1979 Masters Tournament


The 1979 Masters Tournament was the 43rd Masters Tournament, held April 12–15 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, 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. Jack Nicklaus climbed up the leaderboard on Sunday with a 69, 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.
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 and fell into the playoff. It was the debut of the sudden-death format at Augusta, adopted by the Masters in 1976. 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 to win.
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. 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, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr., Tom Watson
;The following categories only apply to Americans
;2. U.S. Open champions
Lou Graham, Hubert Green, Hale Irwin, Andy North, Jerry Pate
;3. The Open champions
Johnny Miller
;4. PGA champions
Dave Stockton, Lee Trevino, Lanny Wadkins
;5. 1978 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists
Bobby Clampett, John Cook, Scott Hoch, Mike Peck
;6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions
;7. Members of the 1978 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team
Jay Sigel
;8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1978 Masters Tournament
Wally Armstrong, Miller Barber, Andy Bean, Rod Funseth, Joe Inman, Don January, Tom Kite, Billy Kratzert, Gene Littler, Jerry McGee, Lindy Miller, Gil Morgan, Ed Sneed, Leonard Thompson, Tom Weiskopf
;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, Nick Faldo, David Graham, Graham Marsh, Peter McEvoy, Jack Newton, Peter Oosterhuis, Simon Owen, Masashi Ozaki, Victor Regalado, Bob Shearer

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Source:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 12, 1979
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Bruce Lietzke67−5
T2Tom Watson68−4
T2Joe Inman68−4
T2Leonard Thompson68−4
T2Ed Sneed68−4
T6Craig Stadler69−3
T6Jack Nicklaus69−3
T6Lou Graham69−3
T6Billy Casper69−3
T6Andy Bean69−3

Second round

Friday, April 13, 1979
Saturday, April 14, 1979
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Ed Sneed68-67=135−9
T1Craig Stadler69-66=135−9
T3Raymond Floyd70-68=138−6
T3Leonard Thompson68-70=138−6
T5Miller Barber75-64=139−5
T5Tom Watson68-71=139−5
T5Joe Inman68-71=139−5
T8Seve Ballesteros72-68=140−4
T8Jack Nicklaus69-71=140−4
T8Lou Graham69-71=140−4
T8Lindy Miller73-67=140−4

Third round

Saturday, April 14, 1979
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Ed Sneed68-67-69=204−12
T2Tom Watson68-71-70=209−7
T2Craig Stadler69-66-74=209−7
T4Bruce Lietzke67-75-68=210−6
T4Fuzzy Zoeller70-71-69=210−6
T6Tom Kite71-72-68=211−5
T6Jack Newton70-72-69=211−5
T6Miller Barber75-64-72=211−5
T6Raymond Floyd70-68-73=211−5
T6Leonard Thompson68-70-73=211−5

Final round

Sunday, April 15, 1979
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
T1Fuzzy Zoeller70-71-69-70=280−8Playoff
T1Tom Watson68-71-70-71=280−8Playoff
T1Ed Sneed68-67-69-76=280−8Playoff
4Jack Nicklaus69-71-72-69=281−715,000
5Tom Kite71-72-68-72=283−513,000
6Bruce Lietzke67-75-68-74=284−411,500
T7Craig Stadler69-66-74-76=285−39,000
T7Leonard Thompson68-70-73-74=285−39,000
T7Lanny Wadkins73-69-70-73=285−39,000
T10Hubert Green74-69-72-71=286−26,500
T10Gene Littler74-71-69-72=286−26,500

Source:

Scorecard

Final round
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:

Playoff