The 1962 Masters Tournament was the 26th Masters Tournament, held April 5–9 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Arnold Palmer won the third of his four Masters titles in the tournament's first three-way playoff. It was the fifth of his seven major titles.
The other two in the 18-hole Monday playoff were also major championship winners: defending champion Gary Player and Dow Finsterwald, winner of the PGA Championship in 1958. Out in 37 and down three strokes to Player at the turn, Palmer shot a 31 on the back nine for 68, while Player shot a 71 and Finsterwald a 77. In the lead after three rounds, Palmer was five-over for his final round after a double bogey at the 10th hole. After five pars, he birdied 16 and 17 to get into the Monday playoff with a 75 (+3). The gallery for the playoff was estimated at 16,000 spectators.
Henry Picard, the 1938 champion, made his final cut at Augusta at age 55. Jack Nicklaus, 22, tied for 15th in his fourth appearance, the first as a professional. He won the next major, the U.S. Open, in a playoff over Palmer at Oakmont near Pittsburgh.
With near misses in 1959 and 1961, Palmer said that it could have been his fifth consecutive title at Augusta.
The 36-hole cut was increased this year to include the low 44 plus ties and anyone within 10 shots of the lead (previously it was the low 40 plus ties). 110 players entered the tournament and 52 made the cut at 149 (+5).
Bruce Crampton won the third Par 3 contest with a score of 22.
Field 1. Masters champions Jack Burke Jr. (4,8), Jimmy Demaret, Doug Ford (4,9,10,11), Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan (2,3,4,9), Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff (2), Byron Nelson (2,4), Arnold Palmer (2,3,8,9,10,11), Henry Picard (4), Gary Player (3,9), Gene Sarazen (2,3,4), Horton Smith, Sam Snead (3,4,8), Art Wall Jr. (10,11) Ralph Guldahl (2) and Craig Wood (2) did not play.
The following categories only apply to Americans
2. U.S. Open champions Tommy Bolt (8), Julius Boros, Billy Burke, Billy Casper (8,11), Jack Fleck, Ed Furgol, Gene Littler (8,9,10,11), Tony Manero, Lloyd Mangrum, Dick Mayer (8), Fred McLeod, Sam Parks Jr., Lew Worsham (8)
3. The Open champions Jock Hutchison (4), Denny Shute (4)
4. PGA champions Jerry Barber (10,11), Walter Burkemo (8), Jim Ferrier, Dow Finsterwald (9,11), Vic Ghezzi, Chick Harbert, Chandler Harper, Jay Hebert (11), Lionel Hebert, Johnny Revolta, Bob Rosburg (8), Jim Turnesa
5. U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions Deane Beman (6,8,a), Dick Chapman (a), Charles Coe (6,8,a), Ed Updegraff (a)
6. Members of the 1961 U.S. Walker Cup team Gene Andrews (a), Don Cherry (a), Bob Cochran (a), Robert W. Gardner (8,a), Bill Hyndman (a), Billy Joe Patton (a), Charlie Smith (7,a)
Bud Taylor did not play. Patton was first reserve for the team. Nicklaus had turned professional but qualified under other categories.
7. 1961 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists Sam Carmichael (a), Gene Francis (a), Marion Methvin (a), Richard Norville (a), Dudley Wysong (a)
8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1961 Masters Tournament Bill Collins (11), Paul Harney, Fred Hawkins, Don January (10), Ted Kroll (10), Jack Nicklaus (9), Johnny Pott (10), Doug Sanders (9,10), Ken Venturi
9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1961 U.S. Open Jacky Cupit, Gardner Dickinson, Dave Douglas, Al Geiberger, Bob Goalby, Eric Monti, Mike Souchak (11)
10. Top eight players and ties from 1961 PGA Championship Wes Ellis
11. Members of the U.S. 1961 Ryder Cup team
12. Two players selected for meritorious records on the fall part of the 1961 PGA Tour George Bayer, Gay Brewer
13. One player, either amateur or professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-Masters champions Dave Marr
14. One professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Open champions Billy Maxwell
15. One amateur, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Amateur champions R. H. Sikes (a)
16. Two players, not already qualified, from a points list based on finishes in the winter part of the 1962 PGA Tour Dave Ragan, Phil Rodgers
17. Foreign invitations Ben Arda, Al Balding, David Blair (a), Antonio Cerdá (8), Bob Charles, Gary Cowan (a), Bruce Crampton, Fidel de Luca, Roberto De Vicenzo (8), Gerard de Wit, Bruce Devlin, Juan Antonio Estrada (a), José Maria Gonzalez, Mário Gonzalez, Tom Haliburton, Harold Henning, Denis Hutchinson, Stan Leonard (8), Sebastián Miguel, Ángel Miguel, Kel Nagle (3), Frank Phillips, Chi-Chi Rodríguez, Leopoldo Ruiz, Miguel Sala, Syd Scott, Norman Von Nida, Brian Wilkes
Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.
