1997 Masters Tournament

The 1997 Masters Tournament was the 61st Masters Tournament, held April 10–13 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

1997 Masters Tournament
Tournament information
DatesApril 10–13, 1997
LocationAugusta, Georgia
33.503°N 82.020°W / 33.503; -82.020
Course(s)Augusta National Golf Club
Organized byAugusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)PGA Tour
Statistics
Par72
Length6,925 yards (6,332 m)[1]
Field86 players, 46 after cut
Cut149 (+5)
Prize fundUS$2.7 million
Winner's share$486,000
Champion
United States Tiger Woods
270 (−18)
Location Map
Augusta National is located in the United States
Augusta National
Augusta National
Location in the United States
Augusta National is located in Georgia
Augusta National
Augusta National
Location in Georgia

Tiger Woods won his first major championship, twelve strokes ahead of runner-up Tom Kite. The margin of victory is, as of 2023, still the largest in the tournament's history. The four-day score of 270 (−18) was also a tournament record until 2020 when it was beaten by Dustin Johnson. Woods also became both the youngest (21) and the first non-white player to win at Augusta.[2][3]

Woods struggled on his first nine holes of the first round, turning at 4-over-par 40. Making four birdies and an eagle gave him a 6-under-par 30 on the back nine for a 70, three shots behind first-round leader John Huston.[4]

In the second and third rounds, Woods scored the best rounds of each day (66-65) to open up a commanding nine-shot lead. A final-round 69 gave Woods a then tournament record 270 (−18), bettering the previous record of 271 set by Jack Nicklaus in 1965 and matched by Raymond Floyd in 1976.

Woods' victory set television ratings records for golf; the final round broadcast on Sunday was seen by an estimated 44 million viewers in the United States.[5]

Field
1. Masters champions

Tommy Aaron, Seve Ballesteros, Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Fred Couples (9,13), Ben Crenshaw, Nick Faldo (3,9,10,12,13), Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize (9,11), Jack Nicklaus, José María Olazábal, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson (10,12,13), Ian Woosnam, Fuzzy Zoeller

2. U.S. Open champions (last five years)

Ernie Els (9,10,12,13), Lee Janzen (9,10,11), Steve Jones (10,12,13), Tom Kite, Corey Pavin (9,12,13)

3. The Open champions (last five years)

Tom Lehman (9,10,12,13), Greg Norman (9,10,13), Nick Price (4,9,11)

4. PGA champions (last five years)

Paul Azinger (9), Mark Brooks (10,11,12,13), Steve Elkington (11)

5. U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up

Steve Scott (a)

  • Tiger Woods forfeited his invitation by turning professional, but qualified via categories 12 & 13.
6. The Amateur champion

Warren Bladon (a)

7. U.S. Amateur Public Links champion

Tim Hogarth (a)

8. U.S. Mid-Amateur champion

Spider Miller (a)

9. Top 24 players and ties from the 1996 Masters

Mark Calcavecchia (13), David Duval (13), David Frost, Scott Hoch (10,12,13), John Huston, Davis Love III (10,13), Jeff Maggert (13), Scott McCarron, Phil Mickelson (11,12,13), Frank Nobilo (10,11), Mark O'Meara (10,12,13), Loren Roberts (12,13), Bob Tway, Duffy Waldorf (13)

10. Top 16 players and ties from the 1996 U.S. Open

David Berganio Jr., Stewart Cink, John Cook (12,13), Dan Forsman, Jim Furyk (13), Ken Green, Colin Montgomerie, John Morse, Vijay Singh (11,13), Sam Torrance

11. Top eight players and ties from 1996 PGA Championship

Per-Ulrik Johansson, Justin Leonard (12,13), Jesper Parnevik, Kenny Perry (13), Tommy Tolles (13)

12. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters

Stuart Appleby, Guy Boros, Michael Bradley (13), Brad Faxon (13), Ed Fiori, Fred Funk (13), Dudley Hart, David Ogrin, Clarence Rose, Jeff Sluman (13), Paul Stankowski, Steve Stricker (13), D. A. Weibring, Willie Wood, Tiger Woods (13)

13. Top 30 players from the 1996 PGA Tour money list
14. Special foreign invitation

Robert Allenby, Yoshinori Kaneko, Mark McNulty, Masashi Ozaki, Costantino Rocca, Lee Westwood

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 10, 1997

John Huston shot 67 (−5) to lead by one stroke over Paul Stankowski. Tiger Woods shot a 40 (+4) on the first nine, but came back into the clubhouse on the back nine with a score of 30 (−6) for a 70 (−2).[4]

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1United States John Huston67−5
2United States Paul Stankowski68−4
3United States Paul Azinger69−3
4United States Tiger Woods70−2
T5Italy Costantino Rocca71−1
Spain José María Olazábal
Zimbabwe Nick Price
T8Australia Stuart Appleby72E
United States David Berganio Jr.
United States Fred Couples
United States Lee Janzen
Sweden Per-Ulrik Johansson
Germany Bernhard Langer
United States Davis Love III
Scotland Colin Montgomerie
United States Tommy Tolles
United States Willie Wood

Scorecard
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par454343454443545344
United States Woods+1+1+1+2+2+2+2+3+4+3+3+2+1+1−1−1−2−2

Source:[6]

