2012 Masters Tournament

2012 Masters Tournament

Tournament information
Dates	April 5–8, 2012
Location	Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Course(s)	Augusta National Golf Club
Organized by	Augusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)	PGA Tour European Tour Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	7,435 yards (6,799 m)[1]
Field	95 players, 63 after cut
Cut	149 (+5)
Prize fund	$8,000,000 €6,124,726
Winner's share	$1,440,000 €1,086,801
Champion
Bubba Watson
278 (−10), playoff
«2011 2013»

The 2012 Masters Tournament was the 76th Masters Tournament, held April 5–8 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.^[2] Bubba Watson won the year's first major championship on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, defeating Louis Oosthuizen.^[3] It was Watson's first major title and his fourth victory on the PGA Tour.^[3] He was the eighth consecutive first-time major champion, and the 14th different winner in as many majors.^[4][5]

Two pre-tournament favorites,^[3][6] Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, both finished at 293 (+5) in a tie for 40th place. Phil Mickelson was in the final pairing and in contention during the final round, but a triple-bogey six on the fourth hole knocked him back and he finished two strokes behind, in a four-way tie for third.^[3] Bo Van Pelt posted the lowest round of the tournament with a 64 (−8) early on Sunday, which propelled him up the leaderboard 35 places to tie for 17th.

It was the first playoff in three years at the Masters; Ángel Cabrera won on the second extra hole in 2009.

Course

Field

The Masters has the smallest field of the four major championships. Officially, the Masters remains an invitation event, but there is a set of qualifying criteria that determines who is included in the field.^[7] Each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.

Golfers who qualify based solely on their performance in amateur tournaments (categories 6–10) must remain amateurs on the starting day of the tournament to be eligible to play.

Three players were appearing in their first major: Kelly Kraft, Corbin Mills and Randal Lewis. Twelve others were appearing in their first Masters: Keegan Bradley, Patrick Cantlay, Bryden Macpherson, Kevin Chappell, Robert Garrigus, Webb Simpson, Harrison Frazar, Kyle Stanley, Scott Stallings, Brendan Steele, Bae Sang-moon and Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño.^[8]

Notable absences included Mark O'Meara (injured), Ernie Els and Retief Goosen (not ranked high enough). O'Meara had appeared in the previous 27 Masters, Els in the previous 18, and Goosen in the previous 12. (Els would win the Open Championship in July to ensure an invitation to the next five Masters.)

1. Past Masters Champions
Ángel Cabrera (2,11), Fred Couples (11), Ben Crenshaw, Trevor Immelman (11), Zach Johnson (18,19), Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Phil Mickelson (13,15,16,17,18,19), Larry Mize, José María Olazábal, Charl Schwartzel (11,15,18,19), Vijay Singh (15,17), Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Mike Weir, Tiger Woods (2,4,11,16,18,19), Ian Woosnam

• Mark O'Meara withdrew shortly before his tee time due to injury. ^[9]

(Past champions not playing: Tommy Aaron, Jack Burke, Jr., Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Nick Faldo, Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Fuzzy Zoeller.)

2. Last five U.S. Open Champions
Lucas Glover (16), Graeme McDowell (18,19), Rory McIlroy (11,12,16,18,19)

3. Last five British Open Champions
Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke (13,18), Pádraig Harrington (4), Louis Oosthuizen (18,19)

4. Last five PGA Champions
Keegan Bradley (14,15,16,17,18,19), Martin Kaymer (18,19), Y. E. Yang (12,17,18,19)

5. Last three winners of The Players Championship
K. J. Choi (11,15,17,18,19), Tim Clark, Henrik Stenson

6. Top two finishers in the 2011 U.S. Amateur
Patrick Cantlay, Kelly Kraft

7. Winner of the 2011 Amateur Championship
Bryden Macpherson

8. Winner of the 2011 Asian Amateur
Hideki Matsuyama

9. Winner of the 2011 U.S. Amateur Public Links
Corbin Mills

10. Winner of the 2011 U.S. Mid-Amateur
Randal Lewis

11. The top 16 finishers and ties in the 2011 Masters Tournament
Jason Day (12,15,17,18,19), Luke Donald (15,16,17,18,19), Ross Fisher, Edoardo Molinari, Geoff Ogilvy (17,18,19), Ryan Palmer, Justin Rose (15,16,17,18,19), Adam Scott (15,16,17,18,19), Brandt Snedeker (15,16,17,18,19), Steve Stricker (15,16,17,18,19), Bo Van Pelt (15,17,18,19), Lee Westwood (12,18,19)

12. Top 8 finishers and ties in the 2011 U.S. Open
Kevin Chappell, Sergio García (18,19), Robert Garrigus, Peter Hanson (18,19)

