The 1997 Masters Tournament was the 61st Masters Tournament, held April 10–13 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Tiger Woods won his first major championship, twelve strokes ahead of runner-up Tom Kite. The margin of victory is the largest in the tournament's history. The four-day score of 270 (−18) was also a tournament record until 2020 when it was beaten by Dustin Johnson. Woods also became both the youngest (21) and the first non-White player to win at

Woods struggled on his first nine holes of the first round, turning at 4-over-par 40. Making four birdies and an eagle gave him a 6-under-par 30 on the back nine for a 70, three shots behind first-round leader John Huston.

In the second and third rounds, Woods scored the best rounds of each day (66-65) to open up a commanding nine-shot lead. A final-round 69 gave Woods a then tournament record 270 (−18), bettering the previous record of 271 set by Jack Nicklaus in 1965 and matched by Raymond Floyd in 1976.

Woods' victory set television ratings records for golf; the final round broadcast on Sunday was seen by an estimated 44 million viewers in the United States.

Field 1. Masters champions Tommy Aaron, Seve Ballesteros, Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Fred Couples (9,13), Ben Crenshaw, Nick Faldo (3,9,10,12,13), Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize (9,11), Jack Nicklaus, José María Olazábal, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson (10,12,13), Ian Woosnam, Fuzzy Zoeller George Archer, Jack Burke Jr., Bob Goalby, Ben Hogan, Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, and Art Wall Jr. did not play.

2. U.S. Open champions (last five years) Ernie Els (9,10,12,13), Lee Janzen (9,10,11), Steve Jones (10,12,13), Tom Kite, Corey Pavin (9,12,13)

3. The Open champions (last five years) Tom Lehman (9,10,12,13), Greg Norman (9,10,13), Nick Price (4,9,11) John Daly did not play.

4. PGA champions (last five years) Paul Azinger (9), Mark Brooks (10,11,12,13), Steve Elkington (11)

5. U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up Steve Scott (a)

Tiger Woods forfeited his invitation by turning professional, but qualified via categories 12 & 13.

6. The Amateur champion Warren Bladon (a)

7. U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Tim Hogarth (a)

8. U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Spider Miller (a)

9. Top 24 players and ties from the 1996 Masters Mark Calcavecchia (13), David Duval (13), David Frost, Scott Hoch (10,12,13), John Huston, Davis Love III (10,13), Jeff Maggert (13), Scott McCarron, Phil Mickelson (11,12,13), Frank Nobilo (10,11), Mark O'Meara (10,12,13), Loren Roberts (12,13), Bob Tway, Duffy Waldorf (13)

10. Top 16 players and ties from the 1996 U.S. Open David Berganio Jr., Stewart Cink, John Cook (12,13), Dan Forsman, Jim Furyk (13), Ken Green, Colin Montgomerie, John Morse, Vijay Singh (11,13), Sam Torrance

11. Top eight players and ties from 1996 PGA Championship Per-Ulrik Johansson, Justin Leonard (12,13), Jesper Parnevik, Kenny Perry (13), Tommy Tolles (13)

12. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters Stuart Appleby, Guy Boros, Michael Bradley (13), Brad Faxon (13), Ed Fiori, Fred Funk (13), Dudley Hart, David Ogrin, Clarence Rose, Jeff Sluman (13), Paul Stankowski, Steve Stricker (13), D. A. Weibring, Willie Wood, Tiger Woods (13)

13. Top 30 players from the 1996 PGA Tour money list

14. Special foreign invitation Robert Allenby, Yoshinori Kaneko, Mark McNulty, Masashi Ozaki, Costantino Rocca, Lee Westwood

Round summaries First round Thursday, April 10, 1997

John Huston shot 67 (−5) to lead by one stroke over Paul Stankowski. Tiger Woods shot a 40 (+4) on the first nine, but came back into the clubhouse on the back nine with a score of 30 (−6) for a 70 (−2). PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 John Huston67−52 Paul Stankowski68−43 Paul Azinger69−34 Tiger Woods70−2T5 Costantino Rocca71−1 José María Olazábal Nick PriceT8 Stuart Appleby72E David Berganio Jr. Fred Couples Lee Janzen Per-Ulrik Johansson Bernhard Langer Davis Love III Colin Montgomerie Tommy Tolles Willie Wood

Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718Par454343454 443545344 Woods +1+1+1+2+2+2+2+3+4+3+3+2+1+1−1−1−2−2 Source:

Second round Friday, April 11, 1997

Woods started the round three strokes back, but a 66 gave him his first lead in a professional major championship, three shots ahead of Colin Montgomerie from Scotland.

PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tiger Woods70-66=136−82 Colin Montgomerie72-67=139−53 Costantino Rocca71-69=140−4T4 Fred Couples72-69=141−3 José María Olazábal71-70=141 Jeff Sluman 74-67=141T7 Paul Azinger69-73=142−2 Nick Price71-71=142 Paul Stankowski 68-74=142T10 Ernie Els73-70=143−1 Davis Love III72-71=143 Tom Watson 75-68=143 Amateurs: Bladon (+7), Scott (+13), Hogarth (+14), Miller (+19)

Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718Par454343454 443545344 Woods −2−3−2−2−3−3−3−4−4−4−4−4−6−7−8−8−8−8 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par Source:

Third round Saturday, April 12, 1997

Woods shot a 65 in the third round for 201 (−15) and his lead increased to nine shots; the closest competitor was Costantino Rocca from Italy. Montgomerie's 74 dropped him into a tie for sixth.

PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Tiger Woods70-66-65=201−152 Costantino Rocca71-69-70=210−63 Paul Stankowski68-74-69=211−5T4 Tom Kite77-69-66=212−4 Tom Watson75-68-69=212T6 Colin Montgomerie72-67-74=213−3 Jeff Sluman 74-67-72=2138 Fred Couples72-69-73=214−29 José María Olazábal71-70-74=215−1T10 Fred Funk73-74-69=216E Justin Leonard 76-69-71=216 Jesper Parnevik73-72-71=216 Tommy Tolles72-72-72=216

Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718Par454343454 443545344 Woods  −8  −9  −9  −9 −10−10−11−12−12−12−13−13−13−13−14−14−14−15 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par Source:

Final round Sunday, April 13, 1997

Summary

Woods won his first major championship, finishing 12 strokes ahead runner-up Tom Kite. It was the largest victory margin in Masters history, passing Nicklaus' 9-shot winning margin in 1965, and tied for the second largest victory margin in any major championship, only one stroke behind Old Tom Morris' 13-shot winning margin set at the 1862 Open Championship at Prestwick (a mark Woods later surpassed at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach when he won by 15 shots). Rocca and Stankowski fell into a tie for fifth.

