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Easter Sunday, Masters don't coincide this year
The final round of the Masters has fallen on Easter Sunday 17 times. But not this year: Easter is a full two weeks before the final round of the Masters.
Last year, Bubba Watson used a spectacular shot from the trees on the second playoff hole to defeat Louis Oosthuizen.
The Masters and Easter coincide on a regular basis because the Masters is played the first full week of April and because Easter falls on the Sunday after the paschal full moon, which always occurs between March 22 and April 25.
Some neat facts about Easter and the Masters:
Jimmy Demaret is the only person to win twice on Easter, and Arnold Palmer won his first Masters in 1958.
Jack Nicklaus won an 18-hole playoff the day after Easter to become the first player to claim green jackets in consecutive years.
Mark O'Meara and Phil Mickelson made birdies on the final hole to win on past Easters.
Watson, Bernhard Langer and Zach Johnson are three of the more recent champions who won on Easter and have talked about their faith.
Langer won his second green jacket in 1993, and Johnson overcame tough conditions to win his first major in 2007.
The last five times the Masters fell on Easter Sunday, a first-time winner put on the green jacket.
MASTERS EASTER SUNDAYS
Year - Winner
1947 - Jimmy Demaret
1950 - Jimmy Demaret
1955 - Cary Middlecoff*
1958 - Arnold Palmer*
1966 - Jack Nicklaus
1968 - Bob Goalby*
1971 - Charles Coody*
1974 - Gary Player
1977 - Tom Watson*
1979 - Fuzzy Zoeller*
1982 - Craig Stadler*
1993 - Bernhard Langer
1998 - Mark O’Meara*
2004 - Phil Mickelson*
2007 – Zach Johnson*
2009 – Angel Cabrera*
2012 – Bubba Watson*
*first time Masters winner