1978 Masters Tournament
The 1978 Masters Tournament was the 42nd Masters Tournament, held April 6–9 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Gary Player overcame a 7-shot deficit going into the final round to win his third Masters and ninth major championship. Player, age 42, shot a record-tying 64 in the final round to win by one stroke. The runners-up were Rod Funseth, defending champion Tom Watson, and 54-hole leader Hubert Green, the reigning U.S. Open champion, who shot an even-par 72.
Tied for tenth place at the start of the round, Player shot a 30 on the back nine in the summer-like heat. He holed seven putts ranging from, including a final one of for birdie at 18. The leader in the clubhouse, Player had to wait forty minutes for the final groups to finish. Funseth had five birdies, but his two bogeys were both three-putts and he parred the last three holes. Watson eagled 13 and birdied both 15 and 16, but missed an putt for par on the final hole. After a bogey at 16, Green hit an outstanding approach shot at 18 which left a birdie putt from three feet to tie, but he missed after being inadvertently distracted by a radio announcer.
Player became the oldest winner of the Masters and the first over forty in nearly a quarter century; Sam Snead won his third green jacket at age 41 in 1954. Player retained the honor for eight years, until Jack Nicklaus won his sixth at 46 in 1986.
Field
;1. Masters championsTommy Aaron, George Archer, 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
- Jack Burke Jr., Jimmy Demaret, Ralph Guldahl, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan, Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, and Gene Sarazen did not play.
;2. U.S. Open champions
Lou Graham, Hubert Green, Hale Irwin, Johnny Miller, Jerry Pate
;3. The Open champions
Tom Weiskopf
;4. PGA champions
Dave Stockton, Lee Trevino, Lanny Wadkins
;5. 1977 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists
Doug Fischesser, Ralph Landrum, Jay Sigel
- John Fought forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
Dick Siderowf
- Bill Sander forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
Mike Brannan, Gary Hallberg, Vance Heafner, Lindy Miller, Fred Ridley
- Scott Simpson forfeited his exemption by turning professional.
Andy Bean, Jim Colbert, Ben Crenshaw, Danny Edwards, Lee Elder, Rod Funseth, Don January, Tom Kite, Billy Kratzert, Gene Littler, Rik Massengale, Andy North, John Schlee, Bob Wynn
;9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1977 U.S. Open
Wally Armstrong, Terry Diehl, Al Geiberger, Jay Haas, Joe Inman, Gary Jacobson, Lyn Lott, Mike McCullough, Steve Melnyk, Tom Purtzer
;10. Top eight players and ties from 1977 PGA Championship
Jerry McGee
;11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters
Miller Barber, Dave Eichelberger, Mike Hill, Mac McLendon, Gil Morgan, Mike Morley, Bill Rogers, Jim Simons, Ed Sneed, Leonard Thompson
;12. Members of the U.S. 1977 Ryder Cup team
Dave Hill
;13. Foreign invitations
Isao Aoki, Seve Ballesteros, Bobby Cole, Antonio Garrido, David Graham, Peter McEvoy, Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Peter Oosterhuis, Masashi Ozaki, Manuel Piñero
- ''Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.''
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, April 6, 1978| Place | Player | Score | To par | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  Second roundFriday, April 7, 1978
|
|1928