The 1973 Masters Tournament was the 37th Masters Tournament, held April 5–9 at the Augusta National Golf Club. Due to weather delays, the final round was played on Monday for the first time since 1961.
Tommy Aaron, age 36, won his only major title, one stroke ahead of runner-up J. C. Snead. Before this win at Augusta, Aaron was best known as the player who kept Roberto De Vicenzo's incorrect scorecard at the Masters five years earlier in 1968. Ironically, Aaron's final round playing partner in 1973, Johnny Miller, recorded a higher score when keeping Aaron's card, and Aaron caught the mistake. This was his third and last victory on the PGA Tour, and after this win, Aaron's best result in a major was a tie for 28th at the Masters in 1979.
Gary Player played in 52 Masters from 1957 through 2009; and missed only this one, to recover from leg and abdominal surgery. He returned in 1974 to win the second of his three green jackets.
Gay Brewer won the fourteenth Par 3 contest on Wednesday with a seven-under 20. At the previous Masters, the 1967 champion was hospitalized in Augusta for ulcers on Wednesday night and missed the tournament.
This Masters was the last as competitors for two former champions: Gene Sarazen (1935) and Ralph Guldahl (1939).
Field 1. Masters champions George Archer (8), Gay Brewer (10,11), Billy Casper (8,9,10,12), Charles Coody (8,12), Doug Ford, Bob Goalby (8), Ralph Guldahl, Jack Nicklaus (2,3,4,8,9,11,12), Arnold Palmer (9,11,12), Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead (10), Art Wall Jr. Jack Burke Jr., Jimmy Demaret, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan, Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, and Gary Player (3,4,8,9,10) did not play. Player missed his only Masters in 53 years to recover from surgery.
The following categories only apply to Americans
2. U.S. Open champions (last five years) Orville Moody (9), Lee Trevino (3,9,11,12)
3. The Open champions (last five years)
4. PGA champions (last five years) Julius Boros, Raymond Floyd (10), Dave Stockton (12)
5. The first eight finishers in the 1972 U.S. Amateur Doug Ballenger (a), Ben Crenshaw (7,8,a), Vinny Giles (6,7,a), Charles Harrison (a), Mike Killian (a), Marty West (7,a)
Mark Hayes (7,a) forfeited his exemption by turning professional. Bruce Robertson forfeited his exemption by losing his amateur status.
6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions
Steve Melnyk forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
7. Members of the 1972 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team
8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1972 Masters Tournament Homero Blancas (9), Gardner Dickinson (12), Al Geiberger, Hubert Green, Paul Harney, Jerry Heard (10,11), Jim Jamieson (10,11), Jerry McGee, Steve Melnyk, Bobby Mitchell (11), Lanny Wadkins (11), Tom Weiskopf (9), Bert Yancey (9,11)
9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1972 U.S. Open Don January, Don Massengale, Johnny Miller (11), Bobby Nichols, Chi-Chi Rodríguez (11), Cesar Sanudo, Jim Simons, Kermit Zarley (11)
10. Top eight players and ties from 1972 PGA Championship Tommy Aaron, Phil Rodgers, Doug Sanders (11)
11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters Buddy Allin, Deane Beman, Jim Colbert, Bob Dickson, Rod Funseth, Lou Graham, Dave Hill, Mike Hill, Babe Hiskey, Grier Jones, Bob Lunn, John Schlee, J. C. Snead (12), DeWitt Weaver
12. Members of the U.S. 1971 Ryder Cup team Miller Barber, Frank Beard, Gene Littler, Mason Rudolph
13. Foreign invitations Brian Barnes, Bob Charles (8), Gary Cowan (6,a), Bruce Crampton (8,9,11), Roberto De Vicenzo (8), Bruce Devlin (8,11), David Graham (11), Han Chang-sang, Trevor Homer (6,a), Guy Hunt, Tony Jacklin (2,3), George Knudson (11), Takaaki Kono (8), Lu Liang-Huan, Peter Oosterhuis, Masashi Ozaki, Bob Shaw (11)
Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.
