The 1979 Masters Tournament was the 43rd Masters Tournament, held April 12–15 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Fuzzy Zoeller won his only Masters, the first of his two major titles, with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff with Ed Sneed and Tom Watson. Jack Nicklaus climbed up the leaderboard on Sunday with a 69 (−3), but bogeyed 17 to finish a stroke out of the playoff; Tom Kite had a double bogey at 16 for an even par 72 in the final round to finish fifth, three strokes back.

Second and third round leader Sneed seemed to have a commanding three-shot lead with only three holes to go, but bogeyed the final three holes to card a final round 76 (+4) and fell into the playoff. It was the debut of the sudden-death format at Augusta, adopted by the Masters in 1976. Its last playoff was nine years earlier in 1970, then a full 18-hole round on Monday.

The sudden-death playoff began on the tenth hole, a downhill par-4, where all three players missed birdie putts and parred. On the second hole, the par-4 11th, Sneed failed to hole a bunker shot and Watson a birdie putt, and then Zoeller made his from to win.

Zoeller, age 27, was the first to win the Masters in his initial attempt since Gene Sarazen in 1935, the second edition of the tournament. In his fifth season on tour, it was Zoeller's second win, the first came less than three months earlier at the Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational. He won his other major five years later at the 1984 U.S. Open, also in a playoff.

The second round was suspended for two hours Friday afternoon due to heavy rain and tornado warnings. Due to the delay, not all golfers were able to complete their second rounds on Friday and the cut line was not determined until these rounds were completed on Saturday morning. Normally scheduled to conclude on the second Sunday of April, this Masters was held a week later, as was 1984.

Field 1. Masters champions Tommy Aaron, Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Raymond Floyd (8,9,11,12), Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus (3,4,8,9,11,12), Arnold Palmer, Gary Player (3,8,9,11), Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr., Tom Watson (3,8,9,10,11,12)

George Archer, 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 (12), Hubert Green (8,11,12), Hale Irwin (8,9,12), Andy North (9), Jerry Pate (8,9,10,11)

3. The Open champions (last five years) Johnny Miller (9)

4. PGA champions (last five years) Dave Stockton (9,12), Lee Trevino (8,9,10,11), Lanny Wadkins (8,11,12)

John Mahaffey (10,11) withdrew because of injury.

5. 1978 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists Bobby Clampett (7,a), John Cook (6,7,a), Scott Hoch (7,a), Mike Peck (a)

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

John Fought forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

7. Members of the 1978 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team Jay Sigel (a)

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1978 Masters Tournament Wally Armstrong, Miller Barber, Andy Bean (9,10,11), Rod Funseth (11), Joe Inman (9), Don January (12), Tom Kite (11), Billy Kratzert (9), Gene Littler, Jerry McGee (12), Lindy Miller, Gil Morgan (10,11), Ed Sneed (12), Leonard Thompson, Tom Weiskopf (9,10)

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1978 U.S. Open Mike McCullough, Artie McNickle, J. C. Snead

10. Top eight players and ties from 1978 PGA Championship Craig Stadler

11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters Bob Byman, Ben Crenshaw, Lee Elder, Jerry Heard, Lon Hinkle, Barry Jaeckel, Bruce Lietzke, Mark McCumber, Mac McLendon, Larry Nelson, Jim Simons, Ron Streck, Fuzzy Zoeller

12. Members of the U.S. 1977 Ryder Cup team Dave Hill

13. Foreign invitations Isao Aoki, Seve Ballesteros (8,9), Nick Faldo, David Graham (8), Graham Marsh (10), Peter McEvoy (6,a), Jack Newton (11), Peter Oosterhuis (8), Simon Owen, Masashi Ozaki, Victor Regalado (11), Bob Shearer (9)

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

Round summaries

First round Thursday, April 12, 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Bruce Lietzke 67 −5 T2 Tom Watson 68 −4 Joe Inman Leonard Thompson Ed Sneed T6 Craig Stadler 69 −3 Jack Nicklaus Lou Graham Billy Casper Andy Bean

Second round Friday, April 13, 1979 Saturday, April 14, 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Ed Sneed 68-67=135 −9 Craig Stadler 69-66=135T3 Raymond Floyd 70-68=138 −6 Leonard Thompson 68-70=138T5 Miller Barber 75-64=139 −5 Tom Watson 68-71=139 Joe Inman 68-71=139 T8 Seve Ballesteros 72-68=140 −4 Jack Nicklaus 69-71=140 Lou Graham 69-71=140 Lindy Miller 73-67=140

Third round Saturday, April 14, 1979 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Ed Sneed 68-67-69=204 −12 T2 Tom Watson 68-71-70=209 −7 Craig Stadler 69-66-74=209T4 Bruce Lietzke 67-75-68=210 −6 Fuzzy Zoeller 70-71-69=210 T6 Tom Kite 71-72-68=211 −5 Jack Newton 70-72-69=211 Miller Barber 75-64-72=211 Raymond Floyd 70-68-73=211 Leonard Thompson 68-70-73=211

