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1979 Masters Tournament

Field	Value
name	1979 Masters Tournament
image	1979_Masters_Tournament_Guide.jpg
caption	Front cover of the 1979 Masters Guide
dates	April 12–15, 1979
location	Augusta, Georgia
course	Augusta National Golf Club
org	Augusta National Golf Club
tour	PGA Tour
par	72
yardage	7040 yd
field	72 players, 45 after cut
cut	145 (+1)
purse
winners_share	$50,000
champion	USA Fuzzy Zoeller
score	280 (−8), playoff
previous	[1978](1978-masters-tournament)
next	[1980](1980-masters-tournament)
map	USA#USA Georgia
map_relief	yes
map_label	Augusta National
map_caption	Location in the United States##Location in Georgia
coordinates

The 1979 Masters Tournament was the 43rd Masters Tournament, held April 12–15 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Fuzzy Zoeller won his only Masters, the first of his two major titles, with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff with Ed Sneed and Tom Watson. Jack Nicklaus climbed up the leaderboard on Sunday with a 69 (−3), but bogeyed 17 to finish a stroke out of the playoff; Tom Kite had a double bogey at 16 for an even par 72 in the final round to finish fifth, three strokes back.

Second and third round leader Sneed seemed to have a commanding three-shot lead with only three holes to go, but bogeyed the final three holes to card a final round 76 (+4) and fell into the playoff. It was the debut of the sudden-death format at Augusta, adopted by the Masters in 1976. Its last playoff was nine years earlier in 1970, then a full 18-hole round on Monday.

The sudden-death playoff began on the tenth hole, a downhill par-4, where all three players missed birdie putts and parred. On the second hole, the par-4 11th, Sneed failed to hole a bunker shot and Watson a birdie putt, and then Zoeller made his from 6 ft to win.

Zoeller, age 27, was the first to win the Masters in his initial attempt since Gene Sarazen in 1935, the second edition of the tournament. In his fifth season on tour, it was Zoeller's second win, the first came less than three months earlier at the Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational. He won his other major five years later at the 1984 U.S. Open, also in a playoff.

The second round was suspended for two hours Friday afternoon due to heavy rain and tornado warnings. Due to the delay, not all golfers were able to complete their second rounds on Friday and the cut line was not determined until these rounds were completed on Saturday morning. Normally scheduled to conclude on the second Sunday of April, this Masters was held a week later, as was 1984.

Field

;1. Masters champions Tommy Aaron, Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Raymond Floyd (8,9,11,12), Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus (3,4,8,9,11,12), Arnold Palmer, Gary Player (3,8,9,11), Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr., Tom Watson (3,8,9,10,11,12)

George Archer, 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 (12), Hubert Green (8,11,12), Hale Irwin (8,9,12), Andy North (9), Jerry Pate (8,9,10,11)

;3. The Open champions (last five years) Johnny Miller (9)

;4. PGA champions (last five years) Dave Stockton (9,12), Lee Trevino (8,9,10,11), Lanny Wadkins (8,11,12)

John Mahaffey (10,11) withdrew because of injury.

;5. 1978 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists Bobby Clampett (7,a), John Cook (6,7,a), Scott Hoch (7,a), Mike Peck (a)

;6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions

John Fought forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

;7. Members of the 1978 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team Jay Sigel (a)

;8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1978 Masters Tournament Wally Armstrong, Miller Barber, Andy Bean (9,10,11), Rod Funseth (11), Joe Inman (9), Don January (12), Tom Kite (11), Billy Kratzert (9), Gene Littler, Jerry McGee (12), Lindy Miller, Gil Morgan (10,11), Ed Sneed (12), Leonard Thompson, Tom Weiskopf (9,10)

;9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1978 U.S. Open Mike McCullough, Artie McNickle, J. C. Snead

