1981 Masters Tournament


The 1981 Masters Tournament was the 45th Masters Tournament, held April 9–12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Tom Watson won his second green jacket and fifth major title by two strokes over Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller.
Five-time champion Nicklaus shot a bogey-free 65 on Friday and led by four strokes after 36 holes, but a 75 on Saturday put him a stroke behind Watson entering the final round. It was the fourth runner-up finish for Nicklaus at the Masters and the third for Miller. Nicklaus won his sixth Masters five years later in 1986 at age 46.
Defending champion Seve Ballesteros shot 154 and missed the cut by six strokes; he also missed the cut as defending champion in 1984. Lee Trevino, needing a green jacket to complete the career grand slam, also shot 154 with an ailing back. His best finishes at Augusta were tenth place ties in 1975 and 1985.
Greg Norman, age 26, appeared in his first Masters and was fourth, the first of his eight top-five finishes at Augusta. He was runner-up three times, in 1986, 1987, and 1996.
This was the first Masters with bentgrass greens, which were formerly Bermuda and ryegrass.

Field

;1. Masters champions
Tommy Aaron, George Archer, Seve Ballesteros, Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr., Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller
;The following categories only apply to Americans
;2. U.S. Open champions
Hubert Green, Hale Irwin, Andy North, Jerry Pate
;3. The Open champions
Johnny Miller
;4. PGA champions
John Mahaffey, Dave Stockton, Lanny Wadkins
;5. 1980 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists
Jim Holtgrieve, Bob Lewis, Hal Sutton, Dick von Tacky
;6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions
Jay Sigel
;7. Members of the 1980 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team
Bob Tway
;8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1980 Masters Tournament
Andy Bean, Jim Colbert, Ben Crenshaw, Ed Fiori, Gibby Gilbert, Jay Haas, Tom Kite, Billy Kratzert, Gil Morgan, Larry Nelson, Calvin Peete, Jack Renner, Jim Simons, J. C. Snead
;9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1980 U.S. Open
Keith Fergus, Joe Hager, Mark Hayes, Lon Hinkle, Joe Inman, Pat McGowan, Mike Morley, Mike Reid, Bill Rogers, Ed Sneed, Craig Stadler, Curtis Strange, Lee Trevino, Bobby Wadkins
;10. Top eight players and ties from 1980 PGA Championship
Howard Twitty, Bobby Walzel
;11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters
John Cook, Bob Gilder, Phil Hancock, Scott Hoch, Peter Jacobsen, Wayne Levi, Bruce Lietzke, Mark Pfeil, Don Pooley, Scott Simpson, Mike Sullivan, Doug Tewell
;12. Members of the U.S. 1979 Ryder Cup team
Lee Elder
;13. Foreign invitations
Isao Aoki, Bruce Devlin, Duncan Evans, David Graham, Dan Halldorson, Sandy Lyle, Jack Newton, Greg Norman, Norio Suzuki

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Source:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 9, 1981
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Lon Hinkle69−3
T1Johnny Miller69−3
T1Greg Norman69−3
T1Curtis Strange69−3
T5Isao Aoki70−2
T5John Cook70−2
T5David Graham70−2
T5Hubert Green70−2
T5Jim Holtgrieve 70−2
T5Jack Nicklaus70−2
T5Jim Simons70−2

Source:

Second round

Friday, April 10, 1981
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Jack Nicklaus70-65=135−9
T2Lon Hinkle69-70=139−5
T2Bruce Lietzke72-67=139−5
T2Greg Norman69-70=139−5
T2Tom Watson71-68=139−5
T6David Graham70-70=140−4
T6Hubert Green70-70=140−4
T8Jim Colbert73-68=141−3
T8John Cook70-71=141−3
T8Peter Jacobsen71-70=141−3
T8Johnny Miller69-72=141−3

Source:

Third round

Saturday, April 11, 1981
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Tom Watson71-68-70=209−7
2Jack Nicklaus70-65-75=210−6
3Greg Norman69-70-72=211−5
T4Bruce Lietzke72-67-73=212−4
T4John Mahaffey72-71-69=212−4
T6John Cook70-71-72=213−3
T6Ben Crenshaw71-72-70=213−3
T6Lon Hinkle69-70-74=213−3
T6Peter Jacobsen71-70-72=213−3
T10Gay Brewer75-68-71=214−2
T10David Graham70-70-74=214−2
T10Hubert Green70-70-74=214−2
T10Johnny Miller69-72-73=214−2
T10Jerry Pate71-72-71=214−2
T10Dave Stockton72-72-70=214−2
T10Lanny Wadkins72-71-71=214−2

Source:

Final round

Sunday, April 12, 1981
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Tom Watson71-68-70-71=280−860,000
T2Johnny Miller69-72-73-68=282−630,500
T2Jack Nicklaus70-65-75-72=282−630,500
4Greg Norman69-70-72-72=283−516,000
T5Tom Kite74-72-70-68=284−412,667
T5Jerry Pate71-72-71-70=284−412,667
7David Graham70-70-74-71=285−311,167
T8Ben Crenshaw71-72-70-73=286−29,667
T8Raymond Floyd75-71-71-69=286−29,667
T8John Mahaffey72-71-69-74=286−29,667

Source:

Scorecard

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source: