# 1976 Masters Tournament

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.

### 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)

### 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

### 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
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| 1 | Raymond Floyd | 65 | −7 |
| 2 | Andy North | 66 | −6 |
| T3 | Jack Nicklaus | 67 | −5 |
| T3 | Larry Ziegler | 67 | −5 |
| 5 | Lou Graham | 68 | −4 |
| T6 | Bud Allin | 69 | −3 |
| T6 | Dave Hill | 69 | −3 |
| T8 | Ben Crenshaw | 70 | −2 |
| T8 | Rod Curl | 70 | −2 |
| T8 | Rik Massengale | 70 | −2 |
Source:

### Second round

Friday, April 9, 1976
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| 1 | Raymond Floyd | 65-66=131 | −13 |
| 2 | Jack Nicklaus | 67-69=136 | −8 |
| 3 | Hubert Green | 71-66=137 | −7 |
| 4 | Larry Ziegler | 67-71=138 | −6 |
| T5 | Ben Crenshaw | 70-70=140 | −4 |
| T5 | Tom Kite | 73-67=140 | −4 |
| T7 | Charles Coody | 72-69=141 | −3 |
| T7 | Lou Graham | 68-73=141 | −3 |
| T7 | Graham Marsh | 73-68=141 | −3 |
| T10 | Dave Hill | 69-73=142 | −2 |
| T10 | Rik Massengale | 70-72=142 | −2 |
| T10 | Eddie Pearce | 71-71=142 | −2 |
Source:

### Third round

Saturday, April 10, 1976
| Place | Player | Score | To par |
| 1 | Raymond Floyd | 65-66-70=201 | −15 |
| 2 | Jack Nicklaus | 67-69-73=209 | −7 |
| 3 | Larry Ziegler | 67-71-72=210 | −6 |
| 4 | Charles Coody | 72-69-70=211 | −5 |
| T5 | Ben Crenshaw | 70-70-72=212 | −4 |
| T5 | Tom Kite | 73-67-72=212 | −4 |
| 7 | Lou Graham | 68-73-72=213 | −3 |
| 8 | Tom Weiskopf | 73-71-70=214 | −2 |
| T9 | Hubert Green | 71-66-78=215 | −1 |
| T9 | Hale Irwin | 71-77-67=215 | −1 |
Source:

