US Masters 
/ Dan Fitch / 03 March 2011 / Leave a Comment 
The only man to make it onto this list twice.
Dan Fitch looks at the lowest winning scores ever hit at the U.S. Masters.
The phrase 'under par' means to perform below average, except in the context of golf, where to finish under par is the entire point of the sport.
When it come to the Masters Tournament, there are a group of men who have excelled at the art of finishing under par. Here are the five lowest winning scores at the Masters.
Tiger Woods score of 16 under par not only saw him win the Masters, but also complete the Grand Slam, having won the US Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2000.
Woods scored an unremarkable -2 on the first day, before moving into joint second place on the second day of the tournament by scoring a six-under 66 to put him -8. Tiger took the lead on the Saturday with a four-under 68 and repeated the feat on the final day, to finish -16, ahead of the -14 David Duval.
In last year's Masters, Phil Mickelson won the title for the third occasion with his best ever score of -16.
Mickelson got off to a flying start with a five-under score of 67 to put him in joint second place. He then scored a one-under 71 on the second day, before bouncing back with another 67 on the Saturday to leave himself -11 and one shot off the leader Lee Westwood. On the concluding day, Mickelson hit a third 67 to leave himself -16, three strokes ahead of Westwood.
Jack Nicklaus won his second US Masters title by setting a then record score of -17. The winning margin of nine strokes over the tied Arnold Palmer and Gary Player was also a record, that stood until it was beaten by Tiger Woods in 1997.
Nicklaus started quickly with a score of -5 on the first day and scored a one-under par 71 on day two. On the Saturday Nicklaus hit a brilliant -8 and added a round of -3 on the concluding Sunday, to give himself an unprecedented winning score.
The victory in 1965 was the second of a total of six that the Golden Bear won between 1963 and 1986.
Nicklaus' record lasted for eleven years, until Raymond Floyd equalled it in 1976. Floyd hit the ground running, with a score of -7 on the first day and -6 on the second, to leave him -13.
The looming shadow of Nicklaus was not far behind though, trailing by five shots on -8. Floyd kept his cool over the weekend to extend his lead with two -2 scores of 70, while Nicklaus faded away. The master-chipper eventually won the title by eight strokes over the second-placed Ben Crenshaw.
Here's Floyd hitting a hole-in-one at the Masters some 19 years later.
The joint-record held by Nicklaus and Floyd was beaten in 1997 by the then 21-year old Tiger Woods. His score of -18 also saw him break Nicklaus' record for the biggest margin of victory, with Woods finishing twelve strokes ahead of the second-placed Tom Kite.
Woods' achievement was all the more remarkable considering the poor start he made. He was +4 after the first nine holes, but fought back to finish the first 18 at -2. A six-under 66 gave Woods the lead on -8 on the second day, before a 65 on the Saturday brought him to -15.
The final day saw Woods go round in 69 to finish -18. The Masters was his first major championship and his winning margin of 12 strokes was a record for any major tournament, until he broke his own record by winning the 2000 U.S. Open by a 15-shot margin.
Dan Fitch looks at the lowest winning scores ever hit at the U.S. Masters....
On current form Tiger Woods would be a [50.0] shot for the Masters but memories of past Masters ensure he holds up as the [5.8] favourite - and that's crazy, argues Paul Krishnamurty...
The golf season enjoys a very mini break over the next fortnight so Steve focuses minds for the year to come with a quintet of bets that will be placed in 2011...
No comments:
Post a Comment