1976 Masters Tournament
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)
- Jack Burke Jr., Jimmy Demaret, Ralph Guldahl, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan, Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, and Gene Sarazen did not play.
- 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)
- George Burns, Gary Koch, and Craig Stadler forfeited their exemptions by turning professional.
- 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
- 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 | Raymond Floyd | 65 | −7 |
2 | Andy North | 66 | −6 |
T3 | Jack Nicklaus | 67 | −5 |
Larry Ziegler | |||
5 | Lou Graham | 68 | −4 |
T6 | Bud Allin | 69 | −3 |
Dave Hill | |||
T8 | Ben Crenshaw | 70 | −2 |
Rod Curl | |||
Rik Massengale |
Source:
Second round
Friday, April 9, 1976
Place | Player | Score | To par |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Raymond Floyd | 65-66=131 | −13 |
2 | Jack Nicklaus | 67-69=136 | −8 |
3 | Hubert Green | 71-66=137 | −7 |
4 | Larry Ziegler | 67-71=138 | −6 |
T5 | Ben Crenshaw | 70-70=140 | −4 |
Tom Kite | 73-67=140 | ||
T7 | Charles Coody | 72-69=141 | −3 |
Lou Graham | 68-73=141 | ||
Graham Marsh | 73-68=141 | ||
T10 | Dave Hill | 69-73=142 | −2 |
Rik Massengale | 70-72=142 | ||
Eddie Pearce | 71-71=142 |
Source:
Third round
Saturday, April 10, 1976
Place | Player | Score | To par |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Raymond Floyd | 65-66-70=201 | −15 |
2 | Jack Nicklaus | 67-69-73=209 | −7 |
3 | Larry Ziegler | 67-71-72=210 | −6 |
4 | Charles Coody | 72-69-70=211 | −5 |
T5 | Ben Crenshaw | 70-70-72=212 | −4 |
Tom Kite | 73-67-72=212 | ||
7 | Lou Graham | 68-73-72=213 | −3 |
8 | Tom Weiskopf | 73-71-70=214 | −2 |
T9 | Hubert Green | 71-66-78=215 | −1 |
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 |
Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (US$) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Raymond Floyd | 65-66-70-70=271 | −17 | 40,000 |
2 | Ben Crenshaw | 70-70-72-67=279 | −9 | 25,000 |
T3 | Jack Nicklaus (c) | 67-69-73-73=282 | −6 | 16,250 |
Larry Ziegler | 67-71-72-72=282 | |||
T5 | Charles Coody (c) | 72-69-70-74=285 | −3 | 11,167 |
Hale Irwin | 71-77-67-70=285 | |||
Tom Kite | 73-67-72-73=285 | |||
8 | Billy Casper (c) | 71-76-71-69=287 | −1 | 8,000 |
T9 | Roger Maltbie | 72-75-70-71=288 | E | 6,000 |
Graham Marsh | 73-68-75-72=288 | |||
Tom Weiskopf | 73-71-70-74=288 |
Leaderboard below the top 10 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) | |
T12 | Jim Colbert | 71-72-74-72=289 | +1 | 3,567 | |
Lou Graham | 68-73-72-76=289 | ||||
Gene Littler | 71-72-74-72=289 | ||||
T15 | Al Geiberger | 75-70-73-73=291 | +3 | 2,950 | |
Dave Hill | 69-73-76-73=291 | ||||
Jerry McGee | 71-73-72-75=291 | ||||
Curtis Strange (a) | 71-76-73-71=291 | 0 | |||
T19 | Buddy Allin | 69-76-72-75=292 | +4 | 2,550 | |
Bruce Devlin | 77-69-72-74=292 | ||||
Hubert Green | 71-66-78-77=292 | ||||
Dale Hayes | 75-74-73-70=292 | ||||
T23 | Gay Brewer (c) | 75-74-71-73=293 | +5 | 2,225 | |
Rik Massengale | 70-72-78-73=293 | ||||
Johnny Miller | 71-73-74-75=293 | ||||
Peter Oosterhuis | 76-74-75-68=293 | ||||