Final round Sunday, April 15, 1979

Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)T1 Ed Sneed 68-67-69-76=280 −8 Playoff Tom Watson (c) 68-71-70-71=280 Fuzzy Zoeller 70-71-69-70=2804 Jack Nicklaus (c) 69-71-72-69=281 −7 15,0005 Tom Kite 71-72-68-72=283 −5 13,0006 Bruce Lietzke 67-75-68-74=284 −4 11,500T7 Craig Stadler 69-66-74-76=285 −3 9,000 Leonard Thompson 68-70-73-74=285 Lanny Wadkins 73-69-70-73=285T10 Hubert Green 74-69-72-71=286 −2 6,500 Gene Littler 74-71-69-72=286 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T12 Seve Ballesteros 72-68-73-74=287 −1 3,740 Miller Barber 75-64-72-76=287 Jack Newton 70-72-69-76=287 Andy North 72-72-74-69=287 Lee Trevino 73-71-70-73=287T17 Lee Elder 73-70-74-71=288 E 2,700 Raymond Floyd (c) 70-68-73-77=288 Billy Kratzert 73-68-71-76=288 Artie McNickle 71-72-74-71=288 Gary Player (c) 71-72-74-71=28822 J. C. Snead 73-71-72-73=289 +1 2,400T23 Bobby Clampett (a) 73-71-73-73=290 +2 0 Lou Graham 69-71-76-74=290 2,225 Joe Inman 68-71-76-75=290 Hale Irwin 72-70-74-74=290 Jim Simons 72-70-75-73=290T28 Tommy Aaron (c) 72-73-76-70=291 +3 2,000 Andy Bean 69-74-74-74=291 Graham Marsh 71-72-73-75=291T31 Gil Morgan 72-69-71-80=292 +4 1,975 Larry Nelson 70-75-70-77=292 Victor Regalado 71-74-75-72=292T34 Isao Aoki 71-72-72-78=293 +5 1,950 Bob Byman 71-71-75-76=293 Charles Coody (c) 71-72-74-76=293 Scott Hoch (a) 72-73-74-74=293 0 Peter Oosterhuis 73-72-73-75=293 1,95039 John Cook (a) 72-72-75-76=295 +7 040 Nick Faldo 73-71-79-73=296 +8 1,875T41 Jerry Pate 72-70-75-80=297 +9 1,850 Tom Weiskopf 73-72-71-81=29743 Billy Casper (c) 69-75-80-75=299 +11 1,80044 Rod Funseth 70-73-78-79=300 +12 1,77545 Lindy Miller 73-67-75-86=301 +13 1,750CUT Barry Jaeckel 75-71=146 +2 Don January 73-73=146 Jerry McGee 77-69=146 Arnold Palmer (c) 74-72=146 Wally Armstrong 73-74=147 +3 Jay Sigel (a) 72-75=147 Jerry Heard 75-73=148 +4 Johnny Miller 77-71=148 Sam Snead (c) 74-74=148 Dave Hill 75-74=149 +5 Lon Hinkle 77-72=149 Simon Owen 74-75=149 Dave Stockton 74-75=149 Art Wall Jr. (c) 74-75=149 Gay Brewer (c) 75-75=150 +6 Mike McCullough 73-77=150 Mac McLendon 74-77=151 +7 Masashi Ozaki 76-75=151 Ben Crenshaw 73-80=153 +9 Mark McCumber 75-78=153 Mike Peck (a) 78-75=153 Ron Streck 78-76=154 +10 Peter McEvoy (a) 79-79=158 +14 Bob Goalby (c) 79-81=160 +16WD Bob Shearer 73 +1 Doug Ford (c) 77 +5 David Graham 79 +7

Sources:

Scorecard Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18 Par454343454 443545344 Zoeller −6−6−6−5−5−5−5−6−6−6−6−5−6−6−7−7−8−8 Sneed −12−12−12−11−11−10−10−10−10−9−9−9−10−10−11−10−9−8 Watson −7−8−9−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−8−7−8−8−8−8 Nicklaus −4−5−5−4−4−4−4−5−5−6−6−6−7−7−7−8−7−7 Kite −5−5−5−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−6−7−7−7−5−5−5 Lietzke −6−6−6−6−5−5−5−5−5−5−4−4−3−3−3−3−4−4 Stadler −6−7−8−8−8−8−7−7−6−4−3−2−4−2−2−2−3−3 Thompson −4−4−4−3−3−3−3−4−4−4−4−3−4−3−3−3−3−3 Wadkins −2−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−1−2−2−1E−1−2−3−3−3 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par Source:

Playoff PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Fuzzy Zoeller 4-3 −150,000T2 Ed Sneed 4-x 30,000 Tom Watson 4-4 Sudden-death playoff began on hole #10 and ended at hole #11, when Zoeller birdied.

References

External links Masters.com – Past winners and results Augusta.com – 1979 Masters leaderboard and scorecards