2007 Masters Tournament
The 2007 Masters Tournament was the 71st Masters Tournament, held April 5–8 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Zach Johnson won his first major championship, two strokes ahead of runners-up Retief Goosen, Rory Sabbatini, and Tiger Woods. Cool temperatures and gusty winds on the weekend resulted in high scores for the field; Johnson's 289 tied for the highest winning score ever.
Johnson's victory dispelled the notion that only long-hitters could win the Masters. He did not reach a single par five hole in two during the entire tournament, yet played the par fives better than anyone in the field with 11 birdies and no bogeys.
This was the final Masters appearance for two-time champion Seve Ballesteros.
Course
Field
The Masters has the smallest field of the four major championships; only 97 players were invited to compete in the 2007 tournament. Officially, the Masters remains an invitational event, despite its qualification process. In theory, the club could decline to invite a 'qualified' player.There were a record 50 'international' players in the field - the first time that the majority of the field was not American. The entire field is shown below; each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.
1. Masters champions
Seve Ballesteros, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Phil Mickelson, Larry Mize, José María Olazábal, Mark O'Meara, Gary Player, Vijay Singh, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Mike Weir, Tiger Woods, Fuzzy Zoeller
- Ian Woosnam withdrew before the tournament due to back problems.
- Tommy Aaron, Gay Brewer, Jack Burke Jr., Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Nick Faldo, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer did not play. After a few years hiatus, a custom was resurrected when Palmer served as the new "honorary starter" and teed off on the first day at the first hole to kick off the tournament.
Michael Campbell, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, Geoff Ogilvy
3. The Open champions
Ben Curtis, Ernie Els, Todd Hamilton
4. PGA champions
Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel
5. The Players Championship winners
Stephen Ames, Fred Funk
Due to rescheduling of the 2007 tournament from March to May, only the 2005 and 2006 champions were invited.
6. U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up
John Kelly, Richie Ramsay
7. The Amateur champion
Julien Guerrier
8. U.S. Amateur Public Links champion
Casey Watabu
9. U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
Dave Womack
10. Top 16 players and ties from the 2006 Masters
Ángel Cabrera, Chad Campbell, Stewart Cink, Tim Clark, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Billy Mayfair, Arron Oberholser, Rod Pampling, Scott Verplank
11. Top eight players and ties from the 2006 U.S. Open
Kenneth Ferrie, Pádraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie, Nick O'Hern, Jeff Sluman, Steve Stricker
12. Top four players and ties from the 2006 Open Championship
Chris DiMarco
13. Top four players and ties from 2006 PGA Championship
Luke Donald, Sergio García, Adam Scott
14. Top 40 players from the 2006 PGA Tour money list
Stuart Appleby, K. J. Choi, Joe Durant, Lucas Glover, J. J. Henry, Tim Herron, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Jerry Kelly, Davis Love III, Troy Matteson, Tom Pernice Jr., Carl Pettersson, Brett Quigley, Rory Sabbatini, Vaughn Taylor, David Toms, Camilo Villegas, Brett Wetterich, Dean Wilson
15. Top 50 players from the final 2006 world ranking
Robert Allenby, Thomas Bjørn, Paul Casey, Darren Clarke, Ben Crane, Bradley Dredge, Johan Edfors, Niclas Fasth, David Howell, Robert Karlsson, Shingo Katayama, Ian Poulter, Jeev Milkha Singh, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Yang Yong-eun
16. Top 10 players from the 2007 PGA Tour money list on March 26
Aaron Baddeley, Mark Calcavecchia, Charles Howell III, John Rollins
17. Top 50 players from world ranking published March 26
Bart Bryant, Paul Goydos, Justin Rose
18. Special foreign invitation
Hideto Tanihara
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, April 5, 2007Billy Mayfair and Ian Poulter were the first competitors to tee off in the 2007 Masters. Both posted scores that were over par. Poulter posted a 75 and Mayfair a 76. The course proved to be playing tough, as many big names faltered on the opening day; Ernie Els finished with a 78, and defending champion Phil Mickelson looked set to get the same score, but two late birdies salvaged a poor round at 76. World number two Jim Furyk managed a 75 to keep himself in contention. Gary Player, playing in his 50th Masters, could only manage an 83 ; two-time winner Seve Ballesteros was at 86. Tim Clark, the 2006 runner-up, produced a wonderful shot on the 18th hole. At even par, he pulled his second shot to the left of the green and chose to putt. His ball went all the way round the green before it dropped for a birdie and 71. The leaders after the first round were Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich at 69. Rose set a new lowest putts record, needing just twenty. One of the reasons for this was his superb chipping which included a holed bunker shot on the 5th to pick up his second birdie after one at the 3rd. He then crisply rolled home another birdie at 14 to move to three-under par and made a fine save at the last having found a greenside bunker. Wetterich produced five birdies during his round. The chasing pack consisted of David Howell who eagled the 15th to post a two-under 70, and major winner David Toms. Behind them at 71, in addition to Clark, were Vaughn Taylor, Zach Johnson, Rich Beem, and J. J. Henry.
| Place | Player | Score | To par | |||||||||||||||||
| T1 |  Second roundFriday, April 6, 2007Only three were under par at the halfway point of the tournament. Wetterich and Clark held the 36-hole lead at 142. Clark was the only man in the field to shoot under par in both rounds. Taylor held solo third place a stroke back at 143. Despite only three being under par, several golfers were within striking distance. Vijay Singh, the 2000 champion, was among a group of four at even par, and Pádraig Harrington was among a group of six at 145. The cut was at 152 and among those to miss it were notables Sergio García and Els. Fred Couples, the 1992 champion, parred the final hole to make the cut in his 23rd consecutive appearance to tie Gary Player's Masters record.
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