The 1976 Masters Tournament was the 40th Masters Tournament, held April 8–11 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Raymond Floyd won his only Masters title, eight strokes ahead of runner-up Ben Crenshaw. He shot a 131 (−13) over the first two rounds, then posted two rounds of 70 on the weekend to tie Jack Nicklaus' record of 271 (−17), set in 1965. In the first three rounds, Floyd was under-par on every par-5, with eleven birdies and an eagle, and his 54-hole total of 201 (−15) was the lowest ever. Defending champion Nicklaus was the nearest pursuer, eight shots back at 209. It was the second of Floyd's four major titles. Tiger Woods broke the 72-hole record by a stroke 21 years later in 1997 with 270 (−18), which was tied by Jordan Spieth in 2015.

Beginning with this Masters, a sudden-death playoff format was introduced, and originally planned to start at the first hole. After three years without use, it was changed to begin on the 10th hole in 1979; used for the first time that year, it ended on the eleventh green. In 2004, the playoff was changed to start on the 18th hole and then alternate with the adjacent 10th hole. Prior to 1976, playoffs were full 18-hole rounds on Monday, and the last was won by Billy Casper in 1970. The first playoff in 1935 was the exception at 36 holes.

Floyd was the fourth wire-to-wire winner in Masters history, following Craig Wood in 1941, Arnold Palmer in 1960, and Nicklaus in 1972. The next was Jordan Spieth, 39 years later, in 2015.

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

The following categories only apply to Americans

2. U.S. Open champions (last five years) Lou Graham (9,12), Hale Irwin (8,9,10,11,12), Johnny Miller (8,11,12), Lee Trevino (3,4,8,12)

3. The Open champions (last five years) Tom Watson (8,9,11), Tom Weiskopf (8,10,11,12)

4. PGA champions (last five years)

5. 1975 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists Henri DeLozier (a), Keith Fergus (a), Fred Ridley (6,a)

Andy Bean forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions Vinny Giles (7,a)

Jerry Pate (7) forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

7. Members of the 1975 U.S. Walker Cup team William C. Campbell (a), John Grace (a), Jay Haas (a), Dick Siderowf (a), Curtis Strange (a)

George Burns, Gary Koch, and Craig Stadler forfeited their exemptions by turning professional.

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1975 Masters Tournament Buddy Allin, Rod Curl, Pat Fitzsimons (9), Hubert Green (11), Dave Hill (10,11), Ralph Johnston, Tom Kite, Gene Littler (10,11,12), Allen Miller, Bobby Nichols, J. C. Snead (11,12), Larry Ziegler

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1975 U.S. Open Frank Beard, Ben Crenshaw (11), Joe Inman, John Mahaffey, Rik Massengale (11), Bob Murphy (12), Eddie Pearce, Jim Wiechers

10. Top eight players and ties from 1975 PGA Championship Andy North

11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters Don Bies, Jim Colbert, Raymond Floyd (12), Al Geiberger (12), Bob Gilder, Don Iverson, Don January, Tom Jenkins, Roger Maltbie, Jerry McGee, Dean Refram

12. Members of the U.S. 1975 Ryder Cup team

13. Foreign invitations Hugh Baiocchi (8), Maurice Bembridge, Bobby Cole (8), Bruce Crampton (10,11), Bruce Devlin (8), Priscillo Diniz (a), Dale Hayes, Graham Marsh (8), Takashi Murakami, Jack Newton, Peter Oosterhuis (9), Masashi Ozaki, Bob Shearer

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

Round summaries First round Thursday, April 8, 1976 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Raymond Floyd 65 −72 Andy North 66 −6T3 Jack Nicklaus 67 −5 Larry Ziegler 5 Lou Graham 68 −4T6 Bud Allin 69 −3 Dave Hill T8 Ben Crenshaw 70 −2 Rod Curl Rik Massengale Source:

Second round Friday, April 9, 1976 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Raymond Floyd 65-66=131 −132 Jack Nicklaus 67-69=136 −8 3 Hubert Green 71-66=137 −74 Larry Ziegler 67-71=138 −6T5 Ben Crenshaw 70-70=140 −4 Tom Kite 73-67=140T7 Charles Coody 72-69=141 −3 Lou Graham 68-73=141 Graham Marsh 73-68=141 T10 Dave Hill 69-73=142 −2 Rik Massengale 70-72=142 Eddie Pearce 71-71=142 Source:

