky Laffoon73-70=143−1
T6Tony Manero71-72=143−1
T6Johnny Revolta71-72=143−1
T9Vic Ghezzi72-72=144E
T9Jimmy Thomson
71-73=144E

Source:

Third round

Saturday, April 3, 1937
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Ralph Guldahl69-72-68=209−7
2Ed Dudley70-71-71=212−4
T3Harry Cooper
73-69-71=213−3
T3Byron Nelson66-72-75=213−3
5Johnny Revolta71-72-72=215−1
6Vic Ghezzi72-72-72=216E
T7Leonard Dodson71-75-71=217+1
T7Jimmy Hines77-72-68=217+1
T7Ky Laffoon73-70-74=217+1
T7Al Watrous74-72-71=217+1

Source:

Final round

Sunday, April 4, 1937
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Byron Nelson66-72-75-70=283−51,500
2Ralph Guldahl69-72-68-76=285−3800
3Ed Dudley70-71-71-74=286−2600
4Harry Cooper
73-69-71-74=287−1500
5Ky Laffoon73-70-74-73=290+2400
6Jimmy Thomson
71-73-74-73=291+3300
7Al Watrous74-72-71-75=292+4250
T8Tommy Armour
73-75-73-72=293+5175
T8Vic Ghezzi72-72-72-77=293+5175
T10Leonard Dodson71-75-71-77=294+6100
T10Jimmy Hines77-72-68-77=294+6100

Source:

Scorecard

Final round
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718
Par454343454443545344
Nelson−3−3−3−3−3−2−1−1−1−2−2−3−5−5−5−5−5−5
Guldahl−7−7−7−7−6−7−7−6−5−6−6−4−3−3−4−4−3−3
Dudley−4−2−2−3−3−2−2−2−1−2−2−2−2−2−3−3−3−2
Cooper−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−1EEEE−1−1−2−2−1−1

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
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