1961 Masters Tournament

The 1961 Masters Tournament was the 25th Masters Tournament, held April 6–10 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Due to heavy rains and flooding of several greens, Sunday's final round was halted before 4 p.m. and the scores were erased, even though ten players had completed their rounds. Third round leader Gary Player was even par through eleven holes, and defending champion Arnold Palmer was two-under through nine. The entire round was replayed the next day.^[2][3]

In the final round on Monday, Player defeated Palmer and amateur Charles Coe by one stroke to become the first international champion at the Masters.^[4][5] Player made an up and down from the bunker on the final hole but thought he had lost the tournament, after carding a disappointing 40 (+4) on the back nine. In the final pairing with a one-shot lead, Palmer needed a par on the final hole for the win. From the fairway, his approach shot also landed in the bunker right of the green. With a poor lie, Palmer's bunker shot went past the hole and off the green and down a hillock.^[6] Using his putter from off the green, he failed to get the fourth shot close, then missed the 15-foot (4.5 m) bogey putt which would have forced a playoff.^[7][8]

It was the first of three green jackets for Player, age 25, and the second of his nine major titles. His other wins at Augusta came over a decade later in 1974 and 1978. Jack Nicklaus, 21, recorded the first of his 22 top-10 finishes at the Masters, his last as an amateur. He tied for seventh, but the low amateur honors went to Coe. Nicklaus regained the U.S. Amateur title in September at Pebble Beach and turned professional in November.

A field of 88 players entered the tournament and 41 of them made the cut at five-over-par (149).

Amateur Deane Beman won the Par 3 contest with a score of 22; he turned pro in 1967 and later became the second commissioner of the PGA Tour, from 1974 to 1994.

Field

1. Masters champions

Jack Burke Jr. (4,8,11), Jimmy Demaret, Doug Ford (4,10,11), Claude Harmon (8), Ben Hogan (2,3,4,8,9), Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff (2,11), Byron Nelson (2,4), Arnold Palmer (2,8,9,10), Gene Sarazen (2,3,4), Horton Smith, Sam Snead (3,4,8,10,11), Craig Wood (2)

• Ralph Guldahl (2), Henry Picard (4), and Art Wall Jr. (11) did not play.

The following categories only apply to Americans

2. U.S. Open champions

Tommy Bolt (8), Julius Boros (8,9,11), Billy Burke, Billy Casper (8,9), Jack Fleck (9), Ed Furgol, Tony Manero, Lloyd Mangrum, Dick Mayer, Fred McLeod, Sam Parks Jr., Lew Worsham

3. The Open champions

Jock Hutchison (4), Denny Shute (4)

4. PGA champions

Walter Burkemo, Dow Finsterwald (8,9,11), Vic Ghezzi, Chick Harbert, Chandler Harper, Jay Hebert (10,11), Lionel Hebert (8), Johnny Revolta, Bob Rosburg (8,11), Jim Turnesa

5. U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions

Deane Beman (6,7,a), Dick Chapman (a), Charles Coe (6,a), Jack Nicklaus (6,8,9,a), Robert Sweeny Jr. (a)

6. Members of the 1959 U.S. Walker Cup team

William C. Campbell (a), Bill Hyndman (7,a), Chuck Kocsis (a), Billy Joe Patton (8,a), Bud Taylor (8,a), Ward Wettlaufer (a)

• Tommy Aaron had turned professional. Campbell and Kocsis were reserves for the team. Harvie Ward did not play.

7. 1960 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists

John Farquhar (a), Robert W. Gardner (a), Charles Lewis III (a), Steve Spray (a), Claude Wild (a)

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1960 Masters Tournament

Fred Hawkins, Don January (10), Ted Kroll (9), Mike Souchak (9,11), Ken Venturi

• Ed Oliver did not play.

