2007 Masters Tournament


The 2007 Masters Tournament was the 71st Masters Tournament, held April 5–8 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Zach Johnson won his first major championship, two strokes ahead of runners-up Retief Goosen, Rory Sabbatini, and Tiger Woods. Cool temperatures and gusty winds on the weekend resulted in high scores for the field; Johnson's 289 tied for the highest winning score ever.
Johnson's victory dispelled the notion that only long-hitters could win the Masters. He did not reach a single par five hole in two during the entire tournament, yet played the par fives better than anyone in the field with 11 birdies and no bogeys.
This was the final Masters appearance for two-time champion Seve Ballesteros.

Course

Field

The Masters has the smallest field of the four major championships; only 97 players were invited to compete in the 2007 tournament. Officially, the Masters remains an invitational event, despite its qualification process. In theory, the club could decline to invite a 'qualified' player.
There were a record 50 'international' players in the field - the first time that the majority of the field was not American. The entire field is shown below; each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.
1. Masters champions

Seve Ballesteros, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Phil Mickelson, Larry Mize, José María Olazábal, Mark O'Meara, Gary Player, Vijay Singh, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Mike Weir, Tiger Woods, Fuzzy Zoeller
2. U.S. Open champions

Michael Campbell, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, Geoff Ogilvy
3. The Open champions

Ben Curtis, Ernie Els, Todd Hamilton
4. PGA champions

Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel
5. The Players Championship winners

Stephen Ames, Fred Funk
Due to rescheduling of the 2007 tournament from March to May, only the 2005 and 2006 champions were invited.
6. U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up

John Kelly, Richie Ramsay
7. The Amateur champion

Julien Guerrier
8. U.S. Amateur Public Links champion

Casey Watabu
9. U.S. Mid-Amateur champion

Dave Womack
10. Top 16 players and ties from the 2006 Masters

Ángel Cabrera, Chad Campbell, Stewart Cink, Tim Clark, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Billy Mayfair, Arron Oberholser, Rod Pampling, Scott Verplank
11. Top eight players and ties from the 2006 U.S. Open

Kenneth Ferrie, Pádraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie, Nick O'Hern, Jeff Sluman, Steve Stricker
12. Top four players and ties from the 2006 Open Championship

Chris DiMarco
13. Top four players and ties from 2006 PGA Championship

Luke Donald, Sergio García, Adam Scott
14. Top 40 players from the 2006 PGA Tour money list

Stuart Appleby, K. J. Choi, Joe Durant, Lucas Glover, J. J. Henry, Tim Herron, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Jerry Kelly, Davis Love III, Troy Matteson, Tom Pernice, Jr., Carl Pettersson, Brett Quigley, Rory Sabbatini, Vaughn Taylor, David Toms, Camilo Villegas, Brett Wetterich, Dean Wilson
15. Top 50 players from the final 2006 world ranking

Robert Allenby, Thomas Bjørn, Paul Casey, Darren Clarke, Ben Crane, Bradley Dredge, Johan Edfors, Niclas Fasth, David Howell, Robert Karlsson, Shingo Katayama, Ian Poulter, Jeev Milkha Singh, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Yang Yong-eun
16. Top 10 players from the 2007 PGA Tour money list on March 26

Aaron Baddeley, Mark Calcavecchia, Charles Howell III, John Rollins
17. Top 50 players from world ranking published March 26

Bart Bryant, Paul Goydos, Justin Rose
18. Special foreign invitation

Hideto Tanihara

Nationalities in the field

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 5, 2007
Billy Mayfair and Ian Poulter were the first competitors to tee off in the 2007 Masters. Both posted scores that were over par. Poulter posted a 75 and Mayfair a 76. The course proved to be playing tough, as many big names faltered on the opening day; Ernie Els finished with a 78, and defending champion Phil Mickelson looked set to get the same score, but two late birdies salvaged a poor round at 76. World number two Jim Furyk managed a 75 to keep himself in contention. Gary Player, playing in his 50th Masters, could only manage an 83 ; two-time winner Seve Ballesteros was at 86. Tim Clark, the 2006 runner-up, produced a wonderful shot on the 18th hole. At even par, he pulled his second shot to the left of the green and chose to putt. His ball went all the way round the green before it dropped for a birdie and 71. The leaders after the first round were Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich at 69. Rose set a new lowest putts record, needing just twenty. One of the reasons for this was his superb chipping which included a holed bunker shot on the 5th to pick up his second birdie after one at the 3rd. He then crisply rolled home another birdie at 14 to move to three-under par and made a fine save at the last having found a greenside bunker. Wetterich produced five birdies during his round. The chasing pack consisted of David Howell who eagled the 15th to post a two-under 70, and major winner David Toms. Behind them at 71, in addition to Clark, were Vaughn Taylor, Zach Johnson, Rich Beem, and J. J. Henry.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Justin Rose69–3
T1Brett Wetterich69–3
T3David Howell70–2
T3David Toms70–2
T5Rich Beem71–1
T5Tim Clark71–1
T5J. J. Henry71–1
T5Zach Johnson71–1
T5Vaughn Taylor71–1
T10Bart Bryant72E
T10Tim Herron72E
T10Davis Love III72E
T10Jeev Milkha Singh72E
T10Henrik Stenson72E

