1954 Masters Tournament

The 1954 Masters Tournament was the 18th Masters Tournament, held April 8–12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Sam Snead defeated defending champion Ben Hogan by one stroke in an 18-hole Monday playoff to win his third Masters tournament. It was Snead's seventh and final major victory.

1954 Masters Tournament

Front cover of the 1954 Masters Guide
Tournament information
Dates	April 8–12, 1954
Location	Augusta, Georgia 33.503°N 82.020°W / 33.503; -82.020
Course(s)	Augusta National Golf Club
Organized by	Augusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Length	6,800 yards (6,220 m)
Field	78 players
Cut	None
Prize fund	$25,000
Winner's share	$5,000
Champion
Sam Snead
289 (+1), playoff
Location map
Augusta National Location in the United States Show map of the United States Augusta National Location in Georgia Show map of Georgia
← 1953 1955 →

Both Snead and Hogan were age 41, and they had won the previous three Masters; Snead in 1952 and Hogan in 1951 and 1953. Hogan was also the reigning champion of the U.S. Open and British Open; he did not win another major, but often contended until his final appearances in 1967 at the Masters and U.S. Open.

Snead's 289 (+1), along with Jack Burke Jr. in 1956 and Zach Johnson in 2007, remains the highest winning total in Masters history. Amateur Billy Joe Patton, 31, led after the first and second rounds and during the fourth, but a seven at the 13th hole and a six at the 15th ended his title hopes, and he finished one stroke back.^[1][2]

Snead remained the oldest winner of the Masters for nearly a quarter century, until Gary Player won his third green jacket at age 42 in 1978.

Field

1. Masters champions

Jimmy Demaret (10), Claude Harmon (12), Ben Hogan (2,4,6,9,10), Byron Nelson (2,6), Gene Sarazen (2,4,6), Horton Smith, Sam Snead (4,6,7,9,10), Craig Wood (2)

• Ralph Guldahl (2), Herman Keiser and Henry Picard (6) did not play.

2. U.S. Open champions

Julius Boros (9,10), Lawson Little (3,5), Lloyd Mangrum (7,9,10), Fred McLeod, Cary Middlecoff (7), Sam Parks Jr., Lew Worsham

3. U.S. Amateur champions

Dick Chapman (5,8,a), Charles Coe (8,9,a), Gene Littler (8,11), Billy Maxwell, Skee Riegel, Jess Sweetser (5,a)

4. British Open champions

Jock Hutchison (6), Denny Shute (6)

5. British Amateur champions

Frank Stranahan (9,10,a), Robert Sweeny Jr. (a), Harvie Ward (8,9,a)

6. PGA champions

Walter Burkemo (7,12), Jim Ferrier (9), Vic Ghezzi, Chandler Harper (9), Johnny Revolta, Jim Turnesa (7,10)

7. Members of the U.S. 1953 Ryder Cup team

Jack Burke Jr. (9,10), Dave Douglas (12), Fred Haas (10), Ted Kroll (9,10), Ed Oliver (9)

8. Members of the U.S. 1953 Walker Cup team

Arnold Blum (a), William C. Campbell (a), Don Cherry (a), Jimmy Jackson (a), Jim McHale Jr. (a), Billy Joe Patton (a), Ken Venturi (a)

• Sam Urzetta (3,a) and Jack Westland (3,a) did not play. Blum, McHale and Patton were reserves for the team.

9. Top 24 players and ties from the 1953 Masters Tournament

Jerry Barber, Al Besselink, Tommy Bolt, Doug Ford (10), Leland Gibson, Chick Harbert, Fred Hawkins, Dick Mayer, Al Mengert (10), Dick Metz (10), Johnny Palmer, Earl Stewart

• Bob Hamilton (6) did not play.

10. Top 24 players and ties from the 1953 U.S. Open

Pete Cooper, Gardner Dickinson, Clarence Doser, George Fazio, Marty Furgol, Dutch Harrison, Jay Hebert, Bill Nary (12), Bill Ogden, Bob Rosburg, Frank Souchak (a)

11. 1953 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists

Don Albert (a), Bruce Cudd (a), Bobby Kuntz (a), Dale Morey (a), Ray Palmer (a), Angelo Santilli (a)

• Ted Richards Jr. did not play.

