1948 Masters Tournament
Claude Harmon shot a record-tying 279 (−9) and finished five strokes ahead of runner-up Cary Middlecoff, a future champion in 1955. The Sunday gallery in 1948 was estimated at 10,000 spectators, and the tournament purse was $10,000. Harmon won $2,500 and his four-round score tied the record set by Ralph Guldahl in 1939. Primarily a club professional, it was Harmon's first tour victory.
This was the final appearance as a player in the Masters for host Bobby Jones, then age 46. It was also the last Masters that did not immediately present the iconic green jacket to the winner. The nine winners of the first twelve tournaments received their green jackets in 1949.
The five-stroke victory margin was matched by Ben Hogan in 1953; the record was raised to seven in 1955 by Cary Middlecoff, nine in 1965 by Jack Nicklaus, and twelve by Tiger Woods in 1997.
Field
- 1. Masters champions
Jimmy Demaret (7,9), Ralph Guldahl (2), Herman Keiser (7,9), Byron Nelson (2,6,7,9), Henry Picard (6,9), Gene Sarazen (2,4,6), Horton Smith (9), Craig Wood (2)
- 2. U.S. Open champions
Billy Burke, Johnny Farrell, Bobby Jones (3,4,5), Lawson Little (3,5,9), Lloyd Mangrum (7,9,10,12), Lew Worsham (7,10,12)
- 3. U.S. Amateur champions
Dick Chapman (8,9,a), Skee Riegel (8,11,a)
- 4. British Open champions
Denny Shute (6,9), Sam Snead (6,7,9,10)
- 5. British Amateur champions
- 6. PGA champions
Jim Ferrier (9,10,12), Vic Ghezzi (9,10,12), Bob Hamilton, Ben Hogan (7,9,10)
- 7. Members of the U.S. 1947 Ryder Cup team
Herman Barron (9), Dutch Harrison (10)
- Ed Oliver (9,10) did not play.
- 8. Members of the U.S. 1947 Walker Cup team
George Hamer (a), Fred Kammer (a), Bud Ward (3,10,11,a)
- Ted Bishop (3,a), Smiley Quick (a), Frank Stranahan (9,10,a) and Willie Turnesa (3,5,a) did not play.
- 9. Top 24 players and ties from the 1947 Masters Tournament
Johnny Bulla, Fred Haas, Chandler Harper, Jug McSpaden, Dick Metz (10), Johnny Palmer (10), Toney Penna, Ellsworth Vines
- 10. Top 24 players and ties from the 1947 U.S. Open
Sammy Byrd, Ed Furgol, Leland Gibson (12), Chick Harbert (12), Claude Harmon, Joe Kirkwood Sr., Gene Kunes, Jim McHale Jr. (a), Bill Nary, Al Smith, Harry Todd
- George Payton and Paul Runyan did not play.
- 11. 1947 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists
Bob Rosburg (a), Jack Selby (a), Felice Torza, Harvie Ward (a)
- Johnny Dawson (a) and Frank Strafaci (a) did not play.
- 12. 1947 PGA Championship quarter-finalists
- 13. One amateur, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Amateur champions
- Chuck Kocsis (a) did not play
- 14. One professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Open champions
- 15. Two players, not already qualified, with the best scoring average in the winter part of the 1948 PGA Tour
- Clayton Heafner did not play.
- 16 Winner of the 1948 Inter-service Invitational tournament
- Played after the Masters, the winner receiving entry to the 1949 event.