Round summaries First round Thursday, April 5, 1962 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Gary Player 67 −52 Julius Boros 69 −3 T3 Arnold Palmer 70 −2 Mike Souchak Dave Ragan Gardner DickinsonT7 George Bayer 71 −1 Billy Maxwell Bob Rosburg Don January Gene Littler Source
Second round Friday, April 6, 1962 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Arnold Palmer 70-66=136 −82 Gary Player 67-71=138 −63 Gene Littler 71-68=139 −54 Gardner Dickinson 70-71=141 −3T5 Julius Boros 69-73=142 −2 Dow Finsterwald 74-68=142 Mike Souchak 70-72=142T8 Al Balding 75-68=143 −1 Dave Ragan 70-73=143T10 Jerry Barber 72-72=144 E Chi-Chi Rodríguez 72-72=144 Billy Maxwell 71-73=144 Bob Rosburg 71-73=144 Don January 71-73=144 Source
Third round Saturday, April 7, 1962 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Arnold Palmer 70-66-69=205 −11 2 Dow Finsterwald 74-68-65=207 −93 Gary Player 67-71-71=209 −74 Gene Littler 71-68-71=210 −6T5 Jerry Barber 72-72-69=213 −3 Gardner Dickinson 70-71-72=2137 Julius Boros 69-73-72=214 −28 Gay Brewer 74-71-70=215 −1T9 Lionel Hebert 72-73-71=216 E Ken Venturi 75-70-71=216 Billy Maxwell 71-73-72=216 Mike Souchak 70-72-74=216
Final round Sunday, April 8, 1962
Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)T1 Dow Finsterwald 74-68-65-73=280 −8 Playoff Arnold Palmer (c) 70-66-69-75=280 Gary Player (c) 67-71-71-71=2804 Gene Littler 71-68-71-72=282 −6 6,000T5 Jerry Barber 72-72-69-74=287 −1 3,600 Jimmy Demaret (c) 73-73-71-70=287 Billy Maxwell 71-73-72-71=287 Mike Souchak 70-72-74-71=287T9 Charles Coe (a) 72-74-71-71=288 E 0 Ken Venturi 75-70-71-72=288 2,000 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T11 Julius Boros 69-73-72-76=290 +2 1,450 Gay Brewer 74-71-70-75=290 Jack Fleck 72-75-74-69=290 Harold Henning 75-73-72-70=290T15 Billy Casper 73-73-73-72=291 +3 1,160 Gardner Dickinson 70-71-72-78=291 Paul Harney 74-71-74-72=291 Jack Nicklaus 74-75-70-72=291 Sam Snead (c) 72-75-70-74=291T20 Jacky Cupit 73-73-72-74=292 +4 1,000 Lionel Hebert 72-73-71-76=292 Don January 71-73-74-74=292 Johnny Pott 77-71-75-69=29224 Al Balding 75-68-78-72=293 +5 1,000T25 Bob Charles 75-72-73-74=294 +6 625 Bob Goalby 74-74-73-73=294 Ted Kroll 72-74-72-76=294 Dave Ragan 70-73-76-75=294T29 Bill Collins 75-70-75-75=295 +7 500 Bruce Crampton 72-75-74-74=295 Cary Middlecoff (c) 75-74-73-73=295 Lew Worsham 75-70-78-72=295T33 Roberto De Vicenzo 77-72-70-77=296 +8 500 Lloyd Mangrum 75-74-71-76=296 Byron Nelson (c) 72-76-72-76=296 Chi-Chi Rodríguez 72-72-75-77=296 Doug Sanders 74-74-73-75=29638 Ben Hogan (c) 78-71-75-73=297 +9 500T39 Jack Burke Jr. (c) 78-69-73-78=298 +10 500 Antonio Cerdá 74-75-75-74=298 Henry Picard (c) 75-73-76-74=29842 Don Cherry (a) 77-72-73-77=299 +11 043 Chick Harbert 75-74-74-77=300 +12 500T44 George