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1960 U.S. Open

Jerry Barber, George Bayer, Don Cherry (a), Paul Harney, Bob Harris, Dutch Harrison, Johnny Pott

10. Top eight players and ties from 1960 PGA Championship

Wes Ellis, Doug Sanders

• Jim Ferrier (4) did not play

11. Members of the U.S. 1959 Ryder Cup team

12. One player, either amateur or professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-Masters champions

Gene Littler

13. One professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Open champions

Bob Goalby

14. One amateur, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Amateur champions

Bob Cochran (a)

15. Two players, not already qualified, from a points list based on finishes in the winter part of the 1961 PGA Tour

Bill Collins, Mason Rudolph

16. Foreign invitations

Keith Alexander (a), Al Balding, Phil Brownlee (a), Antonio Cerdá, Bruce Crampton (8), Roberto De Vicenzo, Mário Gonzalez, Bill Kerr, Stan Leonard (8), Sebastián Miguel, Ángel Miguel, Kel Nagle (3), Gary Player (3,8), Chi-Chi Rodríguez, Miguel Sala, Peter Thomson (3)

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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 6, 1961

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Arnold Palmer	68	−4
	Bob Rosburg
3	Gary Player	69	−3
4	Jack Nicklaus (a)	70	−2
T5	Doug Ford	71	−1
	Paul Harney
	Byron Nelson
	Johnny Pott
T9	Tommy Bolt	72	E
	Billy Casper
	Charles Coe (a)
	Jay Hebert
	Stan Leonard
	Gene Littler
	Ken Venturi

Source^[9]

Second round

Friday, April 7, 1961

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Arnold Palmer	68-69=137	−7
	Gary Player	69-68=137
3	Bob Rosburg	68-73=141	−3
4	Don January	74-68=142	−2
T5	Tommy Bolt	72-71=143	−1
	Walter Burkemo	74-69=143
	Charles Coe (a)	72-71=143
	Lionel Hebert	74-69=143
	Ted Kroll	73-70=143
	Byron Nelson	71-72=143
	Ken Venturi	72-71=143

Source^[10][11][12]

Third round

Saturday, April 8, 1961

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Gary Player	69-68-69=206	−10
2	Arnold Palmer	68-69-73=210	−6
T3	Charles Coe (a)	72-71-69=212	−4
	Paul Harney	71-73-68=212
5	Bill Collins	74-72-67=213	−3
T6	Jack Burke Jr.	76-70-68=214	−2
	Don January	74-68-72=214
	Bob Rosburg	68-73-73=214
T9	Ted Kroll	73-70-72=215	−1
	Jack Nicklaus (a)	70-75-70=215
	Doug Sanders	76-71-68=215
	Ken Venturi	72-71-72=215

Source:^[13]

Final round

Sunday, April 9, 1961
Monday, April 10, 1961

Summary

Play on Sunday was washed out due to heavy rain and wind shortly after 4 pm and all scores were erased; the final round was replayed on Monday.^[2][3] Although Player was the leader after 54 holes, he finished his round nearly an hour ahead of Palmer's double-bogey at the final hole.

Final leaderboard

Champion

Silver Cup winner (low amateur)

(a) = amateur

(c) = past champion

Top 10

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (US$)
1	Gary Player	69-68-69-74=280	−8	20,000
T2	Charles Coe (a)	72-71-69-69=281	−7	0
	Arnold Palmer (c)	68-69-73-71=281		12,000
T4	Tommy Bolt	72-71-74-68=285	−3	7,000
	Don January	74-68-72-71=285
6	Paul Harney	71-73-68-74=286	−2	4,800
T7	Jack Burke Jr. (c)	76-70-68-73=287	−1	3,200
	Billy Casper	72-77-69-69=287
	Bill Collins	74-72-67-74=287
	Jack Nicklaus (a)	70-75-70-72=287		0

