2014 Masters Tournament
(The 22nd of 41 events in the PGA TOUR Season)
Augusta, Ga. April 10-13, 2014; FedExCup Points: 600; Purse: $9,000,000;
Augusta National Golf Club, Par/Yards: 72/7,435;
Final-Round Notes – Sunday, April 13, 2014
Weather: Sunny with a high of 82 degrees. Winds S 5-10 mph.
Final Leaderboard
Bubba Watson 69-68-74-69—280 (-8)
Jordan Spieth 71-70-70-72—283 (-5)
Jonas Blixt 70-71-71-71—283 (-5)
Bubba Watson held a share of the 54-hole lead with Jordan Spieth before shooting a final round 69 to win by three over first-time Masters participants Jordan Spieth and Jonas Blixt.
Final Notes
Watson is the first 54-hole leader to go on and win a major since Rory McIlroy at the 2012 PGA Championship.
The eventual Masters champion has come out of the final Sunday pairing 20 out of the last 24 years, with Zach Johnson (2007), Charl Schwartzel (2011), Bubba Watson (2012) and Adam Scott (2013) the exceptions.
The third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win the Masters Tournament 42 (out of 78) times, most recently Bubba Watson (2014) and Angel Cabrera 2009).
Dating to 1991, with the exception of Zach Johnson (T4) in 2007, Bubba Watson (T3) in 2012 and Adam Scott (3rd) in 2013, the Masters champion has been ranked no lower than T2 following 54 holes.
The only Masters champion who was not inside the top 10 on the leaderboard after 54 holes was Art Wall Jr. in 1959 (T13).
The largest comeback at the Masters after the third round is eight strokes (Jack Burke, 1956). Burke was eight behind Ken Venturi through three rounds but edged Venturi by one with a closing round of 71 (compared to Burke’s 80).
Watson ends a streak of four consecutive come-from-behind wins at the Masters. Last year, Adam Scott notched the fourth consecutive come-from-behind win at the Masters (Phil Mickelson/2010, Charl Schwartzel/2011 and Bubba Watson/2012). The last time there was four consecutive back-to-back come-from-behind wins at the Masters were by Ben Crenshaw/1984, Bernhard Langer/1985, Jack Nicklaus/1986 and Larry Mize/1987.
Bubba Watson
Watson earns his sixth PGA TOUR victory in his 201st start at the age of 35 years, 5 months, 8 days.
Bubba’s son Caleb strolls out to greet his father.
Watson earns 600 points and moves from No. 5 to No. 2 in the FedExCup standings.
Watson earns $1,620,000 and moves from No. 4 to No. 1 on the PGA TOUR money list.
Bubba Watson – Masters Statistics
Driving Accuracy 40 of 56 (71.43%) T13
Greens in Regulation 50 of 72 (69.44%) T5
Total Putts
Driving Distance
About Bubba Watson
Birthdate: November 5, 1978
Birthplace: Bagdad, Fla.
Resides: Orlando, Fla.
Education: Faulkner State Community College; University of Georgia (2008, Consumer Economics)
Family: Wife, Angie; Caleb
Height/Weight: 6-3/180
Joined TOUR: 2006
Web.com Tour Graduate: 2005
Watson’s 2013-14 starts-made cuts-top-10s-wins: 9-8-6-2. Watson’s career starts-made cuts-top-10s-wins: 201-138-36-6
Watson had not held a R1-3 lead in a major before this week when he held the outright second-round lead and the third-round co-lead.
Watson wins his second major in his 25th start in a major. Watson has now converted two of eight third-round leads/co-leads on the PGA TOUR:
Event
2007 Shell Houston Open 1 T2 (72)
2008 Arnold Palmer Invitational T1 T8 (72)
2011 Zurich Classic of New Orleans T1 Won (69)
2011 Deutsche Bank Championship 1 T16 (74)
2012 WGC-Cadillac Championship 1 2nd (74)
2013 Travelers Championship
2014 Waste Management Phoenix Open 1 T2 (71)
2014 Masters
Watson walks with Caleb in his arms to the scorer’s hut as a double Masters champion.
In winning the 2012 Masters, Watson was three shots (4th) off the lead (Peter Hanson) after round three. This year, Watson held a share of the third-round lead with Jordan Spieth.
Watson at the Masters: 2008/T20; 2009/42nd; 2011/T38; 2012/Won; 2013/T50; 2014/Won.
Below are the fewest number of attempts before a second victory in the Masters:
3, Horton Smith
6, Bubba Watson
6, Jimmy Demaret
6, Arnold Palmer
Watson is the 17th player in the history of the Masters with two-or-more wins.
Watson joins Jose Maria Olazabal, Ben Crenshaw, Bernhard Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson and Horton Smith as players with two Masters wins.
Among lefthanders, Watson is second behind Phil Mickelson (5) with two career wins in a major.
Lefthanders have won six of the last 12 Masters (Bubba Watson-2, Mike Weir and Phil Mickelson-3).
Watson won earlier this year at the Northern Trust Open. It was his first win since the 2012 Masters.
At the Northern Trust Open, Watson shot matching weekend rounds of 64 to win by two shots over Dustin Johnson. He came from four shots back on the final day to claim the victory. Watson was the only player in the Northern Trust Open field to go bogey-free on the weekend at Riviera Country Club.
Bubba Watson the main center of focus for a second time in three years.
In his last start on TOUR, Watson was a WD after a first round 83 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational due to allergies.