27 | Bruce Crampton | 74-76-71-73=294 | +6 | 2,000 | |
T28 | Bob Murphy | 72-74-76-73=295 | +7 | 1,950 | |
Eddie Pearce | 71-71-79-74=295 | ||||
Gary Player (c) | 73-73-70-79=295 | ||||
Lee Trevino | 75-75-69-76=295 | ||||
Art Wall Jr. (c) | 74-71-75-75=295 | ||||
T33 | Don January | 73-74-76-73=296 | +8 | 1,900 | |
Masashi Ozaki | 72-75-75-74=296 | ||||
Tom Watson | 77-73-76-70=296 | ||||
36 | Joe Inman | 74-75-71-77=297 | +9 | 1,850 | |
T37 | Takashi Murakami | 74-71-80-73=298 | +10 | 1,800 | |
Andy North | 66-81-75-76=298 | ||||
T39 | Bob Gilder | 71-75-76-77=299 | +11 | 1,750 | |
John Mahaffey | 72-74-78-75=299 | ||||
Bob Shearer | 73-75-76-75=299 | ||||
42 | Tommy Aaron (c) | 73-76-77-74=300 | +12 | 1,700 | |
T43 | Frank Beard | 74-75-78-74=301 | +13 | 1,650 | |
J. C. Snead | 72-77-76-76=301 | ||||
45 | Pat Fitzsimons | 71-79-77-76=303 | +15 | 1,600 | |
46 | Dick Siderowf (a) | 76-73-77-81=307 | +19 | 0 | |
47 | Bobby Cole | 75-74-78-82=309 | +21 | 1,500 | |
CUT | Bob Goalby (c) | 76-75=151 | +7 | ||
Sam Snead (c) | 72-79=151 | ||||
Rod Curl | 70-82=152 | +8 | |||
George Archer (c) | 74-79=153 | +9 | |||
Don Bies | 76-77=153 | ||||
Keith Fergus (a) | 76-77=153 | ||||
Jay Haas (a) | 76-77=153 | ||||
Don Iverson | 73-80=153 | ||||
Jim Wiechers | 74-79=153 | ||||
Hugh Baiocchi | 78-76=154 | +10 | |||
Doug Ford (c) | 74-80=154 | ||||
John Grace (a) | 75-79=154 | ||||
Tom Jenkins | 75-79=154 | ||||
Henri DeLozier (a) | 75-80=155 | +11 | |||
Priscillo Diniz (a) | 78-77=155 | ||||
Bobby Nichols | 78-77=155 | ||||
Arnold Palmer (c) | 74-81=155 | ||||
Allen Miller | 79-77=156 | +12 | |||
Dean Refram | 77-79=156 | ||||
William C. Campbell (a) | 78-80=158 | +14 | |||
Fred Ridley (a) | 77-81=158 | ||||
Ralph Johnston | 76-83=159 | +15 | |||
Jack Newton | 76-83=159 | ||||
Maurice Bembridge | 78-86=164 | +20 | |||
Vinny Giles (a) | 83-81=164 |
Sources:
Scorecard
Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Eagle | Birdie | Bogey |
References
- ^ Parascenzo, Marino (April 12, 1976). "Floyd enjoys a Sunday stroll". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 16.
- ^ Jenkins, Dan (April 16, 1977). "It was Ray all the way". Sports Illustrated. p. 18.
- ^ "Ray Floyd's 5-wood strangling Masters". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. April 10, 1976. p. 1B.
- ^ "Eight ahead, Floyd looks like a safe bet". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. UPI. April 11, 1976. p. 1C.
- ^ "Masters goes to sudden death". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Florida. Associated Press. February 6, 1976. p. 2E.
- ^ "In sudden death, Masters playoff shifts to no. 10". Observer-Reporter. Washington, Pennsylvania. Associated Press. April 11, 1979. p. D2.
- ^ "Masters playoff format is changed". CNN.com. April 7, 2004. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
- ^ "Floyd a new man with Masters lead". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. April 9, 1976. p. 1, part 2.
- ^ "Golf: Masters, at Augusta". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 10, 1976. p. 10.
- ^ "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 – 1976 Masters leaderboard and scorecards