1968 Masters Tournament

1968 Masters Tournament

Tournament information
Dates	April 11–14, 1968
Location	Augusta, Georgia 33°30′11″N82°01′12″W / 33.503°N 82.020°W / 33.503; -82.020
Course(s)	Augusta National Golf Club
Organized by	Augusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,980 yards (6,383 m) [1]
Field	74 players, 52 after cut
Cut	149 (+5)
Winner's share	$20,000
Champion
Bob Goalby
277 (−11)
Location map
Augusta National Location in the United States Show map of the United States Augusta National Location in Georgia Show map of Georgia
←  1967 1969  →

The 1968 Masters Tournament was the 32nd Masters Tournament, held April 11–14 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Bob Goalby won his only major championship, one stroke ahead of Roberto De Vicenzo, the reigning British Open champion. ^[2] On the back nine in the final round, Goalby birdied 13 and 14 and eagled 15 to record a 66 (−6) and a total of 277 (−11).

At first it appeared that he had tied De Vicenzo and the two would meet in an 18-hole Monday playoff, but De Vicenzo returned an incorrect scorecard showing a par 4 on the 17th hole, instead of a birdie 3, sunk with a two-foot putt. Playing partner Tommy Aaron incorrectly marked the 4 and De Vicenzo failed to catch the mistake and signed the scorecard. USGA rules stated that the higher written score signed by a golfer on his card must stand, ^[3] and the error gave Goalby the championship. ^{[1] [2]}

Speaking to the press after the error, De Vincenzo said, "What a stupid I am." ^[4]

Ironically, Goalby discovered a scoring error he had made on the card he was keeping for Raymond Floyd, his playing partner in the final round, which he corrected at the scorer's table (there was not a scoring tent in 1968; after DeVicenzo's mistake in 1968, however, a scoring tent was erected directly behind the 18th green for the 1969 tournament). He had marked Floyd down for a par-3 on the 16th hole, when Floyd had actually bogeyed the hole. Floyd ended up in a tie for seventh place with, among others, Aaron. Both Aaron and Floyd would win the Masters in future years, Aaron in 1973 and Floyd in 1976.

Jack Nicklaus tied for fifth place and third-round leader Gary Player finished tied for seventh. Lee Trevino, 28, made his Masters debut and was two strokes back after three rounds, tied for seventh place. A rough back nine of 43 (+7) pushed his score to 80 and he finished tied for 40th. Two months later, he won the 1968 U.S. Open, the first of his six major titles. The Masters was the only major that eluded him; his best finish was a tie for tenth, in 1975 and 1985. Citing incompatibility, Trevino skipped Augusta three times in the early 1970s, ^{[5] [6] [7]} and missed in 1977 due to a bad back. ^[8]

In his fourteenth Masters at age 38, four-time champion Arnold Palmer found the water three times during a second round 79 for 151 and missed the cut for the first time at Augusta. ^{[9] [10]} He made the next seven cuts, through 1975.

Bob Rosburg won the ninth Par 3 contest on Wednesday with a score of 22. Claude Harmon, 51, had consecutive aces at the fourth and fifth holes, but tied for third at 24. ^[11] The next day, Harmon withdrew in the first round after a nine-hole score of 40. ^[12]

Course

Main article: Augusta National Golf Club

Hole	Name	Yards	Par		Hole	Name	Yards	Par
1	White Pine	400	4		10	Camellia	470	4
2	Woodbine	555	5		11	Dogwood	445	4
3	Flowering Peach	355	4		12	Golden Bell	155	3
4	Palm	220	3		13	Azalea	475	5
5	Magnolia	450	4		14	Chinese Fir	420	4
6	Juniper	190	3		15	Firethorn	520	5
7	Pampas	365	4		16	Redbud	190	3
8	Yellow Jasmine	530	5		17	Nandina	400	4
9	Carolina Cherry	420	4		18	Holly	420	4
Out		3,485	36		In		3,495	36
Source: [1] [13]					Total		6,980	72

^ Holes 1, 2, 4, and 11 were later renamed.

