The 1939 Masters Tournament was the sixth Masters Tournament, held from March31 to April2 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Due to adverse weather conditions, the first round was postponed to Friday and the final two rounds were played on Sunday.

Ralph Guldahl won his only Masters title with a tournament record 279(−9), one stroke better than runner-up Sam Snead. He had finished as a runner-up the previous two years, and it was the third of Guldahl's three major titles; he won consecutive U.S.Open titles in 1937 and 1938. The previous Masters record was 282(−6) in 1935, and Guldahl's mark stood until 1953, when Ben Hogan shot 274(−14).

The purse was $5,000 with a winner's share of $1,500. The gallery for Sunday's final two rounds was estimated at 10,000spectators. Challenging weather conditions during the second round on Saturday included hail, wind, rain, and some sun breaks. It also was the first time the tournament was called The Masters instead of the Augusta National Invitation Tournament.

Field 1. Masters champions Byron Nelson (7,9,10,12), Henry Picard (7,9,10,12), Gene Sarazen (2,4,6,7,9,10,12), Horton Smith (7,9,10,12)

2. U.S. Open champions Tommy Armour (4,6,10), Billy Burke (9), Johnny Farrell, Ralph Guldahl (7,9,10), Walter Hagen (4,6), Bobby Jones (3,4,5,9), Tony Manero (7,9)

3. U.S. Amateur champions Lawson Little (5,9), Jess Sweetser (5,a), Willie Turnesa (11,a)

4. British Open champions Jock Hutchison (6), Denny Shute (6,7,10)

5. British Amateur champions Charlie Yates (8,a)

6. PGA champions Johnny Revolta (7,9,10), Paul Runyan (9,10,12)

7. Members of the U.S. 1937 Ryder Cup team Ed Dudley (9), Sam Snead (12)

8. Members of the U.S. 1938 Walker Cup team Ray Billows (a), Tommy Suffern Tailer (9,a)

Johnny Fischer (3,a), Johnny Goodman (2,3,5,11,a), Fred Haas (a), Chuck Kocsis (9,a), Reynolds Smith (a) and Bud Ward (a) did not play. Tailer was a reserve for the team.

9. Top 30 players and ties from the 1938 Masters Tournament Harry Cooper (10), Vic Ghezzi (10), Jimmy Hines (10,12), Ben Hogan, Ky Laffoon, Ray Mangrum, Jug McSpaden (10), Dick Metz (10), Felix Serafin, Jimmy Thomson, Frank Walsh, Al Watrous

Wiffy Cox, Bobby Cruickshank and Sam Parks Jr. (2) did not play.

10. Top 30 players and ties from the 1938 U.S. Open Joe Belfore, Jim Foulis (12), Frank Moore, Toney Penna

Olin Dutra (2,6), Willie Hunter (5), Al Huske, Stanley Kertes, Butch Kreuger, Charles Lacey, Ray Mangrum, John Rogers, Charles Sheppard, George Von Elm (3), Al Zimmerman and Emery Zimmerman did not play,

11. 1938 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists Dick Chapman (a), Chick Harbert (a), Joe Thompson (a)

Pat Abbott (a), Chris Brinke (a) and Ed Kingsley (a) did not play.

12. 1938 PGA Championship quarter-finalists

13. Two players, not already qualified, with the best scoring average in the winter part of the 1939 PGA Tour Jimmy Demaret, Craig Wood

14 Foreign invitations Stanley Horne

Additional invitation Ted Adams (a) winner of 1938 Canadian Amateur Championship

Round summaries First round Friday, March 31, 1939 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Billy Burke 69 −3 2 Sam Snead 70 −2 T3 Tommy Armour 71 −1 Byron Nelson Henry Picard T6 Jimmy Demaret 72 E Ralph Guldahl Ky Laffoon Lawson Little Dick Metz Toney Penna Craig Wood Source:

Second round Saturday, April 1, 1939 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Gene Sarazen 73-66=139 −5 T2 Ralph Guldahl 72-68=140 −4 Byron Nelson 71-69=140 Sam Snead 70-70=140 5 Billy Burke 69-72=141 −3 6 Henry Picard 71-71=142 −27 Lawson Little 72-72=144 ET8 Tommy Armour 71-74=145 +1 Craig Wood 72-73=145 T10 Ben Hogan 75-71=146 +2 Jimmy Thomson 75-71=146 Source:

Third round Sunday, April 2, 1939   (morning) PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Ralph Guldahl 72-68-70=210 −6 2 Gene Sarazen 73-66-72=211 −5 T3 Billy Burke 69-72-71=212 −4 Lawson Little 72-72-68=212 Byron Nelson 71-69-72=212 Sam Snead 70-70-72=212 7 Craig Wood 72-73-71=216 E T8 Ben Hogan 75-71-72=218 +2 Henry Picard 71-71-76=218 T10 Ed Dudley 75-75-69=219 +3 Toney Penna 72-75-72=219

Final round Sunday, April 2, 1939   (afternoon)

Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)1 Ralph Guldahl 72-68-70-69=279 −9 1,5002 Sam Snead 70-70-72-68=280 −8 800T3 Billy Burke 69-72-71-70=282 −6 550 Lawson Little 72-72-68-70=2825 Gene Sarazen (c) 73-66-72-72=283 −5 4006 Craig Wood 72-73-71-68=284 −4 3007 Byron Nelson (c) 71-69-72-75=287 −1 2508 Henry Picard (c) 71-71-76-71=289 +1 1759 Ben Hogan 75-71-72-72=290 +2 175T10 Ed Dudley 75-75-69-72=291 +3 100 Toney Penna 72-75-72-72=291 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T12 Tommy Armour 71-74-76-72=293 +5 33 Vic Ghezzi 73-76-72-72=293 Jug McSpaden 75-72-74-72=29315 Denny Shute 78-71-73-72=294 +6 T16 Paul Runyan 73-71-75-76=295 +7 Felix Serafin 74-76-73-72=295T18 Chick Harbert (a) 74-73-75-74=296 +8 Jimmy Thomson 75-71-73-77=296 Charlie Yates (a) 74-73-74-75=29621 Tommy Suffern Tailer (a) 78-75-73-71=297 +9T22 Jimmy Hines 76-73-74-75=298 +10 Ky Laffoon 72-75-73-78=298 Frank Moore 75-74-75-74=29825 Al Watrous 75-75-74-75=299 +11T26 Tony Manero 76-73-77-74=300 +12 Horton Smith (c) 75-79-74-72=300 Willie Turnesa (a) 78-70-79-73=300T29 Jess Sweetser (a) 75-75-75-77=302 +14 Frank Walsh 76-76-72-78=302T31 Dick Metz 72-80-77-74=303 +15 Johnny Revolta 77-74-76-76=303T33 Harry Cooper 76-77-73-78=304 +16 Jimmy Demaret 72-81-77-74=304 Walter Hagen 76-76-76-76=304 Bobby Jones 76-77-78-73=304T37 Dick Chapman (a) 78-77-77-77=309 +21 Jim Foulis 80-76-77-76=30939 Johnny Farrell 81-75-79-77=312 +2440 Ted Adams (a) 78-77-83-76=314 +2641 Ray Billows (a) 75-84-78-80=317 +2942 Joe Belfore 83-79-78-78=318 +3043 Joe Thompson 81-84-79-78=322 +34WD Jock Hutchison 79-77=156 +12 Ray Mangrum 77 +5 Stanley Horne 82 +10

Sources:

References

External links Masters.com – past winners and results Augusta.com – 1939 Masters leaderboard and scorecards