13. Top 4 finishers and ties in the 2011 British Open Championship
Thomas Bjørn (18,19)

• Dustin Johnson (15,16,17,18,19) withdrew with a back injury prior to the start of the tournament.^[10]

14. Top 4 finishers and ties in the 2011 PGA Championship
Jason Dufner (15,17,18,19), Anders Hansen (18,19), Robert Karlsson (18,19), David Toms (15,16,17,18,19), Scott Verplank

15. Top 30 leaders on the 2011 PGA Tour official money earnings list
Aaron Baddeley (17,18,19), Jonathan Byrd (17), Bill Haas (16,17,18,19), Charles Howell III (17), Fredrik Jacobson (16,17,18,19), Matt Kuchar (17,18,19), Martin Laird (18,19), Hunter Mahan (16,17,18,19), Kevin Na, Rory Sabbatini, Webb Simpson (16,17,18,19), Nick Watney (16,17,18,19), Bubba Watson (16,17,18,19), Mark Wilson (16,17,19), Gary Woodland (17)

16. Winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the season-ending Tour Championship, between the 2011 Masters Tournament and the 2012 Masters Tournament
Harrison Frazar, Sean O'Hair, Scott Stallings, Kyle Stanley (19), Brendan Steele, Johnson Wagner

17. All players qualifying for the 2011 edition of The Tour Championship
Chez Reavie, John Senden (18,19)

18. Top 50 on the final 2011 Official World Golf Ranking list
Bae Sang-moon (19), Paul Casey (19), Simon Dyson (19), Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Rickie Fowler (19), Jim Furyk (19), Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Kim Kyung-tae (19), Francesco Molinari (19), Ian Poulter (19), Álvaro Quirós (19)

19. Top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking list on March 25, 2012
Ben Crane, Paul Lawrie

20. International invitees
Ryo Ishikawa^[11]

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	To par	Finish
Phil Mickelson	United States	2004, 2006, 2010	74	68	66	72	280	−8	T3
Fred Couples	United States	1992	72	67	75	72	286	−2	T12
Vijay Singh	Fiji	2000	70	72	76	72	290	+2	T27
Ángel Cabrera	Argentina	2009	71	78	71	71	291	+3	T32
Zach Johnson	United States	2007	70	74	75	72	291	+3	T32
Tiger Woods	United States	1997, 2001, 2002, 2005	72	75	72	74	293	+5	T40
Charl Schwartzel	South Africa	2011	72	75	75	74	296	+8	T50
Trevor Immelman	South Africa	2008	78	71	76	76	301	+13	60

Missed the cut

Player	Country	Year(s) won	R1	R2	Total	To par
José María Olazábal	Spain	1994, 1999	75	76	151	+7
Larry Mize	United States	1987	76	75	151	+7
Mike Weir	Canada	2003	72	79	151	+7
Tom Watson	United States	1977, 1981	77	74	151	+7
Bernhard Langer	Germany	1985, 1993	72	80	152	+8
Ian Woosnam	Wales	1991	77	77	154	+10
Ben Crenshaw	United States	1984, 1995	76	83	159	+15
Craig Stadler	United States	1982	81	82	163	+19
Sandy Lyle	Scotland	1988	86	78	164	+20

First round

Thursday, April 5, 2012 ^[12]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Lee Westwood	England	67	−5
T2	Peter Hanson	Sweden	68	−4
	Louis Oosthuizen	South Africa
T4	Ben Crane	United States	69	−3
	Jason Dufner	United States
	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	Spain
	Paul Lawrie	Scotland
	Francesco Molinari	Italy
	Bubba Watson	United States
T10	Jim Furyk	United States	70	−2
	Zach Johnson	United States
	Vijay Singh	Fiji
	Scott Stallings	United States

Second round

Friday, April 6, 2012 ^[13]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Fred Couples	United States	72-67=139	−5
	Jason Dufner	United States	69-70=139
T3	Sergio García	Spain	72-68=140	−4
	Rory McIlroy	Northern Ireland	71-69=140
	Louis Oosthuizen	South Africa	68-72=140
	Bubba Watson	United States	69-71=140
	Lee Westwood	England	67-73=140
T8	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	Spain	69-72=141	−3
	Matt Kuchar	United States	71-70=141
	Paul Lawrie	Scotland	69-72=141

Amateurs: Matsuyama (+1), Cantlay (+5), Kraft (+5), Macpherson (+9), Mills (+11), Lewis (+20).