12. 1953 PGA Championship quarter-finalists

Jimmy Clark, Jack Isaacs, Felice Torza

• Henry Ransom did not play.

13. One amateur, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Amateur champions

• Johnny Dawson (a) was selected but did not play.

14. One professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Open champions

Skip Alexander

15. Two players, not already qualified, with the best scoring average in the winter part of the 1954 PGA Tour

Bud Holscher, Bob Toski

16. Foreign invitations

Peter Thomson

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 8, 1954

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Billy Joe Patton (a)	70	−2
	Dutch Harrison
T3	Lloyd Mangrum	71	−1
	Jack Burke Jr.
T5	Ben Hogan	72	E
	Dave Douglas
T7	Byron Nelson	73	+1
	Bob Rosburg
	Chick Harbert
	Denny Shute
	Tommy Bolt
	Vic Ghezzi
	Gardner Dickinson
	Pete Cooper
	William C. Campbell (a)
	Cary Middlecoff

Second round

Friday, April 9, 1954

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Billy Joe Patton (a)	70-74=144	E
2	Ben Hogan	72-73=145	+1
T3	Bob Rosburg	73-73=146	+2
	Lloyd Mangrum	71-75=146
T5	Tommy Bolt	73-74=147	+3
	Sam Snead	74-73=147
T7	Al Besselink	74-74=148	+4
	Lew Worsham	74-74=148
	Chick Harbert	73-75=148
	Dave Douglas	72-76=148
	Jack Burke Jr.	71-77=148
	Peter Thomson	76-72=148

Third round

Saturday, April 10, 1954

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Ben Hogan	72-73-69=214	−2
2	Sam Snead	74-73-70=217	+1
T3	Cary Middlecoff	73-76-70=219	+3
	Tommy Bolt	73-74-72=219
	Billy Joe Patton (a)	70-74-75=219
T6	Jerry Barber	74-76-71=221	+5
	Jack Burke Jr.	71-77-73=221
T8	Al Besselink	74-74-74=222	+6
	Lew Worsham	74-74-74=222
	Lloyd Mangrum	71-75-76=222
	Bob Rosburg	73-73-76=222

Final round

Sunday, April 11, 1954

Final leaderboard

Champion

Silver Cup winner (low amateur)

(a) = amateur

(c) = past champion

Top 10

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (US$)
T1	Ben Hogan (c)	72-73-69-75=289	+1	Playoff
	Sam Snead (c)	74-73-70-72=289
3	Billy Joe Patton (a)	70-74-75-71=290	+2	0
T4	Dutch Harrison	70-79-74-68=291	+3	1,938
	Lloyd Mangrum	71-75-76-69=291
T6	Jerry Barber	74-76-71-71=292	+4	1,042
	Jack Burke Jr.	71-77-73-71=292
	Bob Rosburg	73-73-76-70=292
T9	Al Besselink	74-74-74-72=294	+6	781
	Cary Middlecoff	73-76-70-75=294

