1955 Masters Tournament

The 1955 Masters Tournament was the 19th Masters Tournament, held April 7–10 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. It was the last one before CBS began televising the tournament the following year.

1955 Masters Tournament

Tournament information
Dates	April 7–10, 1955
Location	Augusta, Georgia
Course(s)	Augusta National Golf Club
Organized by	Augusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,950 yards (6,355 m)[1]
Field	78 players
Cut	None
Prize fund	$25,000
Winner's share	$5,000
Champion
Cary Middlecoff
279 (−9)

Augusta 

Location in the United States

Cary Middlecoff shot a 65 in the second round, including a then-record 31 on the first nine, to win his only Masters, seven strokes ahead of runner-up Ben Hogan,[2][3] and the second of his three major championships.

After a third round at even-par 72, Middlecoff entered the final round with a four shot lead over Hogan, the champion in 1951 and 1953.[4][5] The victory margin of seven strokes was a tournament record for ten years, until Jack Nicklaus won by nine strokes over Arnold Palmer and Gary Player in 1965, later increased to twelve in 1997 by Tiger Woods. The previous record was five strokes, set in 1948 by Claude Harmon and tied by Hogan in 1953. The runner-up finish was Hogan's fourth at the Masters.

Arnold Palmer, a professional for less than a year, finished tied for tenth in his first Masters.[6]

The Sarazen Bridge, approaching the left side of the 15th green, was dedicated on Wednesday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Gene Sarazen's double eagle in 1935.[7][8][9] Included was a contest to duplicate the 232-yard (212 m) shot, with the closest by Fred Haas at just over 4 feet (1.2 m) away.[10]

Course

Hole	Name	Yards	Par		Hole	Name	Yards	Par
1	White Pine	400	4		10	Camellia	470	4
2	Woodbine	555	5		11	Dogwood	445	4
3	Flowering Peach	355	4		12	Golden Bell	155	3
4	Palm	220	3		13	Azalea	470	5
5	Magnolia	450	4		14	Spanish Dagger	420	4
6	Juniper	190	3		15	Firethorn	505	5
7	Pampas	365	4		16	Redbud	190	3
8	Yellow Jasmine	520	5		17	Nandina	400	4
9	Carolina Cherry	420	4		18	Holly	420	4
Out		3,475	36		In		3,475	36
Source:[1]					Total		6,950	72

^ Holes 1, 2, 4, 11, and 14 were later renamed.

Past champions in the field

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Ben Hogan	United States	1951, 1953	73	68	72	73	286	−2	2
Sam Snead	United States	1949, 1952, 1954	72	71	74	70	287	−1	3
Byron Nelson	United States	1937, 1942	72	75	74	72	293	+5	T10
Claude Harmon	United States	1948	77	75	78	73	303	+15	T28
Henry Picard	United States	1938	78	79	75	75	307	+19	T41
Herman Keiser	United States	1946	82	79	75	76	312	+24	T56
Horton Smith	United States	1934, 1936	81	81	79	74	315	+27	T59
Craig Wood	United States	1941	81	81	79	76	317	+29	62
Gene Sarazen	United States	1935	83	80			WD

• The Masters did not have a 36-hole cut until 1957

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 7, 1955

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Jack Burke, Jr.	United States	67	−5
T2	Julius Boros	United States	71	−1
	Mike Souchak	United States
T4	Cary Middlecoff	United States	72	E
	Byron Nelson	United States
	Bob Rosburg	United States
	Sam Snead	United States
T8	Walter Burkemo	United States	73	+1
	Pete Cooper	United States
	Ben Hogan	United States
	Skee Riegel	United States

Source:[11]

Second round

Friday, April 8, 1955

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Cary Middlecoff	United States	72-65=137	−7
2	Ben Hogan	United States	73-68=141	−3
T3	Jack Burke, Jr.	United States	67-76=143	−1
	Sam Snead	United States	72-71=143
5	Bob Rosburg	United States	72-72=144	E
6	Mike Souchak	United States	71-74=145	+1
T7	Tommy Bolt	United States	76-70=146	+2
	Julius Boros	United States	71-75=146
	Walter Burkemo	United States	73-73=146
	Pete Cooper	United States	73-73=146
	Ed Furgol	United States	74-72=146
	Skee Riegel	United States	73-73=146
	Harvie Ward (a)	United States	77-69=146