Third round

Saturday, April 7, 2012^[14]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Peter Hanson	Sweden	68-74-65=207	−9
2	Phil Mickelson	United States	74-68-66=208	−8
3	Louis Oosthuizen	South Africa	68-72-69=209	−7
4	Bubba Watson	United States	69-71-70=210	−6
5	Matt Kuchar	United States	71-70-70=211	−5
T6	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	71-73-68=212	−4
	Hunter Mahan	United States	72-72-68=212
	Henrik Stenson	Sweden	71-71-70=212
	Lee Westwood	England	67-73-72=212
10	Paul Lawrie	Scotland	69-72-72=213	−3

Final round

Sunday, April 8, 2012

For the third time in seven years, the Masters concluded on Easter Sunday. The leaderboard was active, as four different players held at least a share of the lead during the final round. Louis Oosthuizen charged into the lead at the second hole with a double eagle two on the par-5. It was only the fourth double eagle in Masters history and the first-ever on the second hole. The final pairing faltered: 54-hole leader Peter Hanson never got it going, with three bogeys before he carded his first birdie at the 15th hole. Three holes earlier, Hanson shanked his tee shot on the par-3 12th short of the water, bogeyed, and fell from contention. On the front nine, three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson pushed his tee shot left at the par-3 fourth and it caromed off a greenside grandstand. He made his second triple bogey of the week and came up two shots short of the playoff.^[3]

In the end, it came down to a three player race between Oosthuizen, Bubba Watson, and Matt Kuchar. Kuchar hit his approach at the 15th hole to three feet (0.9 m) and eagled to temporarily tie Oosthuizen at −9, but followed it with a bogey at the par-3 16th hole and finished two strokes back, in the four-way tie for third. After Watson made a two at the 16th for his fourth consecutive birdie, he was tied at the top with Oosthuizen at −10. Playing together in the penultimate pairing, both parred the 17th hole and were on the green in regulation at the uphill 18th. Oosthuizen missed a 35-foot (11 m) birdie putt from the back shelf and Watson had 25 feet (8 m) for his first major, but he missed the putt to the right. After Watson tapped in, Oosthuizen holed his four-footer (1.2 m) to force a sudden death playoff.^[15]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
T1	Louis Oosthuizen	South Africa	68-72-69-69=278	−10	Playoff
	Bubba Watson	United States	69-71-70-68=278
T3	Peter Hanson	Sweden	68-74-65-73=280	−8	384,000
	Matt Kuchar	United States	71-70-70-69=280
	Phil Mickelson	United States	74-68-66-72=280
	Lee Westwood	England	67-73-72-68=280
7	Ian Poulter	England	72-72-70-69=283	−5	268,000
T8	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	71-73-68-72=284	−4	232,000
	Justin Rose	England	72-72-72-68=284
	Adam Scott	Australia	75-70-73-66=284

Amateurs: Cantlay (+7), Matsuyama (+8), Kraft (+18).

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
Oosthuizen	−7	−10	−10	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−9	−8	−8	−8	−9	−9	−10	−10	−10	−10
Watson	−5	−6	−6	−6	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−6	−7	−8	−9	−10	−10	−10
Hanson	−8	−8	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−7	−6	−6	−6	−7	−7	−7	−8
Kuchar	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−7	−7	−5	−5	−5	−6	−7	−7	−9	−8	−8	−8
Mickelson	−8	−8	−8	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−6	−6	−6	−7	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8
Westwood	−3	−4	−3	−3	−3	−4	−5	−4	−4	−4	−4	−4	−5	−6	−7	−7	−7	−8

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:^[16]

Playoff

The sudden death playoff started at the par-4 18th hole, where both players hit the fairway and green, and similar to the final round, Bubba Watson was closer to the pin than Louis Oosthuizen. Oosthuizen narrowly missed his 18-foot (5.5 m) birdie effort which gave Watson another opportunity to secure the title. Watson's putt from 16 feet (5 m) was low the entire way, and after both players tapped in to tie they headed to the next tee at the downhill par-4 10th hole. Both players hit poor drives to the right, and Oosthuizen's second shot ended up short of the green. The left-handed Watson, playing from the pine straw deep in the woods, hooked his approach shot nearly 90 degrees to within 10 feet (3 m) of the hole. Oosthuizen then chipped to the back of the green and narrowly missed his par putt to give Watson two putts to win. He lagged his first to a foot (0.3 m) and tapped in to become the Masters Champion.^[17][18]

Place	Player	Country	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Bubba Watson	United States	4-4=8	E	1,440,000
2	Louis Oosthuizen	South Africa	4-5=9	+1	864,000

References

External links

• Official website
• Coverage from the PGA of America
• Coverage on the European Tour's official site

Coordinates: 33°30′11″N 82°01′12″W / 33.503°N 82.020°W / 33.503; -82.020