Masters anniversaries: A look back at Nicklaus, Palmer, Nelson, Snead and Woods

1942

Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and once worked together in the same caddie yard.

Though both were destined to turn professional in the 1930s, their paths took different trajectories.

Nelson gained early stardom by winning his first major at the 1937 Masters Tournament with a birdie-eagle burst at the 12th and 13th holes in the final round. Hogan, meanwhile, struggled to control a hook and couldn’t break through in a major.

Nelson would go on to add two more majors to his résumé, and in 1942 he crossed paths with Hogan again.

With the world at war and most big events suspended, the Masters was held for the last time before a three-year hiatus. Nelson and Hogan would be the principal figures as high drama played out at Augusta National Golf Club.

Nelson took the 36-hole lead with a torrid 68-67 start, but Hogan closed the gap with 67 in the third round. When Nelson stumbled to 73 in the final round, Hogan forged a tie with 70.

The Monday playoff was just the second in the brief history of the tournament. Under ideal conditions and in front of a reported gallery of 4,000 fans, Nelson and Hogan stepped on the first tee for what would prove to be an epic battle.

Nelson said he was battling a nervous stomach on the day of the playoff.

“I remember seeing Byron’s wife, Louise, in a corridor of the Bon-Air Hotel that morning,” Hogan recalled in a Masters Journal article. “And she told me he was sick. I said, ‘Uh-oh. I don’t want to play him today.’ I’ve seen too many guys play their best golf when they’re sick. It happens all the time.”

Nelson got off to a sluggish start.

He hit a poor tee shot on the first hole, which led to a double bogey. After a bogey at the fourth, Nelson found himself three shots behind the steady Hogan.

Nelson cut into the lead with a birdie at the sixth while Hogan made bogey. At the par-5 eighth, Nelson laced his second shot to within six feet of the cup, and rolled in the putt for eagle.

After both made pars at No. 9, Nelson held a one-shot lead.

A bogey at the 10th dropped Hogan two back, then Nelson put on a brilliant display with birdies at the 11th, 12th and 13th holes.

Hogan battled back with birdies at Nos. 14 and 15, but that would be as close as he would get. A bogey on the 16th sealed his fate.

A closing bogey left Nelson with 69, yet he still played the final 13 holes in 5-under fashion. Hogan played excellent golf, making five birdies, but he finished one shot back with 70.

With no one knowing how long the Masters Tournament would be suspended or how long the war would last, the gallery was treated to one of the best showdowns in tournament history.

Nelson would win a record 11 tournaments in a row in 1945 and soon thereafter retire to start his ranch in Texas. Hogan would go on to win nine majors, including two Masters, as he became a legend of the game. Not bad for a couple of former caddies who came of age during the Depression.

The playoff victory made Nelson the second two-time Masters winner.

“Except for the first hole, I think that was the finest round of golf I ever shot,” Nelson said. “It easily could have been a 66 or 67.”

1952

Sam Snead won his first Masters Tournament in 1949 in spectacular style as he closed with a pair of 67s. He was rewarded by becoming the first golfer to earn a green jacket for his win.

Two years later, Snead was in position to add another green jacket to his collection. Tied for the lead after 54 holes, he skied to an 80 in the final round to drop into a tie for eighth. The collapse opened the door for Ben Hogan to win his first Masters.

Snead bounced back in 1952 with 70 in the first round and 67 in the second to seize the 36-hole lead. But he slipped to 77 in the third round, which left him tied with Hogan after 54 holes. Leaders weren’t paired together in those days, and Snead went out ahead of Hogan in the final round.

Snead played the front nine in 1-over fashion, but he shot 1-under on the back nine for his 72. The back nine was not without adventure – he made birdies on Nos. 10, 13 and 18, and bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12.

On the par-3 12th, Snead saved bogey after hitting into the water, pitching onto the fringe and sinking a chip shot.

“I dropped back on a spot with no more grass than there is hair on top of my head,” he said of his penalty drop. After chipping in, he said, “I figured then that I still had a chance to win.”

With a stiff breeze blowing on the final day, Snead’s 72 was bettered by only three players. The average score for the field that day was 76.8 strokes. Even the normally steady Hogan struggled, shooting 79 to drop into a tie for seventh.

Snead’s 286 total was the highest in Masters history.

The 1952 Masters also was memorable for the start of one of the tournament’s most famous traditions. After winning in 1951, Hogan suggested that previous champions gather for a dinner each year.

The Masters Club, now known as the Champions Dinner, was born.

1962

Arnold Palmer didn’t often lose on the final hole.

But at the 1961 Masters Tournament, he did just that when he made a double bogey on the final hole. South Africa’s Gary Player became the tournament’s first international champion.

A year later, Palmer and Player were at it again. Leading after 54 holes, Palmer struggled to 39 on the front nine in the final round and needed birdies at Nos. 16 and 17 to force a three-way playoff with Player and Dow Finsterwald.