### Final round

Sunday, April 11, 1976

#### Final leaderboard

* Champion
* Silver Cup winner (low amateur)
* (a) = amateur
* (c) = past champion
Top 10 :
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money (US$) |
| 1 | Raymond Floyd | 65-66-70-70=271 | −17 | 40,000 |
| 2 | Ben Crenshaw | 70-70-72-67=279 | −9 | 25,000 |
| T3 | Jack Nicklaus (c) | 67-69-73-73=282 | −6 | 16,250 |
| T3 | Larry Ziegler | 67-71-72-72=282 | −6 | 16,250 |
| T5 | Charles Coody (c) | 72-69-70-74=285 | −3 | 11,167 |
| T5 | Hale Irwin | 71-77-67-70=285 | −3 | 11,167 |
| T5 | Tom Kite | 73-67-72-73=285 | −3 | 11,167 |
| 8 | Billy Casper (c) | 71-76-71-69=287 | −1 | 8,000 |
| T9 | Roger Maltbie | 72-75-70-71=288 | E | 6,000 |
| T9 | Graham Marsh | 73-68-75-72=288 | E | 6,000 |
| T9 | Tom Weiskopf | 73-71-70-74=288 | E | 6,000 |
Leaderboard below the top 10 :
| Place | Player | Score | To par | Money ($) |
| T12 | Jim Colbert | 71-72-74-72=289 | +1 | 3,567 |
| T12 | Lou Graham | 68-73-72-76=289 | +1 | 3,567 |
| T12 | Gene Littler | 71-72-74-72=289 | +1 | 3,567 |
| T15 | Al Geiberger | 75-70-73-73=291 | +3 | 2,950 |
| T15 | Dave Hill | 69-73-76-73=291 | +3 | 2,950 |
| T15 | Jerry McGee | 71-73-72-75=291 | +3 | 2,950 |
| T15 | Curtis Strange (a) | 71-76-73-71=291 | +3 | 0 |
| T19 | Buddy Allin | 69-76-72-75=292 | +4 | 2,550 |
| T19 | Bruce Devlin | 77-69-72-74=292 | +4 | 2,550 |
| T19 | Hubert Green | 71-66-78-77=292 | +4 | 2,550 |
| T19 | Dale Hayes | 75-74-73-70=292 | +4 | 2,550 |
| T23 | Gay Brewer (c) | 75-74-71-73=293 | +5 | 2,225 |
| T23 | Rik Massengale | 70-72-78-73=293 | +5 | 2,225 |
| T23 | Johnny Miller | 71-73-74-75=293 | +5 | 2,225 |
| T23 | Peter Oosterhuis | 76-74-75-68=293 | +5 | 2,225 |
| 27 | Bruce Crampton | 74-76-71-73=294 | +6 | 2,000 |
| T28 | Bob Murphy | 72-74-76-73=295 | +7 | 1,950 |
| T28 | Eddie Pearce | 71-71-79-74=295 | +7 | 1,950 |
| T28 | Gary Player (c) | 73-73-70-79=295 | +7 | 1,950 |
| T28 | Lee Trevino | 75-75-69-76=295 | +7 | 1,950 |
| T28 | Art Wall Jr. (c) | 74-71-75-75=295 | +7 | 1,950 |
| T33 | Don January | 73-74-76-73=296 | +8 | 1,900 |
| T33 | Masashi Ozaki | 72-75-75-74=296 | +8 | 1,900 |
| T33 | Tom Watson | 77-73-76-70=296 | +8 | 1,900 |
| 36 | Joe Inman | 74-75-71-77=297 | +9 | 1,850 |
| T37 | Takashi Murakami | 74-71-80-73=298 | +10 | 1,800 |
| T37 | Andy North | 66-81-75-76=298 | +10 | 1,800 |
| T39 | Bob Gilder | 71-75-76-77=299 | +11 | 1,750 |
| T39 | John Mahaffey | 72-74-78-75=299 | +11 | 1,750 |
| T39 | Bob Shearer | 73-75-76-75=299 | +11 | 1,750 |
| 42 | Tommy Aaron (c) | 73-76-77-74=300 | +12 | 1,700 |
| T43 | Frank Beard | 74-75-78-74=301 | +13 | 1,650 |
| T43 | J. C. Snead | 72-77-76-76=301 | +13 | 1,650 |
| 45 | Pat Fitzsimons | 71-79-77-76=303 | +15 | 1,600 |
| 46 | Dick Siderowf (a) | 76-73-77-81=307 | +19 | 0 |
| 47 | Bobby Cole | 75-74-78-82=309 | +21 | 1,500 |
| CUT | Bob Goalby (c) | 76-75=151 | +7 | |
| CUT | Sam Snead (c) | 72-79=151 | +7 | |
| CUT | Rod Curl | 70-82=152 | +8 | |
| CUT | George Archer (c) | 74-79=153 | +9 | |
| CUT | Don Bies | 76-77=153 | +9 | |
| CUT | Keith Fergus (a) | 76-77=153 | +9 | |
| CUT | Jay Haas (a) | 76-77=153 | +9 | |
| CUT | Don Iverson | 73-80=153 | +9 | |
| CUT | Jim Wiechers | 74-79=153 | +9 | |
| CUT | Hugh Baiocchi | 78-76=154 | +10 | |
| CUT | Doug Ford (c) | 74-80=154 | +10 | |
| CUT | John Grace (a) | 75-79=154 | +10 | |
| CUT | Tom Jenkins | 75-79=154 | +10 | |
| CUT | Henri DeLozier (a) | 75-80=155 | +11 | |
| CUT | Priscillo Diniz (a) | 78-77=155 | +11 | |
| CUT | Bobby Nichols | 78-77=155 | +11 | |
| CUT | Arnold Palmer (c) | 74-81=155 | +11 | |
| CUT | Allen Miller | 79-77=156 | +12 | |
| CUT | Dean Refram | 77-79=156 | +12 | |
| CUT | William C. Campbell (a) | 78-80=158 | +14 | |
| CUT | Fred Ridley (a) | 77-81=158 | +14 | |
| CUT | Ralph Johnston | 76-83=159 | +15 | |
| CUT | Jack Newton | 76-83=159 | +15 | |
| CUT | Maurice Bembridge | 78-86=164 | +20 | |
| CUT | Vinny Giles (a) | 83-81=164 | +20 | |
Sources:

#### 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 |
| 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
| Eagle | Birdie | Bogey |