;10. Top eight players and ties from 1978 PGA Championship Craig Stadler

;11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters Bob Byman, Ben Crenshaw, Lee Elder, Jerry Heard, Lon Hinkle, Barry Jaeckel, Bruce Lietzke, Mark McCumber, Mac McLendon, Larry Nelson, Jim Simons, Ron Streck, Fuzzy Zoeller

;12. Members of the U.S. 1977 Ryder Cup team Dave Hill

;13. Foreign invitations Isao Aoki, Seve Ballesteros (8,9), Nick Faldo, David Graham (8), Graham Marsh (10), Peter McEvoy (6,a), Jack Newton (11), Peter Oosterhuis (8), Simon Owen, Masashi Ozaki, Victor Regalado (11), Bob Shearer (9)

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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 12, 1979

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	USA Bruce Lietzke	67	−5
T2	USA Tom Watson	68	−4
USA Joe Inman
USA Leonard Thompson
USA Ed Sneed
T6	USA Craig Stadler	69	−3
USA Jack Nicklaus
USA Lou Graham
USA Billy Casper
USA Andy Bean

Second round

Friday, April 13, 1979

Saturday, April 14, 1979

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	USA Ed Sneed	68-67=135	−9
USA Craig Stadler	69-66=135
T3	USA Raymond Floyd	70-68=138	−6
USA Leonard Thompson	68-70=138
T5	USA Miller Barber	75-64=139	−5
USA Tom Watson	68-71=139
USA Joe Inman	68-71=139
T8	ESP Seve Ballesteros	72-68=140	−4
USA Jack Nicklaus	69-71=140
USA Lou Graham	69-71=140
USA Lindy Miller	73-67=140

Third round

Saturday, April 14, 1979

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	USA Ed Sneed	68-67-69=204	−12
T2	USA Tom Watson	68-71-70=209	−7
USA Craig Stadler	69-66-74=209
T4	USA Bruce Lietzke	67-75-68=210	−6
USA Fuzzy Zoeller	70-71-69=210
T6	USA Tom Kite	71-72-68=211	−5
AUS Jack Newton	70-72-69=211
USA Miller Barber	75-64-72=211
USA Raymond Floyd	70-68-73=211
USA Leonard Thompson	68-70-73=211

Final round

Sunday, April 15, 1979

Final leaderboard

(c) = past champion

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (US$)
T1	USA Ed Sneed	68-67-69-76=280	−8	Playoff
USA Tom Watson (c)	68-71-70-71=280
USA Fuzzy Zoeller	70-71-69-70=280
4	USA Jack Nicklaus (c)	69-71-72-69=281	−7	15,000
5	USA Tom Kite	71-72-68-72=283	−5	13,000
6	USA Bruce Lietzke	67-75-68-74=284	−4	11,500
T7	USA Craig Stadler	69-66-74-76=285	−3	9,000
USA Leonard Thompson	68-70-73-74=285
USA Lanny Wadkins	73-69-70-73=285
T10	USA Hubert Green	74-69-72-71=286	−2	6,500
USA Gene Littler	74-71-69-72=286

