1968 Masters Tournament

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. 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, and the error gave Goalby the championship.

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

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, and missed in 1977 due to a bad back.

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. 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. The next day, Harmon withdrew in the first round after a nine-hole score of 40.

Course

HoleNameYardsPar HoleNameYardsPar1White Pine4004 10Camellia47042Woodbine555511Dogwood44543Flowering Peach355412Golden Bell15534Palm220313Azalea47555Magnolia450414Chinese Fir42046Juniper190315Firethorn52057Pampas365416Redbud19038Yellow Jasmine530517Nandina40049Carolina Cherry420418Holly4204Out3,48536In3,49536Source:Total6,98072 ^ 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)

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 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Billy Casper 68 −4T2 Tommy Aaron 69 −3 Roberto De Vicenzo Bruce Devlin Tony Jacklin Jack Nicklaus T7 Bob Goalby 70 −2 Jerry Pittman Kermit ZarleyT10 Raymond Floyd 71 −1 Vinny Giles (a) Don January Herman Keiser Hideyo Sugimoto Lee Trevino Bert Yancey Source:

Second round Friday, April 12, 1968 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 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:

Third round Saturday, April 13, 1968 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 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=212T10 Tommy Aaron 69-72-72=213 −3 Jerry Pittman 70-73-70=213 Source:

Final round Sunday, April 14, 1968

Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)1 Bob Goalby 70-70-71-66=277 −11 20,0002 Roberto De Vicenzo 69-73-70-66=278 −10 15,0003 Bert Yancey 71-71-72-65=279 −9 10,0004 Bruce Devlin 69-73-69-69=280 −8 7,500T5 Frank Beard 75-65-71-70=281 −7 5,500 Jack Nicklaus (c) 69-71-74-67=281T7 Tommy Aaron 69-72-72-69=282 −6 3,460 Raymond Floyd 71-71-69-71=282 Lionel Hebert 72-71-71-68=282 Jerry Pittman 70-73-70-69=282 Gary Player (c) 72-67-71-72=282 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T12 Miller Barber 75-69-68-71=283 −5 2,850 Doug Sanders 76-69-70-68=283T14 Don January 71-68-72-73=284 −4 2,650 Mason Rudolph 73-73-72-66=284T16 Julius Boros 73-71-70-71=285 −3 2,400 Billy Casper 68-75-73-69=285 Tom Weiskopf 74-71-69-71=28519 Bob Charles 75-71-70-70=286 −2 2,200T20 Dave Marr 74-71-71-71=287 −1 2,050 Kermit Zarley 70-73-74-70=287T22 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=288T28 Jay Hebert 74-71-71-73=289 +1 1,400 George Knudson 75-71-72-71=289T30 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=290T35 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=291T40 Paul Harney 78-70-70-74=292 +4 1,375 Lee Trevino 71-72-69-80=29242 Sam Snead (c) 73-74-75-71=293 +5 1,350T43 Gene Littler 73-73-76-72=294 +6 1,350 Johnny Pott 75-68-75-76=294T45 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 1,350T48 William C. Campbell (a) 74-71-75-76=296 +8 0 Doug Ford (c) 72-75-72-77=296 1,350T50 Dave Hill 79-70-73-75=297 +9 1,350 Ken Venturi 75-74-73-75=29752 Joe Carr (a) 75-73-80-78=306 +18 0CUT 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 +19WD Henry Picard (c) 78 +6 Claude Harmon (c)

Sources:

Scorecard Hole  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18 Par454343454 443545344 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 EagleBirdieBogeyDouble bogey

References

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