 The Masters |
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Approximately 101 players will be in the field, representing a total of 16 countries
Argentina 2 *Jack Nicklaus has cancelled because of recurring back problems Jack Nicklaus has cancelled his appearance at the Masters this year because of lingering back problems. This is only the second time in 44 years 'The Golden Bear' will miss playing in the Masters. He was unable to participate in 1999, due to replacement surgery on his left hip in January of that year. Nicklaus returned to compete in the 2000 and 2001 Masters. Nicklaus has won a record six Masters titles and holds or is tied for at least 65 other Masters' records.
The starting field consists of 30 Past Champions, 18 seniors, 5 amateurs, 96 professionals and 12 first time invitees.
Defending champion Tiger Woods is hoping to become only the third player to ever win back-to-back Masters Championships. Jack Nicklaus was the first in 1965-66 and Nick Faldo successfully defended in 1990. Woods first won in 1997.
When Sam Snead won the Masters Championship in 1949, the great Bobby Jones helped him put on the first green jacket, then declared that each succeeding year the defending champion would assist the new champion with his jacket. In 1966 when Jack Nicklaus became the first player to win two in a row he put the jacket on himself. In 1990 the tournament chairman assisted Nick Faldo.
The Augusta National Golf course has been lengthened by 285 yards to a total of 7,270. The longest hole is still #2, a 575-yard par five. The shortest hole is #12, a 155-yard demanding par three.
Greg Norman is this year’s Special Invitee in honor of his 21 exceptional years of participation
Sam Snead won the famed Masters Par -3 tournament, first played in 1960. Ironically, in 41 years the winner of the Par-3 has never captured the Masters Championship in the same year.
The lowest 18 hole score ever recorded at Augusta is nine-under par 63 set by Nick Price in 1986.
One of the most difficult sporting tickets to acquire has become a ticket to the Masters. Tickets were first sold to patrons who put their names on a list and purchased in advance but that patron list was closed in 1972 and the first waiting list was created. Then, in 2000 a second waiting list was formed. However, it was soon closed and today no new applications for tickets to the Masters are available.
The first Masters Champion was Horton Smith who shot a four-under par 284. Bobby Jones tied for 13th 10 shots back. Two years later Smith won again.
The first Canadian to take a serious run at the Masters title was Stan Leonard in 1955. Leonard opened with a horrendous five-over par 77 and then came back to finished in a tie for eighth.. Leonard finished among the top 25 players eight times between 1955-1963. In ’58 & ’59 he finished fourth.
George Knudson came within a stroke of capturing the 1969 Masters championship. His 282 total tied him with Billy Casper and Tom Weiskopf for second place but it was George Archer who won the title with 281.
26 years ago Dave Barr shot a final round 68 and tied for 16th place but his performance was indeed overshadowed by 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus who captured his sixth Green Jacket with a final round 65 in 1986. Trailing leader Seve Ballesteros by four shots with four holes to play Nicklaus charged back with eagle-birdie-birdie-par and still holds the record as the oldest player to win the Masters.
The best known shot in all of golf tournament history was Gene Sarazens 220-yard 4 wood which he holed out at the 15th in the fourth round of the 1935 tournament for a double eagle, enabling Sarazen to tied for first and win in playoff..
Tsuneyuki Makajima of Japan carded 13 strokes on the 13th hole in 1978 and two years later so did Tom Weiskopf on the 12th hole, a record for the most strokes taken on any single hole.
The quickest round ever recorded at Augusta came in 1960 when George Bayer and Jack Fleck played 18 holes together in one hour and fifty-two minutes, but the winner, who led all four rounds and birdied the final two holes for his second Masters title was Arnold Palmer.
The 1968 Masters Champion won his title that year in the scoring tent. Argentina’s Roberto De Vicenzo electrified the crowd with an eagle on the first hole of the final round, carded a front nine 31, then came home with birdies on 12, 15 and 17 for what was believed to be a 65 and a 277 total. Bob Goalby on the other hand, scored birdies at 13 and 14 and an eagle on 15 to also finish at 277. However, instead of a playoff, it was discovered De Vicenzo had put down a four instead of his birdie three at 17 and because he had signed his card he was credited with 278 and second place.
The first person to score a hole-in-one at the Masters was Canadian Ross Somerville with an ace on #16 in 1934.
In the third round in 1967 Ben Hogan shot a remarkable six under par 66 . . . remarkable because Hogan had just recently turned 54 years of age.
Notes by Barry Sharpe |
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