Field

1. Masters champions

Gay Brewer (8,11), Jack Burke Jr., Doug Ford, Ralph Guldahl, Claude Harmon, Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff, Jack Nicklaus (2,3,4,9,10), Arnold Palmer (8,9,11), Henry Picard, Gary Player (2,8,9), Sam Snead (8), Art Wall Jr. (9)

• Jimmy Demaret, Ben Hogan (8), Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen, and Craig Wood did not play.

The following categories only apply to Americans

2. U.S. Open champions (last five years)

Julius Boros (8,10,11), Billy Casper (8,9,11), Ken Venturi (8)

3. The Open champions (last five years)

4. PGA champions (last five years)

Al Geiberger (10,11), Don January (9,10), Dave Marr (8,9), Bobby Nichols (8,11)

5. The first eight finishers in the 1967 U.S. Amateur

Vinny Giles (a), William C. Campbell (7,a), Downing Gray (7,a), Doug Olson (a) ^{[14] [15]}

• Ron Cerrudo (7), Bob Dickson (6,7), Marty Fleckman (7), and Bob Murphy (7) forfeited their exemptions by turning professional.

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

7. Members of the 1967 U.S. Walker Cup team

Jack Lewis Jr. (a), Ed Tutwiler (a)

• Don Allen (a) declined his invitation because of the birth of his first child. Jimmy Grant forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1967 Masters Tournament

Tommy Aaron, George Archer, Jacky Cupit, Wes Ellis (9), Paul Harney, Jay Hebert, Lionel Hebert, Bob Rosburg, Mason Rudolph, Doug Sanders (11), Bert Yancey

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1967 U.S. Open

Deane Beman, Gardner Dickinson (11), Bob Goalby (10), Dutch Harrison, Jerry Pittman, Lee Trevino, Tom Weiskopf

10. Top eight players and ties from 1967 PGA Championship

Frank Beard, Don Bies, Gene Littler (11), Don Massengale, Dan Sikes

11. Members of the U.S. 1967 Ryder Cup team

Johnny Pott

12. One player, either amateur or professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-Masters champions.

Tommy Jacobs

13. Leading six players, not already qualified, from a points list based on finishes in PGA Tour events since the previous Masters

Miller Barber, Charles Coody, Raymond Floyd, Dave Hill, R. H. Sikes, Kermit Zarley

14. Foreign invitations

Al Balding (9), Peter Butler (8), Joe Carr (a), Bob Charles (3), Chen Ching-Po, Clive Clark, Gary Cowan (6,a), Roberto De Vicenzo (3,8), Bruce Devlin (8), Malcolm Gregson, Harold Henning, Tommy Horton, Tony Jacklin (8), George Knudson, Kel Nagle (9), Hideyo Sugimoto, Raul Travieso

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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 11, 1968

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Billy Casper	68	−4
T2	Tommy Aaron	69	−3
	Roberto De Vicenzo
	Bruce Devlin
	Tony Jacklin
	Jack Nicklaus
T7	Bob Goalby	70	−2
	Jerry Pittman
	Kermit Zarley
T10	Raymond Floyd	71	−1
	Vinny Giles (a)
	Don January
	Herman Keiser
	Hideyo Sugimoto
	Lee Trevino
	Bert Yancey

Source: ^{[16] [12]}

Second round

Friday, April 12, 1968

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Don January	71-68=139	−5
	Gary Player	72-67=139
T3	Frank Beard	75-65=140	−4
	Bob Goalby	70-70=140
	Jack Nicklaus	69-71=140
6	Tommy Aaron	69-72=141	−3
T7	Roberto De Vicenzo	69-73=142	−2
	Bruce Devlin	69-73=142
	Raymond Floyd	71-71=142
	Tony Jacklin	69-73=142
	Bert Yancey	71-71=142

