The 1972 Masters Tournament was the 36th Masters Tournament, held April 6–9 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Jack Nicklaus opened with a 68 and led wire-to-wire to win the fourth of his six Masters titles, three strokes ahead of three runners-up. It was the tenth of 18 major titles as a professional for Nicklaus, who also won the U.S. Open in 1972 and was the runner-up at the Open Championship in Scotland, one stroke behind Lee Trevino.

It was the first Masters played without founder Bobby Jones, who died in December 1971 at age 69. This Masters was also the debut of twenty-year-old Ben Crenshaw of the University of Texas, a future two-time champion who was low amateur at 295 (T19).

Banned from the last five Masters, commentator Jack Whitaker returned to the CBS telecast in 1972. At the end of the 18-hole Monday playoff in 1966, he had referred to the portion of the gallery trailing the players as a "mob."

Nicklaus became the third wire-to-wire winner in Masters history, following Craig Wood in 1941 and Arnold Palmer in 1960. Through 2026, there have been six; the next were Raymond Floyd in 1976, Jordan Spieth in 2015, and Rory McIlroy in 2026.

Field 1. Masters champions George Archer (9,11), Billy Casper (8,10,11,12), Charles Coody (8,12), Doug Ford, Bob Goalby (11), Ralph Guldahl, Herman Keiser, Jack Nicklaus (2,3,4,8,9,10,11,12), Arnold Palmer (8,11,12), Gary Player (3,8,10,11), Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr. Gay Brewer (9), Jack Burke Jr., Jimmy Demaret, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan, Cary Middlecoff, Byron Nelson and Henry Picard did not play. Brewer was hospitalized in Augusta for ulcers on Wednesday night and missed the tournament.

The following categories only apply to Americans

2. U.S. Open champions (last five years) Orville Moody (8), Lee Trevino (3,9,11,12)

3. The Open champions (last five years)

4. PGA champions (last five years) Julius Boros, Raymond Floyd (8,9), Don January (8), Dave Stockton (8,11,12)

5. The first eight finishers in the 1971 U.S. Amateur Rick Bendall (a), Ben Crenshaw (a), Tom Culligan (a), Vinny Giles (7,a), Jim McLean (a), Eddie Pearce (a), Marty West (a)

6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions

Steve Melnyk (7,8) and Lanny Wadkins (7,9) forfeited their exemptions by turning professional but qualified in other categories.

7. Members of the 1971 U.S. Walker Cup team William C. Campbell (a), John Farquhar (a), Jim Gabrielsen (a), Bill Hyndman (a), Tom Kite (a), Jim Simons (9,a)

Allen Miller forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1971 Masters Tournament Tommy Aaron, Frank Beard (11,12), Dave Eichelberger (11), Al Geiberger, Bert Greene, Hale Irwin (11), Dick Lotz, Steve Melnyk, Johnny Miller (9,11), Bobby Mitchell (11), Bob Murphy, Ken Still, Tom Weiskopf (11)

Gene Littler (11,12) had been diagnosed with cancer and did not play.

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1971 U.S. Open Jim Colbert, Jerry Heard (11), Larry Hinson, Jerry McGee, Bobby Nichols, Chi-Chi Rodríguez, Bob Rosburg (11), Lanny Wadkins, Bert Yancey

10. Top eight players and ties from 1971 PGA Championship Miller Barber (11,12), Tommy Bolt, Gibby Gilbert, Dave Hill, Jim Jamieson

11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters Homero Blancas, Gardner Dickinson (12), Hubert Green, Paul Harney, Labron Harris Jr., Grier Jones, DeWitt Weaver

12. Members of the U.S. 1971 Ryder Cup team Mason Rudolph, J. C. Snead

13. Foreign invitations Harry Bannerman, Brian Barnes, Bob Charles (9), Bobby Cole (9), Gary Cowan (5,6,a), Bruce Crampton (8,11), Roberto De Vicenzo (3,8), Bruce Devlin (8), David Graham, Hsieh Yung-yo, Tony Jacklin (2,3,11), Takaaki Kono, Lu Liang-Huan, Peter Oosterhuis, Masashi Ozaki, Ramón Sota

Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.

Round summaries

First round Thursday, April 6, 1972 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jack Nicklaus 68 −4 2 Sam Snead 69 −3 3 Arnold Palmer 70 −2 T4 Paul Harney 71 −1 Jim Simons (a)T6 Frank Beard 72 E Bob Charles Bruce Crampton Gibby Gilbert Tony Jacklin Jim Jamieson Steve Melnyk Bobby Nichols Lanny Wadkins Bert Yancey Source

Second round Friday, April 7, 1972 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jack Nicklaus 68-71=139 −5 2 Paul Harney 71-69=140 −4 3 Bert Yancey 72-69=141 −34 Jim Jamieson 72-70=142 −2 T5 Charles Coody 73-70=143 −1 Bobby Nichols 72-71=143T7 Roberto De Vicenzo 75-69=144 E Jerry Heard 73-71=144 Steve Melnyk 72-72=144 Sam Snead 69-75=144 Lanny Wadkins 72-72=144 Source

Third round Saturday, April 8, 1972 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Jack Nicklaus 68-71-73=212 −4 2 Jim Jamieson 72-70-71=213 −3 T3 Paul Harney 71-69-75=215 −1 Tom Weiskopf 74-71-70=215T5 Homero Blancas 76-71-69=216 E Bruce Crampton 72-75-69=216 Jerry Heard 73-71-72=216 Bobby Mitchell 73-72-71=216T9 Charles Coody 73-70-74=217 +1 Bert Yancey 72-69-76=217 Source