Bayer 71-76-74-80=301 +13 500 Doug Ford (c) 75-72-76-78=301 José Maria Gonzalez 75-74-73-79=301 Brian Wilkes 74-75-74-78=301T48 Juan Antonio Estrada (a) 75-74-76-77=302 +14 0 Mário Gonzalez 73-76-77-76=302 500 Chandler Harper 73-76-79-74=302CUT Walter Burkemo 74-76=150 +6 Bob Cochran (a) 80-70=150 Gerard de Wit 76-74=150 Wes Ellis 74-76=150 Dick Mayer 76-74=150 Miguel Sala 74-76=150 Charlie Smith (a) 76-74=150 Art Wall Jr. (c) 76-74=150 Sam Carmichael (a) 76-75=151 +7 Dave Douglas 73-78=151 Stan Leonard 77-74=151 Dave Marr 78-73=151 Marion Methvin (a) 72-79=151 Ángel Miguel 74-77=151 Eric Monti 77-74=151 Frank Phillips 79-72=151 Phil Rodgers 76-75=151 Syd Scott 75-76=151 Ed Updegraff (a) 74-77=151 Denis Hutchinson 76-76=152 +8 Jim Ferrier 80-73=153 +9 Ed Furgol 76-77=153 Tommy Bolt 74-80=154 +10 Fidel de Luca 79-75=154 Kel Nagle 75-79=154 Billy Joe Patton (a) 76-78=154 Jim Turnesa 79-75=154 Deane Beman (a) 80-75=155 +11 Norman Von Nida 78-77=155 Gene Andrews (a) 77-79=156 +12 Ben Arda 79-77=156 Bruce Devlin 80-76=156 Gene Francis (a) 81-75=156 Al Geiberger 77-79=156 Tom Haliburton 83-73=156 Claude Harmon (c) 79-77=156 Sebastián Miguel 77-79=156 Richard Norville (a) 80-76=156 Leopoldo Ruiz 82-74=156 Denny Shute 77-79=156 Dudley Wysong (a) 78-79=157 +13 David Blair (a) 81-77=158 +14 Robert W. Gardner (a) 78-80=158 Fred Hawkins 81-77=158 Vic Ghezzi 81-78=159 +15 R. H. Sikes (a) 80-80=160 +16 Gary Cowan (a) 83-80=163 +19 Sam Parks Jr. 84-79=163 Johnny Revolta 81-82=163 Dick Chapman (a) 80-84=164 +20 Horton Smith (c) 92-88=180 +36WD Gene Sarazen (c) 74-74=148 +4 Jay Hebert 74 +2 Herman Keiser (c) 75 +3 Bill Hyndman (a) 76 +4 Billy Burke Jock Hutchison Tony Manero Fred McLeodDQ Bob Rosburg 71-73-78=222 +6
Sources:
Scorecard Final round Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Par454343454 443545344 Palmer−11−11−11−10−9−9−8−8−8−6−6−6−6−6−6−7−8−8 Player−6−6−5−5−6−7−6−7−8−8−9−8−8−8−8−8−8−8 Finsterwald−9−10−10−9−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−9−9−9−9−8−8 Littler−6−6−7−7−7−7−7−7−7−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−7−6 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- |style="background: Pink;" width=10| |Birdie |style="background: PaleGreen;" width=10| |Bogey |style="background: Green;" width=10| |Double bogey
Playoff Monday, April 9, 1962 PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Arnold Palmer 68 −4 20,0002 Gary Player 71 −1 12,0003 Dow Finsterwald 77 +5 8,000 Source:
Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Par454343454 443545344 PalmerEEEEEE+1+1+1EE−1−2−3−3−4−4−4 Player−1−2−2−2−1−2−2−2−2−1−1EE+1EEE−1 Finsterwald+1+1+1+1+2+2+3+3+4+4+5+5+4+4+5+5+5+5 Source:
References
External links Masters.com – Past winners and results Augusta.com – 1962 Masters leaderboard and scorecards