Source: ^{[17] [18] [19]}

Third round

Saturday, April 13, 1968

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Gary Player	72-67-71=210	−6
T2	Frank Beard	75-65-71=211	−5
	Raymond Floyd	71-71-69=211
	Bruce Devlin	69-73-69=211
	Bob Goalby	70-70-71=211
	Don January	71-68-72=211
T7	Miller Barber	75-69-68=212	−4
	Roberto De Vicenzo	69-73-70=212
	Lee Trevino	71-72-69=212
T10	Tommy Aaron	69-72-72=213	−3
	Jerry Pittman	70-73-70=213

Source: ^[20]

Final round

Sunday, April 14, 1968

Final leaderboard

Champion

Silver Cup winner (low amateur)

(a) = amateur

(c) = past champion

Top 10

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (US$)
1	Bob Goalby	70-70-71-66=277	−11	20,000
2	Roberto De Vicenzo	69-73-70-66=278	−10	15,000
3	Bert Yancey	71-71-72-65=279	−9	10,000
4	Bruce Devlin	69-73-69-69=280	−8	7,500
T5	Frank Beard	75-65-71-70=281	−7	5,500
	Jack Nicklaus (c)	69-71-74-67=281
T7	Tommy Aaron	69-72-72-69=282	−6	3,460
	Raymond Floyd	71-71-69-71=282
	Lionel Hebert	72-71-71-68=282
	Jerry Pittman	70-73-70-69=282
	Gary Player (c)	72-67-71-72=282

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T12	Miller Barber	75-69-68-71=283	−5	2,850
	Doug Sanders	76-69-70-68=283
T14	Don January	71-68-72-73=284	−4	2,650
	Mason Rudolph	73-73-72-66=284
T16	Julius Boros	73-71-70-71=285	−3	2,400
	Billy Casper	68-75-73-69=285
	Tom Weiskopf	74-71-69-71=285
19	Bob Charles	75-71-70-70=286	−2	2,200
T20	Dave Marr	74-71-71-71=287	−1	2,050
	Kermit Zarley	70-73-74-70=287
T22	George Archer	75-71-72-70=288	E	1,760
	Gardner Dickinson	74-71-72-71=288
	Vinny Giles (a)	71-72-72-73=288		0
	Harold Henning	72-71-71-74=288		1,760
	Tony Jacklin	69-73-74-72=288
	Art Wall Jr. (c)	74-74-73-67=288
T28	Jay Hebert	74-71-71-73=289	+1	1,400
	George Knudson	75-71-72-71=289
T30	Charles Coody	76-72-72-70=290	+2	1,400
	Al Geiberger	76-70-72-72=290
	Kel Nagle	76-71-72-71=290
	Bobby Nichols	74-73-73-70=290
	Bob Rosburg	74-73-71-72=290
T35	Gay Brewer (c)	72-74-71-74=291	+3	1,375
	Chen Ching-Po	73-76-71-71=291
	Malcolm Gregson	76-71-74-70=291
	Dan Sikes	73-76-70-72=291
	Hideyo Sugimoto	71-75-73-72=291
T40	Paul Harney	78-70-70-74=292	+4	1,375
	Lee Trevino	71-72-69-80=292
42	Sam Snead (c)	73-74-75-71=293	+5	1,350
T43	Gene Littler	73-73-76-72=294	+6	1,350
	Johnny Pott	75-68-75-76=294
T45	Gary Cowan (a)	78-71-73-73=295	+7	0
	Jack Lewis Jr. (a)	78-71-76-70=295
	Don Massengale	76-73-73-73=295		1,350
T48	William C. Campbell (a)	74-71-75-76=296	+8	0
	Doug Ford (c)	72-75-72-77=296		1,350
T50	Dave Hill	79-70-73-75=297	+9	1,350
	Ken Venturi	75-74-73-75=297
52	Joe Carr (a)	75-73-80-78=306	+18	0
CUT	Peter Butler	72-78=150	+6
	Wes Ellis	76-74=150
	Herman Keiser (c)	71-79=150
	Raul Travieso	76-74=150
	Don Bies	79-72=151	+7
	Tommy Jacobs	77-74=151
	Arnold Palmer (c)	72-79=151
	Al Balding	75-77=152	+8
	Downing Gray (a)	76-76=152
	Cary Middlecoff (c)	76-76=152
	Doug Olson (a)	78-74=152
	R. H. Sikes	75-77=152
	Jack Burke Jr. (c)	79-74=153	+9
	Tommy Horton	78-75=153
	Jacky Cupit	77-77=154	+10
	Dutch Harrison	81-74=155	+11
	Deane Beman	77-79=156	+12
	Clive Clark	81-75=156
	Ed Tutwiler (a)	82-75=157	+13
	Ralph Guldahl (c)	82-81=163	+19
WD	Henry Picard (c)	78	+6
	Claude Harmon (c)

