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 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 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:

Second round Friday, April 2, 1937 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 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:

Third round Saturday, April 3, 1937 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 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:

Final round Sunday, April 4, 1937

Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)1 Byron Nelson 66-72-75-70=283 −5 1,5002 Ralph Guldahl 69-72-68-76=285 −3 8003 Ed Dudley 70-71-71-74=286 −2 6004 Harry Cooper 73-69-71-74=287 −1 5005 Ky Laffoon 73-70-74-73=290 +2 4006 Jimmy Thomson 71-73-74-73=291 +3 3007 Al Watrous 74-72-71-75=292 +4 250T8 Tommy Armour 73-75-73-72=293 +5 175 Vic Ghezzi 72-72-72-77=293T10 Leonard Dodson 71-75-71-77=294 +6 100 Jimmy Hines 77-72-68-77=294 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)12 Wiffy Cox 70-72-77-76=295 +7 100T13 Clarence Clark 77-75-70-74=296 +8 Tony Manero 71-72-78-75=296 Johnny Revolta 71-72-72-81=296 Denny Shute 74-75-71-76=29617 Bobby Cruickshank 79-69-71-78=297 +918 Sam Snead 76-72-71-79=298 +10T19 Lawson Little 70-79-74-76=299 +11 Willie Macfarlane 73-76-73-77=299 Paul Runyan 74-77-72-76=299 Felix Serafin 75-76-71-77=299 Horton Smith (c) 75-72-77-75=299T24 Ray Mangrum 71-80-72-77=300 +12 Gene Sarazen (c) 74-80-73-73=300T26 Craig Wood 79-77-74-71=301 +13 Charlie Yates (a) 76-73-74-78=30128 Francis Francis (a) 77-74-75-76=302 +14T29 Billy Burke 77-71-75-80=303 +15 Al Espinosa 72-76-79-76=303 Bobby Jones 79-74-73-77=30332 Jug McSpaden 77-79-72-76=304 +16T33 Bill Mehlhorn 73-76-77-79=305 +17 Henry Picard 75-77-75-78=30535 Chuck Kocsis (a) 76-72-77-82=307 +19T36 Al Brosch 78-79-74-77=308 +20 Tom Kerrigan 75-77-77-79=308 Sam Parks Jr. 76-75-80-77=30839 Frank Moore 73-79-76-82=310 +2240 Jess Sweetser (a) 75-80-85-79=319 +3141 John Riddell (a) 79-81-82-79=321 +33WD Fred Haas (a) 78-70-78=226 +10 Jack Munger (a) 84-81-78=243 +27 Herman Barron 78-75=153 +9 Jock Hutchison 77-77=154 +10 George Sargent 76 +4

Sources:

Scorecard Final round Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par454343454 443545344 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 −2−2−2−2−2−2−2−1EEEE−1−1−2−2−1−1 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par Source:

References

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