Final round Sunday, April 9, 1972

Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)1 Jack Nicklaus (c) 68-71-73-74=286 −2 25,000T2 Bruce Crampton 72-75-69-73=289 +1 15,833 Bobby Mitchell 73-72-71-73=289 Tom Weiskopf 74-71-70-74=289T5 Homero Blancas 76-71-69-74=290 +2 6,200 Bruce Devlin 74-75-70-71=290 Jerry Heard 73-71-72-74=290 Jim Jamieson 72-70-71-77=290 Jerry McGee 73-74-71-72=290T10 Gary Player (c) 73-75-72-71=291 +3 3,600 Dave Stockton 76-70-74-71=291 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T12 George Archer (c) 73-75-72-72=292 +4 3,100 Charles Coody (c) 73-70-74-75=292 Al Geiberger 76-70-74-72=292 Steve Melnyk 72-72-74-74=292 Bert Yancey 72-69-76-75=292T17 Billy Casper (c) 75-71-74-74=294 +6 2,750 Bob Goalby (c) 73-76-72-73=294T19 Ben Crenshaw (a) 73-74-74-74=295 +7 0 Takaaki Kono 76-72-73-74=295 2,500 Lanny Wadkins 72-72-77-74=295T22 Bob Charles 72-76-74-74=296 +8 2,160 Roberto De Vicenzo 75-69-76-76=296 Gardner Dickinson 77-72-73-74=296 Hubert Green 75-74-74-73=296 Paul Harney 71-69-75-81=296T27 Tony Jacklin 72-76-75-74=297 +9 1,750 Tom Kite (a) 74-74-76-73=297 0 Sam Snead (c) 69-75-76-77=297 1,75030 J. C. Snead 74-77-72-75=298 +10 1,750T31 Bert Greene 75-75-77-72=299 +11 1,750 Bobby Nichols 72-71-80-76=299T33 Harry Bannerman 78-72-72-78=300 +12 1,675 Grier Jones 73-75-76-76=300 Arnold Palmer (c) 70-75-74-81=300 Lee Trevino 75-76-77-72=30037 Lu Liang-Huan 75-72-80-74=301 +13 1,675T38 Gibby Gilbert 72-76-74-81=303 +15 1,675 Peter Oosterhuis 74-76-80-73=30340 Ken Still 74-77-77-76=304 +16 1,675T41 Frank Beard 72-79-79-76=306 +18 1,600 Jim Simons (a) 71-79-76-80=306 0T43 Jim McLean (a) 75-75-78-79=307 +19 Bob Murphy 75-76-77-79=307 1,600T45 Larry Hinson 77-74-79-78=308 +20 1,600 Bob Rosburg 74-73-83-78=30847 DeWitt Weaver 74-76-81-79=310 +22 1,600CUT Rick Bendall (a) 77-75=152 +8 Julius Boros 77-75=152 Hale Irwin 81-71=152 Don January 75-77=152 Johnny Miller 76-76=152 Mason Rudolph 74-78=152 Art Wall Jr. (c) 77-75=152 Tommy Bolt 76-77=153 +9 Chi-Chi Rodríguez 74-79=153 Tommy Aaron 78-76=154 +10 Doug Ford (c) 76-78=154 Labron Harris Jr. 79-75=154 Dave Hill 76-78=154 Masashi Ozaki 74-80=154 Eddie Pearce (a) 79-75=154 Bobby Cole 78-77=155 +11 Dave Eichelberger 78-77=155 David Graham 76-79=155 Hsieh Yung-yo 79-76=155 Dick Lotz 77-78=155 Vinny Giles (a) 78-78=156 +12 Miller Barber 75-82=157 +13 Jim Colbert 74-83=157 Ramón Sota 78-79=157 Marty West (a) 80-77=157 Gary Cowan (a) 76-82=158 +14 Raymond Floyd 76-82=158 Gene Sarazen (c) 79-79=158 Tom Culligan (a) 78-81=159 +15 Jim Gabrielsen (a) 81-78=159 Herman Keiser (c) 80-79=159 Bill Hyndman (a) 75-85=160 +16 Orville Moody 80-81=161 +17 Brian Barnes 85-80=165 +21 John Farquhar (a) 84-81=165 Ralph Guldahl (c) 89-80=169 +25WD William C. Campbell (a) 75 +3

Sources:

Scorecard Hole  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18 Par454343454 443545344 Nicklaus −4−5−5−5−5−5−4−5−5−5−4−4−4−3−2−2−2−2 Crampton −1−1EEEE+2+2+2+2+2+1+1+1+1+1+1+1 Mitchell EEEE+1+1+2+1+1+1E+1+1+1+1+1+1+1 Weiskopf EE+1+2+2+2+1+1+1+2+3+3+3+3+2+2+1+1 Blancas EEE+1+1+1+1+1+1+3+3+3+2+2+1+1+2+2 Heard −1−1E−1E+1+1+2+1+1+1E+1+1+1+2+2+2 Jamieson −2−3−2−2−1−1EEEE+1+3+2+2+1+2+1+2 Harney E+1+1+2+2+2+2+2+2+1+1+1+3+4+5+7+7+8 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par BirdieBogeyDouble bogey

References

External links Masters.com – past winners and results Augusta.com – 1972 Masters leaderboard and scorecards