Second round

Friday, April 11, 1997

Woods started the round three strokes back, but a 66 gave him his first lead in a professional major championship, three shots ahead of Colin Montgomerie from Scotland.[7]

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1United States Tiger Woods70-66=136−8
2Scotland Colin Montgomerie72-67=139−5
3Italy Costantino Rocca71-69=140−4
T4United States Fred Couples72-69=141−3
Spain José María Olazábal71-70=141
United States Jeff Sluman74-67=141
T7United States Paul Azinger69-73=142−2
Zimbabwe Nick Price71-71=142
United States Paul Stankowski68-74=142
T10South Africa Ernie Els73-70=143−1
United States Davis Love III72-71=143
United States Tom Watson75-68=143

Amateurs: Bladon (+7), Scott (+13), Hogarth (+14), Miller (+19)

Scorecard
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par454343454443545344
United States Woods−2−3−2−2−3−3−3−4−4−4−4−4−6−7−8−8−8−8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[6]

Third round

Saturday, April 12, 1997

Woods shot a 65 in the third round for 201 (−15) and his lead increased to nine shots; the closest competitor was Costantino Rocca from Italy.[8] Montgomerie's 74 dropped him into a tie for sixth.

PlacePlayerScoreTo par
1United States Tiger Woods70-66-65=201−15
2Italy Costantino Rocca71-69-70=210−6
3United States Paul Stankowski68-74-69=211−5
T4United States Tom Kite77-69-66=212−4
United States Tom Watson75-68-69=212
T6Scotland Colin Montgomerie72-67-74=213−3
United States Jeff Sluman74-67-72=213
8United States Fred Couples72-69-73=214−2
9Spain José María Olazábal71-70-74=215−1
T10United States Fred Funk73-74-69=216E
United States Justin Leonard76-69-71=216
Sweden Jesper Parnevik73-72-71=216
United States Tommy Tolles72-72-72=216

Scorecard
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par454343454443545344
United States Woods −8  −9  −9  −9 −10−10−11−12−12−12−13−13−13−13−14−14−14−15

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[6]

Final round

Sunday, April 13, 1997

Summary

There it is – a win for the ages!

Jim Nantz's call on CBS of Woods' final putt[9]

Woods won his first major championship, finishing 12 strokes ahead runner-up Tom Kite. It was the largest victory margin in Masters history, passing Nicklaus' 9-shot winning margin in 1965, and tied for the second largest victory margin in any major championship, only one stroke behind Old Tom Morris' 13-shot winning margin set at the 1862 Open Championship at Prestwick (a mark Woods later surpassed at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach when he won by 15 shots).[10] Rocca and Stankowski fell into a tie for fifth.[3]

Final leaderboard
Champion
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
Top 10
PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)
1United States Tiger Woods70-66-65-69=270−18486,000
2United States Tom Kite77-69-66-70=282−6291,600
3United States Tommy Tolles72-72-72-67=283−5183,600
4United States Tom Watson (c)75-68-69-72=284−4129,600
T5Italy Costantino Rocca71-69-70-75=285−3102,600
United States Paul Stankowski68-74-69-74=285
T7United States Fred Couples (c)72-69-73-72=286−278,570
Germany Bernhard Langer (c)72-72-74-68=286
United States Justin Leonard76-69-71-70=286
United States Davis Love III72-71-72-71=286
United States Jeff Sluman74-67-72-73=286

Sources:[11][12]

Scorecard
Hole123456789101112131415161718
Par454343454443545344
United States Woods−15−16−16−16−15−15−14−15−15−15−16−16−17−18−18−18−18−18
United States Kite−4−5−5−4−4−3−4−5−5−5−5−5−6−6−5−5−6−6
United States TollesE−1−2−2−2−2−2−1−2−2−2−2−3−3−4−5−5−5
United States Watson−5−6−6−6−7−6−3−4−4−5−5−6−6−6−6−5−5−4
Italy Rocca−6−7−7−7−7−6−6−6−6−6−5−5−5−5−5−5−4−3
United States Stankowski−5−4−3−2−2−2−3−3−2−3−2−2−2−3−3−3−3−3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey Triple bogey+

Source:[6]

References
  1. "Masters Scoreboard". Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. April 11, 1997. p. 8C.
  2. Reilly, Rick (April 21, 1997). "Strokes of Genius". Sports Illustrated. p. 30.
  3. Sirak, Ron (April 14, 1997). "It's Tiger's game now". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 1B.
  4. "Huston: The eagle has landed". Southeast Missourian. (Cape Girardeau). Associated Press. April 11, 1997. p. B1.
  5. "Woods drives Masters ratings up". Free Lance-Star. (Fredericksburg, Virginia). Associated Press. April 16, 1997. p. B5.
  6. "Historic Leaderboards: 1997 Masters". Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
  7. "Woods charges to Masters lead". The Daily Reporter. (Spencer, Iowa). Associated Press. April 12, 1997. p. 6.
  8. Farrell, Andy (April 13, 1997). "Welcome to the Tiger era: US Masters: World's best a record nine shots adrift as Woods starts to take golf into a new dimension". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved August 28, 2009.
  9. 1997 Masters Tournament Final Round Broadcast The Masters on YouTube (originally broadcast by CBS)
  10. "1997 Masters: Recap and Scores for the 1997 Masters Golf Tournament". Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  11. "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  12. "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
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