Bubba Watson (71) and Jordan Spieth (73) were paired together for the final round of The Barclays in 2013. It was their only previous pairing.
American’s have won 9 of the last 15 Masters dating to 2000.
Watson has two runner-up finishes this year on TOUR: Waste Management Phoenix Open and WGC-Cadillac Championship. In each instance he lost by one shot.
Watson’s (2014), Tiger Woods’ (1997) and Seve Ballesteros’ (1980) wins all came on April 13, separated by 17 years respectively.
Jordan Spieth
Spieth is the fifth first-year player to hold the round three lead at the Masters: Horton Smith (1934), Ralph Guldahl (1937), Bert Yancey (1967) and Brian Henninger (1995). Horton Smith was the only to go on to victory.
Spieth’s 2013-14 starts-made cuts-top 10s-wins: 12-10-5-0
Spieth’s career starts-made cuts-top 10s-wins: 43-33-14-1
Three players won the Masters in their first appearance: Horton Smith (1934), Gene Sarazen (1935), Fuzzy Zoeller (1979). Smith won the first playing of the Masters.
Last July, Spieth became the first teenager (19 years, 11 months, 18 days) to win on the PGA TOUR (John Deere Classic) since Ralph Guldahl won the 1931 Santa Monica Open at 19 years, 2 months, 4 days.
As a historical reference, Guldahl made his Masters debut with a second-place finish in 1937 with rounds of 69-72-68-76—285 (-3). He also held the third-round lead in his Masters debut, but finished second behind Byron Nelson. Guldahl recovered by winning the U.S. Open two months later. Guldahl won the Masters in his third start in 1939.
Spieth and Blixt are just the fifth and sixth players to open their Masters career with three consecutive sub-par rounds:
*Fuzzy Zoeller, 1979 (70-71-69-70) Won
*Jonas Blixt, 2014 (70-71-71-71) T2
Larry Mize, 1984 (71-70-71-72) T11
Brian Henninger, 1995 (70-68-68-76) T10
Tom Sherrer, 2001 (71-71-70-73) 25th
Jordan Spieth, 2014 (71-70-70-72) T2
*Only players to open Masters career with four consecutive sub-par rounds.
Spieth has made five starts in a major:
2014 Masters
2013 PGA Championship
2013 Open Championship
2013 U.S. Open
2012 U.S. Open (a)
Spieth’s only previous third-round lead/co-lead was earlier this year at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions where he finished second after shooting a final round 69 (-4).
Texas boasts the most Masters champions with 12 wins. Spieth was born and resides in Dallas.
Jack Burke 1956
Charles Coody 1971
Ben Crenshaw 1984, ‘95
Jimmy Demaret 1940, ’47, ‘50
Ralph Guldahl 1939
Ben Hogan 1951, ‘53
Byron Nelson 1937, ‘42
The last three players 21 and younger with at least a share of the 54-hole lead in a major:
Jordan Spieth 2014 Masters 20 72 T2
Rory McIlroy 2011 Masters 21 80 T15
Tiger Woods 1997 Masters 21 69 Won
Jonas Blixt
Sweden has never produced a major championship winner. Blixt (T2) now owns the best finish by a Swedish player at the Masters.
The best finish ever in a major by a Swede is Jones Blixt (T2/2014 Masters), Henrik Stenson (2/2013 Open Championship), Jesper Parnevik (2/1994 Open Championship and T2/1997 Open Championship) and Niclas Fasth (2/2001 Open Championship).
Eight Swedish players have won on the PGA TOUR: Jesper Parnevik (5), Carl Pettersson (5), Henrik Stenson (4), Gabriel Hjertstedt (2), Daniel Chopra (2), Jonas Blixt (2), Freddie Jacobson (1) and Richard S. Johnson (1).
Blixt made his third career start in a major (T26/2013 Open Championship; 4/2013 PGA Championship; T2/2014 Masters).
Blixt has a pair of TOUR wins: 2012 Frys.com Open and 2013 Greenbrier Classic.
Below are the best European finishes at the Masters since 1999:
Jonas Blixt (Sweden)
Lee Westwood (England)
Luke Donald (England)
Lee Westwood (England)
Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) T3 2006
Peter Hanson (Sweden)
*Jose Maria Olazabal (1999) – Last European winner
Blixt is the second player to open their Masters career with four consecutive sub-par rounds:
*Fuzzy Zoeller, 1979 (70-71-69-70) Won
*Jonas Blixt, 2014 (70-71-71-71) T2
Larry Mize, 1984 (71-70-71-72) T11
Brian Henninger, 1995 (70-68-68-76) T10
Tom Sherrer, 2001 (71-71-70-73) 25th
Jordan Spieth, 2014 (71-70-70-72) T2
Matt Kuchar
Kuchar at the Masters: T21/1998; T50/1999; MC/2002; T24/2010; T27/2011; T3/2012; T8/2013; T5/2014
Coming into this week, Kuchar’s round three stroke average at the Masters was 70.50. His final round stroke average at Augusta National was 73.00. He shot a final round 74 today to finish T5.
Kuchar leads the TOUR with 44 top-10 finishes since the start of the 2010 season.
Lee Westwood
The most top-3 finishes in a major championship without a victory since 1934 is eight by Lee Westwood. Below is the list:
Player
Lee Westwood 2
Colin Montgomerie 5
Doug Sanders 4
Harry Cooper 3
Bruce Crampton 4
Sergio Garcia 3
Lee Westwood is the only player to finish in the top-15 at the Masters each of the last five years:
Year
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
