1937 Masters Tournament

The 1937 Masters Tournament was the fourth Masters Tournament, held April 1–4 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

1937 Masters Tournament
Tournament information
DatesApril 1–4, 1937
LocationAugusta, Georgia
33°30′11″N 82°01′12″W / 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
Field46 players[1]
CutNone
Prize fund$5,000
Winner's share$1,500
Champion
United States Byron Nelson
283 (−5)
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
← 1936
1938 →

Opening with a six-under 66,[2] Byron Nelson led after the first and second rounds,[3] but a 75 on Saturday dropped him four strokes back, in a tie for third.[4] On the final nine on Sunday, he gained six strokes on third round leader Ralph Guldahl over two holes and won the tournament by two strokes. Compared to Guldahl's 5–6 (double bogey, bogey), Nelson played the 12th and 13th holes 2–3 (birdie, eagle), respectively.[5][6] The Nelson Bridge, over Rae's Creek departing the 13th tee, was dedicated in 1958 to commemorate the feat.[7]

At age 25, this was the first of Nelson's five major titles; he won the Masters again in 1942, which was not held again until 1946. Guldahl rebounded and won three majors over the next two years: the U.S. Open in 1937 and 1938 and the Masters in 1939.

Sam Snead made his Masters debut and finished 18th. The purse was $5,000 with a winner's share of $1,500.

Field

edit
1. Masters champions

Gene Sarazen (2,4,6,7,9,10), Horton Smith (7,9,10,12)

2. U.S. Open champions

Tommy Armour (4,6,9,10), Billy Burke (9,10), Bobby Jones (3,4,5), Willie Macfarlane, Tony Manero (10,12), Sam Parks Jr. (7,9), George Sargent

3. U.S. Amateur champions

Lawson Little (5,9), Jess Sweetser (5,a)

4. British Open champions

Jock Hutchison (6), Denny Shute (6,9,10,12)

5. British Amateur champions
6. PGA champions

Johnny Revolta (7,9,10), Paul Runyan (7,9,10)

7. Members of the U.S. 1935 Ryder Cup team

Ky Laffoon (9,10), Henry Picard (9,10), Craig Wood (9,12)

8. Members of the U.S. 1936 Walker Cup team

Charlie Yates (a)

9. Top 30 players and ties from the 1936 Masters Tournament

Harry Cooper (10), Wiffy Cox (10), Bobby Cruickshank, Ed Dudley, Al Espinosa, Vic Ghezzi (110, Ray Mangrum (10), Jug McSpaden (10,12), Byron Nelson, Jimmy Thomson (10,12), Al Watrous

10. Top 30 players and ties from the 1936 U.S. Open

Herman Barron, Al Brosch, Clarence Clark, Ralph Guldahl, Tom Kerrigan, Chuck Kocsis (a), Frank Moore, Jack Munger (a), Felix Serafin

11. 1936 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists

John Riddell (a)

12. 1936 PGA Championship quarter-finalists

Jimmy Hines, Bill Mehlhorn

13. Two players, not already qualified, with the best scoring average in the winter part of the 1937 PGA Tour

Leonard Dodson, Sam Snead

14 Foreign invitations

Francis Francis (a)

Additional invitation

Fred Haas (a) winner of 1936 Canadian Amateur Championship

Round summaries

edit

First round

edit

Thursday, April 1, 1937

Place Player Score To par
1   Byron Nelson 66 −6
2   Ralph Guldahl 69 −3
T3   Ed Dudley 70 −2
  Wiffy Cox
  Lawson Little
T6   Leonard Dodson 71 −1
  Tony Manero
  Johnny Revolta
  Jimmy Thomson
T10   Vic Ghezzi 72 E
  Al Espinosa

Source:[2]

Second round

edit

Friday, April 2, 1937

Place Player Score To par
1   Byron Nelson 66-72=138 −6
T2   Ralph Guldahl 69-72=141 −3
  Ed Dudley 70-71=141
T4   Harry Cooper 73-69=142 −2
  Wiffy Cox 70-72=142
T6   Ky Laffoon 73-70=143 −1
  Tony Manero 71-72=143
  Johnny Revolta 71-72=143
T9   Vic Ghezzi 72-72=144 E
  Jimmy Thomson 71-73=144

Source:[3]

Third round

edit

Saturday, April 3, 1937

Place Player Score To par
1   Ralph Guldahl 69-72-68=209 −7
2   Ed Dudley 70-71-71=212 −4
T3   Harry Cooper 73-69-71=213 −3
  Byron Nelson 66-72-75=213
5   Johnny Revolta 71-72-72=215 −1
6   Vic Ghezzi 72-72-72=216 E
T7   Leonard Dodson 71-75-71=217 +1
  Jimmy Hines 77-72-68=217
  Ky Laffoon 73-70-74=217
  Al Watrous 74-72-71=217

Source:[4]

Final round

edit

Sunday, April 4, 1937

Final leaderboard

edit
Champion
Silver Cup winner (low amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
Top 10
Place Player Score To par Money (US$)
1   Byron Nelson 66-72-75-70=283 −5 1,500
2   Ralph Guldahl 69-72-68-76=285 −3 800
3   Ed Dudley 70-71-71-74=286 −2 600
4   Harry Cooper 73-69-71-74=287 −1 500
5   Ky Laffoon 73-70-74-73=290 +2 400
6   Jimmy Thomson 71-73-74-73=291 +3 300
7   Al Watrous 74-72-71-75=292 +4 250
T8   Tommy Armour 73-75-73-72=293 +5 175
  Vic Ghezzi 72-72-72-77=293
T10   Leonard Dodson 71-75-71-77=294 +6 100
  Jimmy Hines 77-72-68-77=294

Sources:[8][9]

Scorecard

edit

Final round

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
  Nelson −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −2 −1 −1 −1 −2 −2 −3 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5
  Guldahl −7 −7 −7 −7 −6 −7 −7 −6 −5 −6 −6 −4 −3 −3 −4 −4 −3 −3
  Dudley −4 −2 −2 −3 −3 −2 −2 −2 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −2
  Cooper −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −1 E E E E −1 −1 −2 −2 −1 −1

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:[5]

References

edit
  1. ^ "Past winners and results". The Masters. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Bashful Byron Nelson's 66 leads golfers at Augusta". Spartanburg Herald. South Carolina. Associated Press. April 2, 1937. p. 15.
  3. ^ a b Rice, Grantland (April 3, 1937). "Nelson leads in golf play". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. North American Newspaper Alliance. p. 14.
  4. ^ a b "Guldahl shoots 68 to grab lead in Augusta golf play". Sunday Spartanburg Herald-Journal. South Carolina. Associated Press. April 4, 1937. p. 22.
  5. ^ a b "Nelson beats down four stroke lead on last nine to win Augusta tourney". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 5, 1937. p. 15.
  6. ^ "Byron Nelson captures Augusta golf classic". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. April 5, 1937. p. 3, part 2.
  7. ^ "Augusta club honors Nelson and Hogan". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Florida. Associated Press. April 3, 1958. p. 8.
  8. ^ "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  9. ^ "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
edit