1973 Masters Tournament


The 1973 Masters Tournament was the 37th Masters Tournament, held April 5–9 at the Augusta National Golf Club. Due to weather delays, the final round was played on Monday for the first time since 1961.
Tommy Aaron, age 36, won his only major title, one stroke ahead of runner-up J. C. Snead. Before this win at Augusta, Aaron was best known as the player who kept Roberto DeVicenzo's incorrect scorecard at the Masters five years earlier in 1968. Ironically, Aaron's final round playing partner in 1973, Johnny Miller, recorded a higher score when keeping Aaron's card, and Aaron caught the mistake. This was his third and last victory on the PGA Tour, and after this win, Aaron's best result in a major was a tie for 28th at the Masters in 1979.
Gary Player played in 52 Masters from 1957 through 2009; and missed only this one, to recover from leg and abdominal surgery. He returned in 1974 to win the second of his three green jackets.
Gay Brewer won the fourteenth Par 3 contest on Wednesday with a seven-under 20. At the previous Masters, the 1967 champion was hospitalized in Augusta for ulcers on Wednesday night and missed the tournament.
This Masters was the last as competitors for two former champions: Gene Sarazen and Ralph Guldahl.

Field

;1. Masters champions
George Archer, Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Ralph Guldahl, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr.
;The following categories only apply to Americans
;2. U.S. Open champions
Orville Moody, Lee Trevino
;3. The Open champions
;4. PGA champions
Julius Boros, Raymond Floyd, Dave Stockton
;5. The first eight finishers in the 1972 U.S. Amateur
Doug Ballenger, Ben Crenshaw, Vinny Giles, Charles Harrison, Mike Killian, Marty West
;6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions
;7. Members of the 1972 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team
;8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1972 Masters Tournament
Homero Blancas, Gardner Dickinson, Al Geiberger, Hubert Green, Paul Harney, Jerry Heard, Jim Jamieson, Jerry McGee, Steve Melnyk, Bobby Mitchell, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Weiskopf, Bert Yancey
;9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1972 U.S. Open
Don January, Don Massengale, Johnny Miller, Bobby Nichols, Chi-Chi Rodríguez, Cesar Sanudo, Jim Simons, Kermit Zarley
;10. Top eight players and ties from 1972 PGA Championship
Tommy Aaron, Phil Rodgers, Doug Sanders
;11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters
Bud Allin, Deane Beman, Jim Colbert, Bob Dickson, Rod Funseth, Lou Graham, Dave Hill, Mike Hill, Babe Hiskey, Grier Jones, Bob Lunn, John Schlee, J. C. Snead, DeWitt Weaver
;12. Members of the U.S. 1971 Ryder Cup team
Miller Barber, Frank Beard, Gene Littler, Mason Rudolph
;13. Foreign invitations
Brian Barnes, Bob Charles, Gary Cowan, Bruce Crampton, Roberto De Vicenzo, Bruce Devlin, David Graham, Han Chang-sang, Trevor Homer, Guy Hunt, Tony Jacklin, George Knudson, Takaaki Kono, Lu Liang-Huan, Peter Oosterhuis, Masashi Ozaki, Bob Shaw

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Source

Missed the cut

Source

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 5, 1973
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Tommy Aaron68−4
T2Jack Nicklaus69−3
T2Jumbo Ozaki69−3
T4Bob Dickson70−2
T4J. C. Snead70−2
T6Grier Jones71−1
T6Phil Rodgers71−1
T8David Graham72E
T8Hubert Green72E
T8Steve Melnyk72E
T8Chi-Chi Rodríguez72E
T8Mason Rudolph72E
T8Cesar Sanudo72E
T8Dave Stockton72E

Source

Second round

Friday, April 6, 1973
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Tommy Aaron68-73=141−3
T1Gay Brewer75-66=141−3
T1Bob Dickson70-71=141−3
T1J. C. Snead70-71=141−3
5Chi-Chi Rodríguez72-70=142−2
T6Bob Goalby73-70=143−1
T6Grier Jones71-72=143−1
T6Peter Oosterhuis73-70=143−1
T6Jumbo Ozaki69-74=143−1
T10Bob Charles74-70=144E
T10Gardner Dickinson74-70=144E
T10Jim Jamieson73-71=144E
T10Johnny Miller75-69=144E
T10Mason Rudolph72-72=144E

Source

Third round

Sunday, April 8, 1973
Heavy rain on Saturday morning limited play to the first several pairs when the course was deemed unplayable. The third round was restarted in the late morning on Sunday from split tees.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Peter Oosterhuis73-70-68=211−5
T2Bob Goalby73-70-71=214−2
T2Jim Jamieson73-71-70=214−2
T2J. C. Snead70-71-73=214−2
T5Tommy Aaron68-73-74=215−1
T5Gay Brewer75-66-74=215−1
T5Johnny Miller75-69-71=215−1
T5Chi-Chi Rodríguez72-70-73=215−1
T9Gardner Dickinson74-70-72=216E
T9Jumbo Ozaki69-74-73=216E

Source

Final round

Monday, April 9, 1973
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Tommy Aaron68-73-74-68=283−530,000
2J. C. Snead70-71-73-70=284−422,500
T3Jim Jamieson73-71-70-71=285−312,500
T3Jack Nicklaus69-77-73-66=285−312,500
T3Peter Oosterhuis73-70-68-74=285−312,500
T6Bob Goalby73-70-71-74=288E6,250
T6Johnny Miller75-69-71-73=288E6,250
T8Bruce Devlin73-72-72-72=289+14,250
T8Jumbo Ozaki69-74-73-73=289+14,250
T10Gay Brewer75-66-74-76=291+33,425
T10Gardner Dickinson74-70-72-75=291+33,425
T10Don January75-71-75-70=291+33,425
T10Chi-Chi Rodríguez72-70-73-76=291+33,425

Source

Scorecard

Final round
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par454343454443545344
Aaron−2−3−4−4−4−4−4−5−5−4−3−3−4−4−5−5−5−5
Snead−3−3−3−4−4−4−4−5−5−5−5−3−4−4−4−4−4−4
Jamieson−3−4−3−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−1−1−2−2−2−2−3−3
Nicklaus+2+1+1+2+1EE−1−1−1−1−1−2−1−2−2−2−3
Oosterhuis−5−5−6−5−5−5−4−4−4−4−3−3−4−4−3−3−3−3
Goalby−2−3−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−1−1EE+1+1+1+1E
Miller−1−1−1−1−1−2−2−2−2−2−2−1−1−1−2−2−2E

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
BirdieBogeyDouble bogey