Third round Saturday, April 10, 1976 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Raymond Floyd 65-66-70=201 −152 Jack Nicklaus 67-69-73=209 −7 3 Larry Ziegler 67-71-72=210 −64 Charles Coody 72-69-70=211 −5T5 Ben Crenshaw 70-70-72=212 −4 Tom Kite 73-67-72=2127 Lou Graham 68-73-72=213 −38 Tom Weiskopf 73-71-70=214 −2T9 Hubert Green 71-66-78=215 −1 Hale Irwin 71-77-67=215 Source:

Final round Sunday, April 11, 1976

Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)1 Raymond Floyd 65-66-70-70=271 −17 40,0002 Ben Crenshaw 70-70-72-67=279 −9 25,000T3 Jack Nicklaus (c) 67-69-73-73=282 −6 16,250 Larry Ziegler 67-71-72-72=282T5 Charles Coody (c) 72-69-70-74=285 −3 11,167 Hale Irwin 71-77-67-70=285 Tom Kite 73-67-72-73=2858 Billy Casper (c) 71-76-71-69=287 −1 8,000T9 Roger Maltbie 72-75-70-71=288 E 6,000 Graham Marsh 73-68-75-72=288 Tom Weiskopf 73-71-70-74=288 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T12 Jim Colbert 71-72-74-72=289 +1 3,567 Lou Graham 68-73-72-76=289 Gene Littler 71-72-74-72=289T15 Al Geiberger 75-70-73-73=291 +3 2,950 Dave Hill 69-73-76-73=291 Jerry McGee 71-73-72-75=291 Curtis Strange (a) 71-76-73-71=291 0T19 Buddy Allin 69-76-72-75=292 +4 2,550 Bruce Devlin 77-69-72-74=292 Hubert Green 71-66-78-77=292 Dale Hayes 75-74-73-70=292T23 Gay Brewer (c) 75-74-71-73=293 +5 2,225 Rik Massengale 70-72-78-73=293 Johnny Miller 71-73-74-75=293 Peter Oosterhuis 76-74-75-68=29327 Bruce Crampton 74-76-71-73=294 +6 2,000T28 Bob Murphy 72-74-76-73=295 +7 1,950 Eddie Pearce 71-71-79-74=295 Gary Player (c) 73-73-70-79=295 Lee Trevino 75-75-69-76=295 Art Wall Jr. (c) 74-71-75-75=295T33 Don January 73-74-76-73=296 +8 1,900 Masashi Ozaki 72-75-75-74=296 Tom Watson 77-73-76-70=29636 Joe Inman 74-75-71-77=297 +9 1,850T37 Takashi Murakami 74-71-80-73=298 +10 1,800 Andy North 66-81-75-76=298T39 Bob Gilder 71-75-76-77=299 +11 1,750 John Mahaffey 72-74-78-75=299 Bob Shearer 73-75-76-75=29942 Tommy Aaron (c) 73-76-77-74=300 +12 1,700T43 Frank Beard 74-75-78-74=301 +13 1,650 J. C. Snead 72-77-76-76=30145 Pat Fitzsimons 71-79-77-76=303 +15 1,60046 Dick Siderowf (a) 76-73-77-81=307 +19 047 Bobby Cole 75-74-78-82=309 +21 1,500CUT Bob Goalby (c) 76-75=151 +7 Sam Snead (c) 72-79=151 Rod Curl 70-82=152 +8 George Archer (c) 74-79=153 +9 Don Bies 76-77=153 Keith Fergus (a) 76-77=153 Jay Haas (a) 76-77=153 Don Iverson 73-80=153 Jim Wiechers 74-79=153 Hugh Baiocchi 78-76=154 +10 Doug Ford (c) 74-80=154 John Grace (a) 75-79=154 Tom Jenkins 75-79=154 Henri DeLozier (a) 75-80=155 +11 Priscillo Diniz (a) 78-77=155 Bobby Nichols 78-77=155 Arnold Palmer (c) 74-81=155 Allen Miller 79-77=156 +12 Dean Refram 77-79=156 William C. Campbell (a) 78-80=158 +14 Fred Ridley (a) 77-81=158 Ralph Johnston 76-83=159 +15 Jack Newton 76-83=159 Maurice Bembridge 78-86=164 +20 Vinny Giles (a) 83-81=164

Sources:

Scorecard Hole  1    2    3   4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par454343454 443545344 Floyd −15−15−15−14−15−15−15−15−15−15−15−16−16−16−17−17−17−17 Crenshaw −3−3−4−4−4−4−5−6−6−6−6−6−8−9−9−9−9−9 Nicklaus −7−7−6−6−6−6−6−7−6−6−6−6−7−7−7−6−6−6 Ziegler −6−6−6−6−7−7−7−7−7−7−6−6−7−7−7−7−6−6 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par EagleBirdieBogey

References

External links Masters.com – past winners and results Augusta.com – 1976 Masters leaderboard and scorecards