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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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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 (−13) over the first two rounds, then posted two rounds of 70 on the weekend to tie Jack Nicklaus' record of 271 (−17), 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 (−15) 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 (−18), 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 (8,10,11,12), Charles Coody, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus (2,4,8,9,10,11,12), Arnold Palmer (8,9), Gary Player (3,4), Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr. (8,11)

The following categories only apply to Americans
2. U.S. Open champions (last five years)

Lou Graham (9,12), Hale Irwin (8,9,10,11,12), Johnny Miller (8,11,12), Lee Trevino (3,4,8,12)

3. The Open champions (last five years)

Tom Watson (8,9,11), Tom Weiskopf (8,10,11,12)

4. PGA champions (last five years)
5. 1975 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists

Henri DeLozier (a), Keith Fergus (a), Fred Ridley (6,a)

  • Andy Bean forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions

Vinny Giles (7,a)

  • Jerry Pate (7) forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
7. Members of the 1975 U.S. Walker Cup team

William C. Campbell (a), John Grace (a), Jay Haas (a), Dick Siderowf (a), Curtis Strange (a)

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1975 Masters Tournament

Buddy Allin, Rod Curl, Pat Fitzsimons (9), Hubert Green (11), Dave Hill (10,11), Ralph Johnston, Tom Kite, Gene Littler (10,11,12), Allen Miller, Bobby Nichols, J. C. Snead (11,12), Larry Ziegler

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1975 U.S. Open

Frank Beard, Ben Crenshaw (11), Joe Inman, John Mahaffey, Rik Massengale (11), Bob Murphy (12), 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, Raymond Floyd (12), Al Geiberger (12), 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 (8), Maurice Bembridge, Bobby Cole (8), Bruce Crampton (10,11), Bruce Devlin (8), Priscillo Diniz (a), Dale Hayes, Graham Marsh (8), Takashi Murakami, Jack Newton, Peter Oosterhuis (9), Masashi Ozaki, Bob Shearer

  • Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 8, 1976

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Raymond Floyd 65 −7
2 United States Andy North 66 −6
T3 United States Jack Nicklaus 67 −5
United States Larry Ziegler
5 United States Lou Graham 68 −4
T6 United States Bud Allin 69 −3
United States Dave Hill
T8 United States Ben Crenshaw 70 −2
United States Rod Curl
United States Rik Massengale

Source:

Second round

Friday, April 9, 1976

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Raymond Floyd 65-66=131 −13
2 United States Jack Nicklaus 67-69=136 −8
3 United States Hubert Green 71-66=137 −7
4 United States Larry Ziegler 67-71=138 −6
T5 United States Ben Crenshaw 70-70=140 −4
United States Tom Kite 73-67=140
T7 United States Charles Coody 72-69=141 −3
United States Lou Graham 68-73=141
Australia Graham Marsh 73-68=141
T10 United States Dave Hill 69-73=142 −2
United States Rik Massengale 70-72=142
United States Eddie Pearce 71-71=142

Source:

Third round

Saturday, April 10, 1976

Place Player Score To par
1 United States Raymond Floyd 65-66-70=201 −15
2 United States Jack Nicklaus 67-69-73=209 −7
3 United States Larry Ziegler 67-71-72=210 −6
4 United States Charles Coody 72-69-70=211 −5
T5 United States Ben Crenshaw 70-70-72=212 −4
United States Tom Kite 73-67-72=212
7 United States Lou Graham 68-73-72=213 −3
8 United States Tom Weiskopf 73-71-70=214 −2
T9 United States Hubert Green 71-66-78=215 −1
United States Hale Irwin 71-77-67=215

Source:

Final round

Sunday, April 11, 1976

Final leaderboard

Champion
Silver Cup winner (low amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
Top 10
Place Player Score To par Money (US$)
1 United States Raymond Floyd 65-66-70-70=271 −17 40,000
2 United States Ben Crenshaw 70-70-72-67=279 −9 25,000
T3 United States Jack Nicklaus (c) 67-69-73-73=282 −6 16,250
United States Larry Ziegler 67-71-72-72=282
T5 United States Charles Coody (c) 72-69-70-74=285 −3 11,167
United States Hale Irwin 71-77-67-70=285
United States Tom Kite 73-67-72-73=285
8 United States Billy Casper (c) 71-76-71-69=287 −1 8,000
T9 United States Roger Maltbie 72-75-70-71=288 E 6,000
Australia Graham Marsh 73-68-75-72=288
United States Tom Weiskopf 73-71-70-74=288

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
United States Floyd −15 −15 −15 −14 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −15 −16 −16 −16 −17 −17 −17 −17
United States Crenshaw −3 −3 −4 −4 −4 −4 −5 −6 −6 −6 −6 −6 −8 −9 −9 −9 −9 −9
United States Nicklaus −7 −7 −6 −6 −6 −6 −6 −7 −6 −6 −6 −6 −7 −7 −7 −6 −6 −6
United States Ziegler −6 −6 −6 −6 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −7 −6 −6 −7 −7 −7 −7 −6 −6

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle Birdie Bogey

References

  1. ^ Parascenzo, Marino (April 12, 1976). "Floyd enjoys a Sunday stroll". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 16.
  2. ^ Jenkins, Dan (April 16, 1977). "It was Ray all the way". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
  3. ^ "Ray Floyd's 5-wood strangling Masters". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. April 10, 1976. p. 1B.
  4. ^ "Eight ahead, Floyd looks like a safe bet". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. UPI. April 11, 1976. p. 1C.
  5. ^ "Masters goes to sudden death". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Florida. Associated Press. February 6, 1976. p. 2E.
  6. ^ "In sudden death, Masters playoff shifts to no. 10". Observer-Reporter. Washington, Pennsylvania. Associated Press. April 11, 1979. p. D2.
  7. ^ "Masters playoff format is changed". CNN.com. April 7, 2004. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
  8. ^ "Floyd a new man with Masters lead". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. April 9, 1976. p. 1, part 2.
  9. ^ "Golf: Masters, at Augusta". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 10, 1976. p. 10.
  10. ^ "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  11. ^ "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.