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T11	Walter Burkemo	74-69-73-72=288	E	1,667
	Robert W. Gardner (a)	74-71-72-71=288		0
	Doug Sanders	76-71-68-73=288		1,667
	Ken Venturi	72-71-72-73=288
T15	Stan Leonard	72-74-71-72=289	+1	1,300
	Gene Littler	72-73-72-72=289
	Bob Rosburg	68-73-73-75=289
	Sam Snead (c)	74-73-69-73=289
T19	Dick Mayer	76-72-70-73=291	+3	1,133
	Johnny Pott	71-75-72-73=291
	Peter Thomson	73-76-68-74=291
T22	Roberto De Vicenzo	73-74-71-74=292	+4	1,000
	Lew Worsham	74-71-73-74=292
T24	Antonio Cerdá	73-73-72-75=293	+5	1,000
	Fred Hawkins	74-75-72-72=293
	Ted Kroll	73-70-72-78=293
27	Al Balding	74-74-70-76=294	+6	1,000
T28	Mason Rudolph	77-69-72-77=295	+7	500
	Mike Souchak	75-72-75-73=295
T30	Jay Hebert	72-75-69-80=296	+8	500
	Lionel Hebert	74-69-74-79=296
T32	Doug Ford (c)	71-76-78-73=298	+10	500
	Ben Hogan (c)	74-73-72-79=298
	Byron Nelson (c)	71-72-78-77=298
35	Chick Harbert	74-73-76-76=299	+11	500
36	Bob Goalby	74-73-76-77=300	+12	500
37	Jerry Barber	74-72-78-77=301	+13	500
38	Miguel Sala	74-75-78-81=308	+20	500
CUT	Deane Beman (a)	73-77=150	+6
	Chuck Kocsis (a)	77-73=150
	Charles Lewis III (a)	74-76=150
	Cary Middlecoff (c)	75-75=150
	Ángel Miguel	75-75=150
	Chi-Chi Rodríguez	77-73=150
	Jim Turnesa	80-70=150
	George Bayer	77-74=151	+7
	Julius Boros	75-76=151
	Robert Sweeny Jr. (a)	74-77=151
	Keith Alexander (a)	76-76=152	+8
	Dow Finsterwald	73-79=152
	Mário Gonzalez	76-76=152
	Sebastián Miguel	74-78=152
	Bud Taylor (a)	74-78=152
	Don Cherry (a)	79-74=153	+9
	Bruce Crampton	80-73=153
	Jimmy Demaret (c)	75-78=153
	Bill Kerr	75-78=153
	Kel Nagle	75-78=153
	Billy Joe Patton (a)	78-75=153
	Bill Hyndman (a)	74-80=154	+10
	Lloyd Mangrum	80-75=155	+11
	Sam Parks Jr.	80-75=155
	Ed Furgol	75-81=156	+12
	Gene Sarazen (c)	79-77=156
	William C. Campbell (a)	76-81=157	+13
	Vic Ghezzi	74-83=157
	Claude Harmon (c)	76-81=157
	Bob Harris	79-78=157
	Phil Brownlee (a)	79-79=158	+14
	Dick Chapman (a)	80-79=159	+15
	Steve Spray (a)	80-79=159
	Billy Burke	81-79=160	+16
	Bob Cochran (a)	80-80=160
	John Farquhar (a)	77-83=160
	Craig Wood (c)	80-80=160
	Claude Wild (a)	78-83=161	+17
	Herman Keiser (c)	81-81=162	+18
	Tony Manero	80-82=162
	Johnny Revolta	84-80=164	+20
	Denny Shute	77-88=165	+21
	Ward Wettlaufer (a)	80-85=165
	Horton Smith (c)	86-83=169	+25
WD	Jack Fleck	74-71-73=218	+2
	Wes Ellis	75-73-74=222	+6
	Dutch Harrison	74-74-78=226	+10
	Chandler Harper	74	+2
	Jock Hutchison
	Fred McLeod

Sources:^[14][15]

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
Player	−11	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12	−12	−11	−11	−11	−9	−9	−8	−8	−8	−8
Palmer	−6	−7	−7	−7	−7	−8	−8	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−7
Coe	−4	−5	−5	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−4	−4	−5	−6	−7	−7	−7	−7

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

References

External links

• Masters.com – Past winners and results
• Augusta.com – 1961 Masters leaderboard and scorecards