Sources: ^{[21] [22]}

Scorecard

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	5	4	3	4	3	4	5	4	4	4	3	5	4	5	3	4	4
Goalby	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−7	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−9	−10	−12	−12	−11	−11
De Vicenzo	−6	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−9	−9	−9	−9	−10	−10	−10	−11	−11	−11^	−10
Yancey	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−4	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−7	−8	−9	−9
Devlin	−6	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−9	−8	−8	−8
Beard	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−3	−3	−3	−4	−4	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−7
Nicklaus	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−4	−4	−4	−5	−4	−5	−5	−6	−6	−7	−7
Floyd	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−4	−4	−5	−5	−5	−4	−5	−6	−6	−7	−6	−6	−6
January	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−4	−4	−5	−5	−4	−4

^ De Vicenzo actually birdied the 17th hole, but signed for a par on his scorecard.

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

References

1. "Stain mars Goalby's jacket". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. April 15, 1968. p. 19.
2. Wright, Alfred (April 22, 1968). "Golf's craziest drama". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
3. Green, Bob (April 15, 1968). "Goalby's 277 captures Masters as scoring error costs De Vicenzo tie". Youngstown Vindicator. (Ohio). Associated Press. p. 15.
4. "1968: De Vicenzo signs for wrong score, Goalby wins Masters".
5. "Lee Trevino to skip Masters". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. April 17, 1969. p. 20.
6. Addie, Bob (April 11, 1973). "Have Trevino, Masters parted company for good?". Tuscaloosa News. (Alabama). (Washington Post). p. 10.
7. Mizell, Hubert (April 8, 1978). "Trevino, Masters still not compatible". St. Petersburg Times. (Florida). p. 1C.
8. Green, Bob (March 24, 1977). "Trevino to miss Masters". Free Lance-Star. (Fredericksburg, Virginia). Associated Press. p. 8.
9. "'Worst ever here' – Arnie". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 13, 1968. p. 12.
10. Gundelfinger, Phil (April 13, 1968). "Player, January tie in Masters; Arnie out". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 12.
11. "Harmon holds pair of aces". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 12, 1968.
12. "(Masters scores)". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 12, 1968. p. 22.
13. "Augusta National Golf club: map". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 10, 1969. p. 27.
14. "Amateur Title Won by Dickson". Youngstown Vindicator. September 3, 1967. p. D1.
15. "Amateur Title". Youngstown Vindicator. September 3, 1967. p. D1.
16. "Bill Casper conquers jitters for 68 to lead international Masters field". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. April 12, 1968. p. 18.
17. "Masters scoreboard". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 13, 1968. p. 13.
18. "Birdies push Don January, Player to lead in Masters". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. April 13, 1968. p. 10.
19. "Golf: Masters". Miami News. April 13, 1968. p. 2B.
20. "Mob pursues Gary Player". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. April 14, 1968. p. 1, sports.
21. "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
22. "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.

External links

• Masters.com – past winners and results
• Augusta.com – 1968 Masters leaderboard and scorecards