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
11	Dick Chapman (a)	75-75-75-70=295	+7	0
T12	Tommy Bolt	73-74-72-77=296	+8	631
	Chick Harbert	73-75-75-73=296
	Byron Nelson (c)	73-76-74-73=296
	Lew Worsham	74-74-74-74=296
T16	Julius Boros	76-79-68-74=297	+9	563
	Jay Hebert	79-74-74-70=297
	Peter Thomson	76-72-76-73=297
	Ken Venturi (a)	76-74-73-74=297		0
T20	Charles Coe (a)	76-75-73-74=298	+10
	Harvie Ward (a)	78-75-74-71=298
T22	Walter Burkemo	74-77-75-73=299	+11	443
	Pete Cooper	73-76-75-75=299
	Marty Furgol	76-79-75-69=299
	Gene Littler	79-75-73-72=299
	Ed Oliver	75-75-75-74=299
	Earl Stewart	78-75-75-71=299
	Bob Toski	80-74-71-74=299
T29	Jimmy Demaret (c)	80-75-72-73=300	+12	333
	Vic Ghezzi	73-79-73-75=300
	Dick Mayer	76-75-72-77=300
32	Gardner Dickinson	73-78-76-74=301	+13	250
T33	Jimmy Clark	76-82-72-72=302	+14	250
	George Fazio	78-79-74-71=302
	Doug Ford	77-78-74-73=302
	Fred Haas	76-78-78-70=302
	Johnny Palmer	75-81-77-69=302
T38	Clarence Doser	74-78-72-79=303	+15	250
	Lawson Little	76-77-74-76=303
	Al Mengert	76-79-73-75=303
	Skee Riegel	75-76-76-76=303
	Horton Smith (c)	80-78-71-74=303
T43	Billy Maxwell	75-77-77-75=304	+16	250
	Frank Stranahan (a)	79-75-72-78=304		0
	Felice Torza	74-78-74-78=304		250
T46	Skip Alexander	80-77-73-75=305	+17	250
	Bruce Cudd (a)	76-78-73-78=305		0
	Leland Gibson	75-77-78-75=305		250
	Bud Holscher	78-77-73-77=305
	Bill Nary	78-74-78-75=305
T51	William C. Campbell (a)	73-77-75-81=306	+18	0
	Ted Kroll	78-76-75-77=306		250
T53	Arnold Blum (a)	75-82-75-75=307	+19	0
	Dave Douglas	72-76-77-82=307		250
	Claude Harmon (c)	77-75-77-78=307
	Jack Isaacs	76-79-76-76=307
	Gene Sarazen (c)	79-75-78-75=307
T58	Don Cherry (a)	80-79-74-76=309	+21	0
	Fred Hawkins	78-80-76-75=309		250
T60	Bill Ogden	81-76-77-76=310	+22	250
	Johnny Revolta	81-79-75-75=310
	Jim Turnesa	83-79-75-73=310
63	Robert Sweeny Jr. (a)	81-76-79-76=312	+24	0
T64	Jimmy Jackson (a)	75-82-79-78=314	+26
	Bobby Kuntz (a)	80-77-82-75=314
66	Jim McHale Jr. (a)	78-82-79-76=315	+27
67	Don Albert (a)	77-79-83-77=316	+28
T68	Angelo Santilli (a)	79-81-82-75=317	+29
	Denny Shute	73-85-82-77=317		250
70	Ray Palmer (a)	84-78-80-77=319	+31	0
71	Craig Wood (c)	87-80-78-75=320	+32	250
72	Sam Parks Jr.	86-79-79-80=324	+36	250
WD	Dale Morey (a)	83-75-76=234	+18
	Jim Ferrier	78-78=156	+12
	Jess Sweetser (a)	79	+7
	Chandler Harper	83	+11
	Frank Souchak (a)	90	+18
	Jock Hutchison
	Fred McLeod

Sources:^[3][4]

Scorecard

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
Snead	+1	+1	+1	+2	+3	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+2	+3	+2	+2	+1	+1	+1	+1
Hogan	−1	−1	−2	−2	−2	−2	−1	−1	−1	−1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+1	+1	+1	+1
Patton	+4	+3	+3	+3	+3	+1	+1	E	−1	−1	−1	E	+2	+1	+2	+2	+2	+2
Harrison	+7	+6	+6	+6	+6	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+5	+4	+5	+4	+4	+3	+3
Mangrum	+6	+5	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+6	+5	+4	+3	+3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Playoff

Monday, April 12, 1954

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
1	Sam Snead	70	−2	5,000
2	Ben Hogan	71	−1	3,125

Scorecard

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
Snead	E	−1	−1	E	E	−1	−1	−1	−1	−2	−2	−1	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−2
Hogan	E	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−1	−2	−1	−1	−1

Source:^[5]