« Rangers 8, Red Sox 4 | Main | Jim Donaldson at the Masters: Quigley on the course »

April 8, 2007

Jim Donaldson at the Masters: By the numbers

AUGUSTA, Ga. _ The odds are very good that either Stuart Appleby, who leads the tournament at 2-over par, or Tiger Woods, who's 3-over, will win The Masters. They're the last twosome off the tee, at 2:15 p.m., and, for the last 16 years, going back to Ian Woosnam in 1991, the tournament winner has come out of the day's final pairing.

Never before at The Masters has the leader heading into the final round been over par. The previous high was in 1966, when Jack Nicklaus and Tommy Jacobs were at even-par. Both shot even-par 72 on Sunday and wound up in a 3-way tie with Gay Brewer, who had a final round of 70. In an 18-hole playoff the following day, Nicklaus won the third of his record six green jackets by shooting 2-under 70, beating Jacobs by two strokes and Brewer by eight.

The average score for yesterday's third round was 77.35, the fifth-highest in tournament history, and the highest since players averaged 77.32 in the opening round in 1982. Scoring never has been more difficult than the 78.596 average in the opening round of 1936. Three of the five-highest averages in Masters history have come in the third round, with the 78.564 in 1956 the second-highest overall and the 77.581 ranking fourth.

The highest winning total ever at The Masters is 1-over. Jack Burke came from eight shots back to beat then-amateur Ken Venturi with a 72-hole score of 289 in 1956, two years after Sam Snead had finished tied with Ben Hogan at 1-over, then won a Monday playoff by shooting 70 to Hogan's 71.

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 9:42 AM to Golf | Permalink

Comments

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)