Round summaries
First round Thursday, April 5, 1973 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tommy Aaron 68 −4 T2 Jack Nicklaus 69 −3 Masashi Ozaki T4 Bob Dickson 70 −2 J. C. Snead T6 Grier Jones 71 −1 Phil Rodgers T8 David Graham 72 E Hubert Green Steve Melnyk Chi-Chi Rodríguez Mason Rudolph Cesar Sanudo Dave Stockton Source
Second round Friday, April 6, 1973 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Tommy Aaron 68-73=141 −3 Gay Brewer 75-66=141 Bob Dickson 70-71=141 J. C. Snead 70-71=141 5 Chi-Chi Rodríguez 72-70=142 −2 T6 Bob Goalby 73-70=143 −1 Grier Jones 71-72=143 Peter Oosterhuis 73-70=143 Masashi Ozaki 69-74=143T10 Bob Charles 74-70=144 E Gardner Dickinson 74-70=144 Jim Jamieson 73-71=144 Johnny Miller 75-69=144 Mason Rudolph 72-72=144 Source
Third round Sunday, April 8, 1973
Heavy rain on Saturday morning limited play to the first several pairs when the course was deemed unplayable. The third round was restarted in the late morning on Sunday from split tees. PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Peter Oosterhuis 73-70-68=211 −5 T2 Bob Goalby 73-70-71=214 −2 Jim Jamieson 73-71-70=214 J. C. Snead 70-71-73=214 T5 Tommy Aaron 68-73-74=215 −1 Gay Brewer 75-66-74=215 Johnny Miller 75-69-71=215 Chi-Chi Rodríguez 72-70-73=215T9 Gardner Dickinson 74-70-72=216 E Masashi Ozaki 69-74-73=216 Source
Final round Monday, April 9, 1973
Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)1 Tommy Aaron 68-73-74-68=283 −5 30,0002 J. C. Snead 70-71-73-70=284 −4 22,500T3 Jim Jamieson 73-71-70-71=285 −3 12,500 Jack Nicklaus (c) 69-77-73-66=285 Peter Oosterhuis 73-70-68-74=285T6 Bob Goalby (c) 73-70-71-74=288 E 6,250 Johnny Miller 75-69-71-73=288T8 Bruce Devlin 73-72-72-72=289 +1 4,250 Masashi Ozaki 69-74-73-73=289T10 Gay Brewer (c) 75-66-74-76=291 +3 3,425 Gardner Dickinson 74-70-72-75=291 Don January 75-71-75-70=291 Chi-Chi Rodríguez 72-70-73-76=291 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T14 Hubert Green 72-74-75-71=292 +4 3,000 Mason Rudolph 72-72-77-71=292 Dave Stockton 72-74-71-75=292T17 Billy Casper (c) 75-73-72-73=293 +5 2,550 Bob Dickson 70-71-76-76=293 Lou Graham 77-73-72-71=293 Babe Hiskey 74-73-72-74=293 Gene Littler 77-72-71-73=293 Kermit Zarley 74-71-77-71=29323 Phil Rodgers 71-75-75-73=294 +6 2,200T24 Frank Beard 73-75-71-76=295 +7 2,100 Ben Crenshaw (a) 73-72-74-76=295 0 Paul Harney 77-71-74-73=295 2,100 Bobby Nichols 79-72-76-68=295 Arnold Palmer (c) 77-72-76-70=295T29 Bob Charles 74-70-74-78=296 +8 1,750 Charles Coody (c) 74-73-79-70=296 David Graham 72-74-77-73=296 Sam Snead (c) 74-76-73-73=296 Lanny Wadkins 75-74-71-76=296T34 Vinny Giles (a) 78-71-72-76=297 +9 0 Steve Melnyk 72-74-79-72=297 1,750 Tom Weiskopf 77-71-75-74=297T37 Rod Funseth 73-75-74-76=298 +10 1,675 Al Geiberger 75-76-77-70=298 Dave Hill 77-70-76-75=298 Grier Jones 71-72-77-78=298 Art Wall Jr. (c) 79-69-74-76=298 Marty West (a) 75-70-77-76=298 0T43 George Archer (c) 73-74-74-78=299 +11 1,675 Miller Barber 78-72-80-69=299 Jim Colbert 74-72-76-77=299 Bruce Crampton 74-74-77-74=299 Lu Liang-Huan 74-72-75-78=299 Bob Lunn 76-74-72-77=299 Cesar Sanudo 72-75-76-76=299 Lee Trevino 74-75-75-75=299T51 Roberto De Vicenzo 74-74-74-78=300 +12 1,600 Takaaki Kono 74-74-78-74=300 Bert Yancey 75-74-74-77=30054 Raymond Floyd 76-73-75-77=301 +13 1,60055 Don Massengale 74-74-76-78=302 +14 1,60056 Jerry Heard 76-75-72-80=303 +15 1,60057 John Schlee 76-73-74-82=305 +17 1,600CUT Buddy Allin 76-76=152 +8 Deane Beman 77-75=152 Gary Cowan (a) 74-78=152 Han Chang-sang 77-75=152 Tony Jacklin 77-75=152 Bob Shaw 74-78=152 Jerry McGee 81-72=153 +9 Julius Boros 75-79=154 +10 Doug Ford (c) 76-78=154 Mike Killian (a) 79-76=155 +11 Bobby Mitchell 81-74=155 Brian Barnes 79-77=156 +12 George Knudson 79-77=156 Mike Hill 79-78=157 +13 Jim Simons 79-78=157 Doug Ballenger (a) 81-77=158 +14 Homero Blancas 81-77=158 Orville Moody 81-77=158 DeWitt Weaver 81-77=158 Guy Hunt 78-81=159 +15 Doug Sanders 83-78=161 +17 Ralph Guldahl (c) 82-80=162 +18 Charles Harrison (a) 81-81=162 Trevor Homer (a) 81-88=169 +25 Gene Sarazen (c) 88-86=174 +30
Sources:
Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Par454343454 443545344 Aaron −2−3−4−4−4−4−4−5−5−4−3−3−4−4−5−5−5−5 Snead −3−3−3−4−4−4−4−5−5−5−5−3−4−4−4−4−4−4 Jamieson −3−4−3−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−1−1−2−2−2−2−3−3 Nicklaus +2+1+1+2+1EE−1−1−1−1−1−2−1−2−2−2−3 Oosterhuis −5−5−6−5−5−5−4−4−4−4−3−3−4−4−3−3−3−3 Goalby −2−3−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−1−1EE+1+1+1+1E Miller −1−1−1−1−1−2−2−2−2−2−2−1−1−1−2−2−2E Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par BirdieBogeyDouble bogey
References
External links Masters.com – past winners and results Augusta.com – 1973 Masters leaderboard and scorecards