1976 Masters Tournament


The 1976 Masters Tournament was the 40th Masters Tournament, held April 8–11 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.
Raymond Floyd won his only Masters title, eight strokes ahead of runner-up Ben Crenshaw. He shot a 131 over the first two rounds, then posted two rounds of 70 on the weekend to tie Jack Nicklaus' record of 271, set in 1965. In the first three rounds, Floyd was under-par on every par-5, with eleven birdies and an eagle, and his 54-hole total of 201 was the lowest ever. Defending champion Nicklaus was the nearest pursuer, eight shots back at 209. It was the second of Floyd's four major titles. Tiger Woods broke the 72-hole record by a stroke 21 years later in 1997 with 270, which was tied by Jordan Spieth in 2015.
Beginning with this Masters, a sudden-death playoff format was introduced, and originally planned to start at the first hole. After three years without use, it was changed to begin on the 10th hole in 1979; used for the first time that year, it ended on the eleventh green. In 2004, the playoff was changed to start on the 18th hole and then alternate with the adjacent 10th hole. Prior to 1976, playoffs were full 18-hole rounds on Monday, and the last was won by Billy Casper in 1970. The first playoff in 1935 was the exception at 36 holes.
Floyd was the fourth wire-to-wire winner in Masters history, following Craig Wood in 1941, Arnold Palmer in 1960, and Nicklaus in 1972. The next was Jordan Spieth, 39 years later, in 2015.

Field

;1. Masters champions
Tommy Aaron, George Archer, Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr.
;The following categories only apply to Americans
;2. U.S. Open champions
Lou Graham, Hale Irwin, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino
;3. The Open champions
Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf
;4. PGA champions
;5. 1975 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists
Henri DeLozier, Keith Fergus, Fred Ridley
;6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions
Vinny Giles
;7. Members of the 1975 U.S. Walker Cup team
William C. Campbell, John Grace, Jay Haas, Dick Siderowf, Curtis Strange
;8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1975 Masters Tournament
Buddy Allin, Rod Curl, Pat Fitzsimons, Hubert Green, Dave Hill, Ralph Johnston, Tom Kite, Gene Littler, Allen Miller, Bobby Nichols, J. C. Snead, Larry Ziegler
;9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1975 U.S. Open
Frank Beard, Ben Crenshaw, Joe Inman, John Mahaffey, Rik Massengale, Bob Murphy, Eddie Pearce, Jim Wiechers
;10. Top eight players and ties from 1975 PGA Championship
Andy North
;11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters
Don Bies, Jim Colbert, Ray Floyd, Al Geiberger, Bob Gilder, Don Iverson, Don January, Tom Jenkins, Roger Maltbie, Jerry McGee, Dean Refram
;12. Members of the U.S. 1975 Ryder Cup team
;13. Foreign invitations
Hugh Baiocchi, Maurice Bembridge, Bobby Cole, Bruce Crampton, Bruce Devlin, Priscillo Diniz, Dale Hayes, Graham Marsh, Takashi Murakami, Jack Newton, Peter Oosterhuis, Masashi Ozaki, Bob Shearer

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Source:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 8, 1976
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Raymond Floyd65−7
2Andy North66−6
T3Jack Nicklaus67−5
T3Larry Ziegler67−5
5Lou Graham68−4
T6Bud Allin69−3
T6Dave Hill69−3
T8Ben Crenshaw70−2
T8Rod Curl70−2
T8Rik Massengale70−2

Source:

Second round

Friday, April 9, 1976
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Raymond Floyd65-66=131−13
2Jack Nicklaus67-69=136−8
3Hubert Green71-66=137−7
4Larry Ziegler67-71=138−6
T5Ben Crenshaw70-70=140−4
T5Tom Kite73-67=140−4
T7Charles Coody72-69=141−3
T7Lou Graham68-73=141−3
T7Graham Marsh73-68=141−3
T10Dave Hill69-73=142−2
T10Rik Massengale70-72=142−2
T10Eddie Pearce71-71=142−2

Source:

Third round

Saturday, April 10, 1976
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Raymond Floyd65-66-70=201−15
2Jack Nicklaus67-69-73=209−7
3Larry Ziegler67-71-72=210−6
4Charles Coody72-69-70=211−5
T5Ben Crenshaw70-70-72=212−4
T5Tom Kite73-67-72=212−4
7Lou Graham68-73-72=213−3
8Tom Weiskopf73-71-70=214−2
T9Hubert Green71-66-78=215−1
T9Hale Irwin71-77-67=215−1

Source:

Final round

Sunday, April 11, 1976
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Raymond Floyd65-66-70-70=271−1740,000
2Ben Crenshaw70-70-72-67=279−925,000
T3Jack Nicklaus67-69-73-73=282−616,250
T3Larry Ziegler67-71-72-72=282−616,250
T5Charles Coody72-69-70-74=285−311,167
T5Hale Irwin71-77-67-70=285−311,167
T5Tom Kite73-67-72-73=285−311,167
8Billy Casper71-76-71-69=287-18,000
T9Roger Maltbie72-75-70-71=288E6,000
T9Graham Marsh73-68-75-72=288E6,000
T9Tom Weiskopf73-71-70-74=288E6,000

Scorecard

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
EagleBirdieBogey