Second round

Friday, April 6, 2007
Only three were under par at the halfway point of the tournament. Wetterich and Clark held the 36-hole lead at 142. Clark was the only man in the field to shoot under par in both rounds. Taylor held solo third place a stroke back at 143. Despite only three being under par, several golfers were within striking distance. Vijay Singh, the 2000 champion, was among a group of four at even par, and Pádraig Harrington was among a group of six at 145. The cut was at 152 and among those to miss it were notables Sergio García and Els. Fred Couples, the 1992 champion, parred the final hole to make the cut in his 23rd consecutive appearance to tie Gary Player's Masters record.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Tim Clark71-71=142–2
T1Brett Wetterich69-73=142–2
3Vaughn Taylor71-72=143–1
T4Zach Johnson71-73=144E
T4Jerry Kelly75-69=144E
T4Justin Rose69-75=144E
T4Vijay Singh73-71=144E
T8Stuart Appleby75-70=145+1
T8Bradley Dredge75-70=145+1
T8Lucas Glover74-71=145+1
T8Pádraig Harrington77-68=145+1
T8David Howell70-75=145+1
T8Geoff Ogilvy75-70=145+1

Amateurs: Kelly Ramsay, Guerrier, Watabu, Womack.

Third round

Saturday, April 7, 2007
The third round saw the worst playing conditions in many years at Augusta on an unseasonably cool day with wind gusts reaching. The conditions were clearly a factor as no scores broke 70 for the round. Despite a one-over 73, Stuart Appleby took the 54-hole lead at 218. Four-time champion Tiger Woods was able to climb the leaderboard into a tie for second with an even par round. Rose shot 75 to settle into the tie for second with Woods. Retief Goosen was the only player to break par on Saturday with a two-under 70; he made the cut on the number at 152 on Friday. The final pair both shot in the 80s; Wetterich carded 83 and Clark an 80 to fall out of contention. After the third round, fourteen golfers were within four strokes of the lead.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Stuart Appleby75-70-73=218+2
T2Justin Rose69-75-75=219+3
T2Tiger Woods73-74-72=219+3
T4Pádraig Harrington77-68-75=220+4
T4Zach Johnson71-73-76=220+4
T4Vaughn Taylor71-72-77=220+4
7Bradley Dredge75-70-76=221+5
T8Tim Clark71-71-80=222+6
T8Luke Donald73-74-75=222+6
T8Jim Furyk75-71-76=222+6
T8Retief Goosen76-76-70=222+6
T8Jerry Kelly75-69-78=222+6
T8Rory Sabbatini73-76-73=222+6
T8Phil Mickelson76-73-73=222+6
T8David Toms70-78-74=222+6

Final round

Sunday, April 8, 2007
Johnson completed a Cinderella story with a three-under 69 to claim his first major title. He captured the green jacket with three birdies over his final six holes, and became the third Masters champion to win the tournament with a score above par. The others were Sam Snead in 1954 and Jack Burke, Jr. in 1956, also at 289. Johnson matched the round of the day and was able to hold off a group of three, including Woods, that finished two strokes back. Woods lost a major for the first time in which he held the lead at some point in the final round. However, since he was a stroke behind Appleby coming into the day, his 12–0 record when leading or tied at the start of the final round of a major remained intact. Appleby started off with a double bogey and added another at #12; his 75 led to a tie for seventh. South Africans Goosen and Rory Sabbatini both shot 69 to finish in a tie for second with Woods. Defending champion Mickelson finished ten strokes back at 299, tied for 24th.
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Zach Johnson71-73-76-69=289+11,305,000
T2Retief Goosen76-76-70-69=291+3541,333
T2Rory Sabbatini73-76-73-69=291+3541,333
T2Tiger Woods73-74-72-72=291+3541,333
T5Jerry Kelly75-69-78-70=292+4275,500
T5Justin Rose69-75-75-73=292+4275,500
T7Stuart Appleby75-70-73-75=293+5233,812
T7Pádraig Harrington77-68-75-73=293+5233,812
9David Toms70-78-74-72=294+6210,250
T10Paul Casey79-68-77-71=295+7181,250
T10Luke Donald73-74-75-73=295+7181,250
T10Vaughn Taylor71-72-77-75=295+7181,250

Scorecard

Final round
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718
Par454343454443545344
Johnson+5+4+3+3+4+4+4+3+3+3+3+3+2+1+1E+1+1
Goosen+6+5+4+4+4+4+3+2+2+2+2+3+3+3+3+3+3+3
Sabbatini+6+5+4+4+4+4+4+2+3+3+3+3+2+3+3+4+4+3
Woods+4+3+3+3+3+4+4+4+4+5+5+5+3+3+3+3+3+3
Kelly+7+6+6+6+6+6+6+6+6+7+7+7+5+5+4+4+4+4
Rose+5+4+6+7+7+7+7+6+5+5+4+4+4+3+3+2+4+4
Appleby+4+4+4+4+4+3+3+3+3+3+3+5+5+5+5+5+5+5
Harrington+5+5+5+6+6+6+6+6+6+6+7+6+4+4+5+6+5+5

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:

Par 3 Contest

, 1998 champion, won the annual Par 3 contest, held on Wednesday, April 4.