Source:[12]

Third round

Saturday, April 9, 1955

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Cary Middlecoff	United States	72-65-72=209	−7
2	Ben Hogan	United States	73-68-72=213	−3
3	Jack Burke, Jr.	United States	67-76-71=214	−2
4	Bob Rosburg	United States	72-72-72=216	E
T5	Sam Snead	United States	72-71-74=217	+1
	Mike Souchak	United States	71-74-72=217
T7	Julius Boros	United States	71-75-72=218	+2
	Walter Burkemo	United States	73-73-72=218
	Stan Leonard	Canada	77-73-68=218
T10	Lloyd Mangrum	United States	74-73-72=219	+3
	Skee Riegel	United States	73-73-73=219

Source:[4][5]

Final round

Sunday, April 10, 1955

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Cary Middlecoff	United States	72-65-72-70=279	−9	5,000
2	Ben Hogan	United States	73-68-72-73=286	−2	3,125
3	Sam Snead	United States	72-71-74-70=287	−1	2,125
T4	Julius Boros	United States	71-75-72-71=289	+1	1,333
	Bob Rosburg	United States	72-72-72-73=289
	Mike Souchak	United States	71-74-72-72=289
7	Lloyd Mangrum	United States	74-73-72-72=291	+3	875
T8	Stan Leonard	Canada	77-73-68-74=292	+4	812
	Harvie Ward (a)	United States	77-69-75-71=292		0
T10	Dick Mayer	United States	78-72-72-71=293	+5	696
	Byron Nelson	United States	72-75-74-72=293
	Arnold Palmer	United States	76-76-72-69=293

Source:[2][6]

Scorecard

Final round

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
Middlecoff	−7	−8	−8	−8	−7	−8	−9	−9	−9	−7	−7	−8	−8	−8	−9	−9	−8	−9
Hogan	−3	−3	−3	−3	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−2	−1	−1	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2
Snead	E	E	E	E	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	E	E	−1	−1	−1	−1
Boros	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+4	+3	+3	+2	+1	+1	+1
Rosburg	+1	+1	+1	+2	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+3	+2	+3	+1	+1	+1	+1
Souchak	+1	E	E	E	E	E	E	−1	E	E	E	E	+1	+1	E	+1	+1	+1
Burke	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	E	E	+1	+5	+5	+5	+5	+6	+6

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Triple bogey +

References

1. Wind, Herbert Warren (April 4, 1955). "The Augusta National: a hole by hole study". Sports Illustrated. p. 20.
2. Bartlett, Charles (April 11, 1955). "Middlecoff's 279 wins Masters golf". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1, part 4.
3. Wind, Herbert Warren (April 18, 1955). "The Doc shows the Masters how". Sports Illustrated. p. 58.
4. Bartlett, Charles (April 10, 1955). "Middlecoff's 209 holds Masters lead; 18 to go". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 1, part 2.
5. Fullerton, Hugh, Jr. (April 10, 1955). "Careful Cary's 72 holds Ben 4 back". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. p. 1, sports.
6. "Middlecoff wins Masters with 279". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 11, 1955. p. 22.
7. "Special day for golfdom's Squire". Chicago Daily Tribune. United Press photo. April 7, 1955. p. 1, sec. 6.
8. Bartlett, Charles (April 7, 1955). "That historic double eagle". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1, sec. 6.
9. "The Sarazen Bridge". masters.com. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
10. "Haas closest to Sarazen's double eagle". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 7, 1955. p. 18.
11. Bartlett, Charles (April 8, 1955). "Burke's 67 leads Masters; Snead has 72". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1, part 4.
12. Bartlett, Charles (April 9, 1955). "Middlecoff's 137 takes lead in Masters". Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1, part 3.

External links

• Masters.com – past winners and results
• About.com – 1955 Masters
• Augusta.com – 1955 Masters leaderboard and scorecards