- 17 Home club professional
- 18. Foreign invitations
Henry Cotton (4), Bobby Locke (9,10)
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, April 8, 1948
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Lloyd Mangrum |
69 | −3 |
| T2 | Ed Furgol |
70 | −2 |
| Claude Harmon
| |||
| Ben Hogan
| |||
| Herman Keiser
| |||
| T6 | Art Bell |
71 | −1 |
| Jim Ferrier
| |||
| Chick Harbert
| |||
 Bobby Locke
| |||
| Dick Metz
| |||
| Byron Nelson
| |||
| Skee Riegel (a)
|
Source:
Second round
Friday, April 9, 1948
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harry Todd |
72-67=139 | −5 |
| 2 | Claude Harmon |
70-70=140 | −4 |
| T3 | Chick Harbert |
71-70=141 | −3 |
| Ben Hogan |
70-71=141 | ||
| T5 | Jim Ferrier |
71-71=142 | −2 |
| Ed Furgol |
70-72=142 | ||
| Herman Keiser |
70-72=142 | ||
| Bobby Locke |
71-71=142 | ||
| Lloyd Mangrum |
69-73=142 | ||
| 10 | Dick Metz |
71-72=143 | −1 |
Source:
Third round
Saturday, April 10, 1948
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Harmon |
70-70-69=209 | −7 |
| 2 | Chick Harbert |
71-70-70=211 | −5 |
| 3 | Cary Middlecoff |
74-71-69=214 | −2 |
| 4 | Ed Furgol |
70-72-73=215 | −1 |
| T5 | Bobby Locke |
71-71-74=216 | E |
| Byron Nelson |
71-73-72=216 | ||
| T7 | Jim Ferrier |
71-71-75=217 | +1 |
| Lloyd Mangrum |
69-73-75=217 | ||
| T9 | Ben Hogan |
70-71-77=218 | +2 |
| Herman Keiser |
70-72-76=218 | ||
| Dick Metz |
71-72-75=218 | ||
| Skee Riegel (a) |
71-74-73=218 |
Source:
Final round
Sunday, April 11, 1948
Final leaderboard
| Champion |
| Silver Cup winner (low amateur) |
| (a) = amateur |
| (c) = past champion |
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claude Harmon |
70-70-69-70=279 | −9 | 2,500 |
| 2 | Cary Middlecoff |
74-71-69-70=284 | −4 | 1,500 |
| 3 | Chick Harbert |
71-70-70-76=287 | −1 | 1,000 |
| T4 | Jim Ferrier |
71-71-75-71=288 | E | 750 |
| Lloyd Mangrum |
69-73-75-71=288 | |||
| T6 | Ed Furgol |
70-72-73-74=289 | +1 | 500 |
| Ben Hogan |
70-71-77-71=289 | |||
| T8 | Byron Nelson (c) |
71-73-72-74=290 | +2 | 350 |
| Harry Todd |
72-67-80-71=290 | |||
| T10 | Herman Keiser (c) |
70-72-76-73=291 | +3 | 250 |
| Bobby Locke |
71-71-74-75=291 | |||
| Dick Metz |
71-72-75-73=291 |
| Leaderboard below the top 10 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) | |
| T13 | Johnny Bulla |
74-72-76-71=293 | +5 | 188 | |
| Dutch Harrison |
73-77-73-70=293 | ||||
| Skee Riegel (a) |
71-74-73-75=293 | 0 | |||
| T16 | Al Smith |
73-73-74-74=294 | +6 | 138 | |
| Sam Snead |
74-75-72-73=294 | ||||
| T18 | Jimmy Demaret (c) |
73-72-78-72=295 | +7 | 80 | |
| Ed Dudley |
73-76-75-71=295 | ||||
| Vic Ghezzi |
75-73-73-74=295 | ||||
| Fred Haas |
75-75-76-69=295 | ||||
| Bob Hamilton |
72-72-76-75=295 | ||||
| T23 | Art Bell |
71-74-74-77=296 | +8 | ||
| Gene Sarazen (c) |
77-74-73-72=296 | ||||
| T25 | Herman Barron |
73-77-71-76=297 | +9 | ||
 Henry Cotton |
72-73-75-77=297 | ||||
| Henry Picard (c) |
73-73-74-77=297 | ||||
| T28 | Johnny Palmer |
75-73-76-74=298 | +10 | ||
| Ellsworth Vines |
76-71-77-74=298 | ||||
| T30 | Bud Ward (a) |
74-74-77-74=299 | +11 | ||
| Lew Worsham |
74-78-71-76=299 | ||||
| 32 | Denny Shute |
74-73-76-77=300 | +12 | ||
| 33 | Jug McSpaden |
77-75-76-73=301 | +13 | ||
| 34 | Horton Smith (c) |
78-73-76-75=302 | +14 | ||