Final leaderboard Champion(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)1 Tiger Woods 70-66-65-69=270 −18 486,0002 Tom Kite 77-69-66-70=282 −6 291,6003 Tommy Tolles 72-72-72-67=283 −5 183,6004 Tom Watson (c) 75-68-69-72=284 −4 129,600T5 Costantino Rocca 71-69-70-75=285 −3 102,600 Paul Stankowski 68-74-69-74=285T7 Fred Couples (c) 72-69-73-72=286 −2 78,570 Bernhard Langer (c) 72-72-74-68=286 Justin Leonard 76-69-71-70=286 Davis Love III 72-71-72-71=286 Jeff Sluman 74-67-72-73=286 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T12 Steve Elkington 76-72-72-67=287 −1 52,920 Per-Ulrik Johansson 72-73-73-69=287 Tom Lehman 73-76-69-69=287 José María Olazábal (c) 71-70-74-72=287 Willie Wood 72-76-71-68=287T17 Mark Calcavecchia 74-73-72-69=288 E 39,150 Ernie Els 73-70-71-74=288 Fred Funk 73-74-69-72=288 Vijay Singh 75-74-69-70=288T21 Stuart Appleby 72-76-70-71=289 +1 30,240 John Huston 67-77-75-70=289 Jesper Parnevik 73-72-71-73=289T24 Nick Price 71-71-75-74=291 +3 24,840 Lee Westwood 77-71-73-70=291T26 Lee Janzen 72-73-74-73=292 +4 21,195 Craig Stadler (c) 77-72-71-72=292T28 Paul Azinger 69-73-77-74=293 +5 19,575 Jim Furyk 74-75-72-72=293T30 Scott McCarron 77-71-72-74=294 +6 17,145 Larry Mize (c) 79-69-74-72=294 Colin Montgomerie 72-67-74-81=294 Mark O'Meara 75-74-70-75=294T34 Sandy Lyle (c) 73-73-74-75=295 +7 14,918 Fuzzy Zoeller (c) 75-73-69-78=29536 Duffy Waldorf 74-75-72-75=296 +8 13,90537 David Frost 74-71-73-79=297 +9 13,90538 Scott Hoch 79-68-73-78=298 +10 12,690T39 Jack Nicklaus (c) 77-70-74-78=299 +11 11,610 Sam Torrance 75-73-73-78=299 Ian Woosnam (c) 77-68-75-79=29942 Masashi Ozaki 74-74-74-78=300 +12 10,530T43 Corey Pavin 75-74-78-74=301 +13 9,720 Clarence Rose 73-75-79-74=30145 Ben Crenshaw (c) 75-73-74-80=302 +14 8,91046 Frank Nobilo 76-72-74-81=303 +15 8,370CUT David Berganio Jr. 72-78=150 +6 John Cook 77-73=150 David Duval 78-72=150 Dan Forsman 74-76=150 Phil Mickelson 76-74=150 John Morse 77-73=150 Warren Bladon (a) 79-72=151 +7 Brad Faxon 77-74=151 Dudley Hart 74-77=151 Greg Norman 77-74=151 David Ogrin 77-74=151 Kenny Perry 73-78=151 Gary Player (c) 76-75=151 Bob Tway 78-73=151 D. A. Weibring 78-73=151 Stewart Cink 75-78=153 +9 Ed Fiori 78-75=153 Jeff Maggert 77-76=153 Mark McNulty 81-72=153 Tommy Aaron (c) 77-77=154 +10 Raymond Floyd (c) 79-75=154 Yoshinori Kaneko 77-77=154 Seve Ballesteros (c) 81-74=155 +11 Michael Bradley 79-77=156 +12 Nick Faldo (c) 75-81=156 Steve Stricker 77-79=156 Steve Scott (a) 78-79=157 +13 Guy Boros 79-79=158 +14 Tim Hogarth (a) 80-78=158 Robert Allenby 82-77=159 +15 Mark Brooks 77-82=159 Billy Casper (c) 83-77=160 +16 Charles Coody (c) 83-77=160 Steve Jones 82-78=160 Ken Green 87-74=161 +17 Loren Roberts 85-77=162 +18 Gay Brewer (c) 84-79=163 +19 Spider Miller (a) 82-81=163 Arnold Palmer (c) 89-87=176 +32 Doug Ford (c) 85-94=179 +35

Sources:

Scorecard Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718Par454343454 443545344 Woods −15 −16 −16 −16 −15 −15 −14 −15 −15 −15 −16 −16 −17 −18 −18 −18 −18 −18 Kite −4 −5 −5 −4 −4 −3 −4 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −6 −6 −5 −5 −6 −6 Tolles E −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −2 −1 −2 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −4 −5 −5 −5 Watson −5 −6 −6 −6 −7 −6 −3 −4 −4 −5 −5 −6 −6 −6 −6 −5 −5 −4 Rocca −6 −7 −7 −7 −7 −6 −6 −6 −6 −6 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −5 −4 −3 Stankowski −5 −4 −3 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −2 −3 −2 −2 −2 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- |style="background: Pink;" width=10| |Birdie |style="background: PaleGreen;" width=10| |Bogey |style="background: Green;" width=10| |Double bogey |style="background: Olive;" width=10| |Triple bogey+ |} Source:

Quotes "There it is – a win for the ages!" – Jim Nantz's (CBS Sports) call as Woods sunk his final putt on the 18th hole to win the tournament.

References

External links Masters.com – past winners Augusta.com – 1997 Masters leaderboard and scorecards from the Masters (originally broadcast by CBS)