1937 Masters Tournament

The 1937 Masters Tournament was the fourth Masters Tournament, held April1–4 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The tournament was at this point still officially named the "Augusta National Invitation Tournament", and would not officially adopt the Masters Tournament name until 1939.

Opening with a six-under66, Byron Nelson led after the first and second rounds, but a75 on Saturday dropped him four strokes back, in a tie for third. 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's5–6 (double bogey, bogey), Nelson played the 12th and 13thholes 2–3(birdie, eagle), respectively. The Nelson Bridge, over Rae's Creek departing the 13thtee, was dedicated in 1958 to commemorate the feat.

At age25, 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

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)

• Olin Dutra (2,6) and Walter Hagen (2,4,6,9) did not play.

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

Charlie Yates (a)

• Albert Campbell (9,11,a), George Dunlap (a), Walter Emery (a), Johnny Fischer (11,a), Harry Givan (a), Johnny Goodman (10,11,a), Francis Ouimet (a), Reynolds Smith (a), George Voigt (11,a) and Ed White (a) did not play.

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

• Johnny Dawson (a), Johnny Farrell (2,10), Dick Metz (10) and Orville White did not play.

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

• Zell Eaton, Jerry Gianferante, Willie Goggin and Macdonald Smith did not play

11. 1936 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists

John Riddell (a)

• Ray Billows (a) and Russell Martin (a) did not play.

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

First round

Thursday, April 1, 1937

<small>Source:</small>

Second round

Friday, April 2, 1937

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Third round

Saturday, April 3, 1937

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Final round

Sunday, April 4, 1937

Final leaderboard

Sources:

Scorecard

Final round

<small>Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par</small><br> <small>Source:</small>

References

External links

• Masters.com – past winners and results
• Augusta.com – 1937 Masters leaderboard and scorecards