| T35 | Skip Alexander |
77-73-77-76=303 | +15 | ||
| Ralph Guldahl (c) |
75-78-75-75=303 | ||||
| Ky Laffoon |
74-75-76-78=303 | ||||
| Jim McHale Jr. (a) |
78-73-77-75=303 | ||||
| Felice Torza |
75-73-76-79=303 | ||||
| T40 | Dick Chapman (a) |
74-76-77-77=304 | +16 | ||
| Chandler Harper |
76-76-77-75=304 | ||||
| Lawson Little |
73-77-76-78=304 | ||||
| T43 | Billy Burke |
75-75-76-79=305 | +17 | ||
| Leland Gibson |
72-77-79-77=305 | ||||
| Craig Wood (c) |
77-80-77-71=305 | ||||
| 46 | Toney Penna |
77-78-75-77=307 | +19 | ||
| 47 | Sammy Byrd |
84-75-75-76=310 | +22 | ||
| 48 | Johnny Farrell |
74-80-78-79=311 | +23 | ||
| 49 | Bill Nary |
74-79-86-74=313 | +25 | ||
| 50 | Bobby Jones |
76-81-79-79=315 | +27 | ||
| T51 | Fred Kammer (a) |
78-75-77-86=316 | +28 | ||
| Harvie Ward (a) |
78-78-81-79=316 | ||||
| 53 | Bob Rosburg (a) |
79-81-80-78=318 | +30 | ||
| 54 | Jack Selby (a) |
81-76-84-80=321 | +33 | ||
| WD | Gene Kunes |
74-76-76=226 | +10 | ||
| George Hamer (a) |
77-78-76=231 | +15 | |||
| Joe Kirkwood Sr. |
78-77-82=237 | +21 | |||
Sources:
Scorecard
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Harmon |
−7 | −7 | −7 | −6 | −6 | −7 | −8 | −10 | −10 | −10 | −10 | −9 | −9 | −10 | −9 | −9 | −9 | −9 |
| Middlecoff |
−2 | −2 | −1 | E | E | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −2 | −3 | −3 | −3 | −4 |
| Harbert |
−5 | −5 | −5 | −5 | −4 | −3 | −3 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −2 | −1 |
| Ferrier |
+1 | E | −1 | −1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −3 | −3 | −2 | −2 | −1 | −2 | −1 | −2 | −2 | −1 | E |
| Mangrum |
+2 | +1 | E | E | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +1 | E |
| Furgol |
−1 | −1 | −1 | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +1 | +1 | E | E | +1 | +1 |
| Hogan |
+2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 |
| Nelson |
E | E | +1 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 |
| Locke |
E | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +2 | +3 | +3 | +4 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +3 | +3 |
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
| Eagle | Birdie | Bogey |
References
- ^ "Harmon wins Masters; ties record with 279". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. April 12, 1948. p. 3-part 2.
- ^ "Harmon cards blistering, record-tying 279 to win Masters' golf tourney". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. April 12, 1948. p. 10.
- ^ Kindred, Dave (August 2013). "The case of the missing green jacket". Golf Digest. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
- ^ Bartlett, Charles (April 9, 1948). "Mangrum fires 69 for lead in Masters' golf". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1, part 3.
- ^ Bartlett, Charles (April 10, 1948). "Harry Todd leads on 139 in Masters". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1, part.
- ^ Bartlett, Charles (April 11, 1948). "Harmon's 209 for 54, leads Masters golf". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 1, part 2.
- ^ "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
- ^ "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
External links
- Masters.com – past winners and results
- Augusta.com – 1948 Masters leaderboard and scorecards