Leaderboard below the top 10	Place	Player	Score	To par
T12	ESP Seve Ballesteros	72-68-73-74=287	−1	3,740
USA Miller Barber	75-64-72-76=287
AUS Jack Newton	70-72-69-76=287
USA Andy North	72-72-74-69=287
USA Lee Trevino	73-71-70-73=287
T17	USA Lee Elder	73-70-74-71=288	E	2,700
USA Raymond Floyd (c)	70-68-73-77=288
USA Billy Kratzert	73-68-71-76=288
USA Artie McNickle	71-72-74-71=288
ZAF Gary Player (c)	71-72-74-71=288
22	USA J. C. Snead	73-71-72-73=289	+1	2,400
T23	USA Bobby Clampett (a)	73-71-73-73=290	+2	0
USA Lou Graham	69-71-76-74=290	2,225
USA Joe Inman	68-71-76-75=290
USA Hale Irwin	72-70-74-74=290
USA Jim Simons	72-70-75-73=290
T28	USA Tommy Aaron (c)	72-73-76-70=291	+3	2,000
USA Andy Bean	69-74-74-74=291
AUS Graham Marsh	71-72-73-75=291
T31	USA Gil Morgan	72-69-71-80=292	+4	1,975
USA Larry Nelson	70-75-70-77=292
MEX Victor Regalado	71-74-75-72=292
T34	JPN Isao Aoki	71-72-72-78=293	+5	1,950
USA Bob Byman	71-71-75-76=293
USA Charles Coody (c)	71-72-74-76=293
USA Scott Hoch (a)	72-73-74-74=293	0
ENG Peter Oosterhuis	73-72-73-75=293	1,950
39	USA John Cook (a)	72-72-75-76=295	+7	0
40	ENG Nick Faldo	73-71-79-73=296	+8	1,875
T41	USA Jerry Pate	72-70-75-80=297	+9	1,850
USA Tom Weiskopf	73-72-71-81=297
43	USA Billy Casper (c)	69-75-80-75=299	+11	1,800
44	USA Rod Funseth	70-73-78-79=300	+12	1,775
45	USA Lindy Miller	73-67-75-86=301	+13	1,750
CUT	USA Barry Jaeckel	75-71=146	+2
USA Don January	73-73=146
USA Jerry McGee	77-69=146
USA Arnold Palmer (c)	74-72=146
USA Wally Armstrong	73-74=147	+3
USA Jay Sigel (a)	72-75=147
USA Jerry Heard	75-73=148	+4
USA Johnny Miller	77-71=148
USA Sam Snead (c)	74-74=148
USA Dave Hill	75-74=149	+5
USA Lon Hinkle	77-72=149
NZL Simon Owen	74-75=149
USA Dave Stockton	74-75=149
USA Art Wall Jr. (c)	74-75=149
USA Gay Brewer (c)	75-75=150	+6
USA Mike McCullough	73-77=150
USA Mac McLendon	74-77=151	+7
JPN Masashi Ozaki	76-75=151
USA Ben Crenshaw	73-80=153	+9
USA Mark McCumber	75-78=153
USA Mike Peck (a)	78-75=153
USA Ron Streck	78-76=154	+10
ENG Peter McEvoy (a)	79-79=158	+14
USA Bob Goalby (c)	79-81=160	+16
WD	AUS Bob Shearer	73	+1
USA Doug Ford (c)	77	+5
AUS David Graham	79	+7

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
USA Zoeller	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−6	−6	−7	−7	−8	−8
USA Sneed	−12	−12	−12	−11	−11	−10	−10	−10	−10	−9	−9	−9	−10	−10	−11	−10	−9	−8
USA Watson	−7	−8	−9	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8
USA Nicklaus	−4	−5	−5	−4	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−7	−7	−7	−8	−7	−7
USA Kite	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−7	−7	−7	−5	−5	−5
USA Lietzke	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−4	−4	−3	−3	−3	−3	−4	−4
USA Stadler	−6	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8	−7	−7	−6	−4	−3	−2	−4	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3
USA Thompson	−4	−4	−4	−3	−3	−3	−3	−4	−4	−4	−4	−3	−4	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3
USA Wadkins	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−1	−2	−2	−1	E	−1	−2	−3	−3	−3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Source:

Playoff

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	USA Fuzzy Zoeller	4-3	−1	50,000
T2	USA Ed Sneed	4-x		30,000
USA Tom Watson	4-4

Sudden-death playoff began on hole #10 and ended at hole #11, when Zoeller birdied.

References

(April 16, 1979). "Sneed's collapse gives Zoeller win". Eugene Register-Guard.
(April 16, 1979). "Zoeller is surprise winner following Masters playoff". Youngstown Vindicator.
(April 16, 1979). "Masters scores (final)". Youngstown Vindicator.
(April 7, 2004). "Masters playoff format is changed". CNN.com.
Jenkins, Dan. (April 23, 1979). "Fuzzy came in loud and clear".
"Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc..
"Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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