In the Monday playoff, Player got off to a good start with 34 on the front nine. Palmer struggled to 37, and Finsterwald was well on his way to 77.

But Palmer was not going to go down without a fight, and the 10th hole would be the turning point. He rammed in a 30-foot downhill putt for birdie, and Player missed a short putt for par.

Palmer made four more birdies (on Nos. 12, 13, 14 and 16) to take the lead.

“There was no question about the fact that 10 was the big lift,” he said.

Palmer shot 5-under-par 31 on the back nine and had only one bogey on the day, which came at No. 7 after a “bad chip and a bad putt.” He finished with 68.

Player, looking to become the first repeat Masters winner, posted a respectable 71 but was no match for Palmer’s strong finish.

No one should have been surprised by Palmer’s back-nine charge. After all, he played the final nine in 17-under for the tournament. On the front nine, he was a combined 5-over.

Palmer’s caddie, Nathan­iel “Iron Man” Avery, could see the charge coming.

“He just jerks at his glove, tugs at his trouser belt and starts walking fast,” he said after the round. “When Mr. Arnold does that, everybody better watch out. He’s going to stampede anything in his way.”

Palmer gave reporters partial credit for his victory.

“Maybe it helped me that everybody kept asking me how I made six at the last hole last year,” he said.

1972

Jack Nicklaus made Augusta National his personal playground in the mid-1960s. He won the green jacket three times in four years, and most people figured it would just be a matter of time before he eclipsed Arnold Palmer’s record of four Masters wins.

But the Golden Bear endured a mild slump in the late 1960s and did little in Augusta between 1967 and 1971.

That changed in 1972. Nicklaus made the most of his opening 68, which was aided by an eagle on the 15th. A 71 on the second day further increased his lead as the field battled tough scoring conditions.

A 73 on Saturday was not cause for alarm, nor was the 74 he produced Sunday; Nicklaus still won the tournament by three shots over Bruce Crampton, Bobby Mitchell and Tom Weiskopf.

Nicklaus led wire-to-wire to win his fourth Masters title. In a tournament oddity, his scores became progressively worse each day.

“I’ve played better here and didn’t win,” he told reporters. “But the course changes and the field changes.”

1982

Craig Stadler didn’t start well or finish strong, but he played extremely well in the middle rounds in 1982 to capture his only major.

He started with 75, the highest opening round by a champion, but followed with 69 and 67.

Holding a three-stroke lead going into Sunday, Stadler made the turn after 3-under 33 and held a six-stroke cushion. But instead of waltzing to his coronation, Stadler stumbled his way home with 4-over 40.

He wound up in a playoff with Dan Pohl. The long hitter had opened the tournament with a pair of 75s but was red hot after two 67s. Both men completed regulation at 4-under 284.

With a routine par on the first hole of sudden death, Stadler regained momentum.

Pohl pushed his approach to the right and found himself about 40 feet away. An indifferent third shot left him about six feet for par, and Pohl missed the putt.

It was the shortest playoff in Masters history.

1992

It’s a rite of passage: Every Masters champion has to successfully negotiate the tee shot at the 12th hole if he wants to put on the green jacket.

Fred Couples came to the 12th tee in 1992 with the lead. Every golfer knows that to fire at the pin, tucked in its traditional Sunday placement in the right corner, is folly.

Couples was trying to play it safe, but he blocked his tee shot. It hit the bank on the far side of Rae’s Creek but, defying gravity, did not roll back into the water.

From there, Couples chipped up close to save par and went on to win by two strokes over close friend and mentor Raymond Floyd.

“The biggest break, probably, of my life,” Couples said after slipping into his green jacket. “I’m not so sure what would have happened if it would have went in the water like everybody else’s.”

2002

Advances in golf technology threatened to make Augusta National obsolete in the early 2000s.

Golfers were hitting short clubs into the longest par-4s, and reaching the par-5s in two was not difficult for the world’s best players.

Hootie Johnson, the club’s chairman, had had enough. He ordered a major facelift before the 2002 Masters.

“Our objective is to keep this golf course current,” he said.

Nine holes – Nos. 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 18 – were lengthened, stretching the course to 7,270 yards. Tees on four holes (Nos. 8, 10, 11 and 18) were shifted slightly, and bunkers on Nos. 1, 8 and 18 were enlarged.

Though some players didn’t care for the changes, it didn’t keep them from going low. Davis Love III took the lead with an opening 67, and Vijay Singh scorched the layout for 65 in the second round.

Defending champion Tiger Woods wasn’t far off the pace. He opened with rounds of 70 and 69 and grabbed a share of the 54-hole lead after firing 66. That left him on top with South African Retief Goosen.

Woods needed only 71 in the final round to win his third green jacket.

Goosen never mounted a
serious threat, and Woods joined Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only men to ever successfully defend their titles at Augusta National.