2007 Masters Tournament

Infobox_Individual_Golf_Tournament
tournament_name = 2007 Masters Tournament


dates = April 5 - 8, 2007
location = Augusta, Georgia
course = Augusta National Golf Club
tour = PGA Tour
PGA European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
par = 72
yardage = 7,445
field = 96 players, 60 after cut
cut = 152 (+8)
purse = $7,418,464
winners_share = $1,305,000
Champion = Zach Johnson
Score = 289 (+1)

The 2007 Masters Tournament was contested from April 5 to April 8, 2007 at Augusta National Golf Club. It was the 71st Masters Tournament, and the first major contested in the 2007 season. Zach Johnson won the competition with a score of +1 (289) which is tied for the highest winning score ever recorded for this tournament.

Field

The Masters has the smallest field out of the major championships - only 97 players were invited to compete in the 2007 tournament. However, 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam pulled out before the tournament due to back problems. 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, and how they qualified for the event (only first category is shown, many players qualify in multiple categories).

Masters champions

Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, José María Olazábal, Mark O'Meara, Ben Crenshaw, Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize, Severiano Ballesteros, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Fuzzy Zoeller, Gary Player, Raymond Floyd.

U.S. Open champions (last five years)

Geoff Ogilvy, Michael Campbell, Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk.

The Open champions (last five years)
Todd Hamilton, Ben Curtis, Ernie Els.

U.S. PGA champions (last five years)
Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem.

Players Championship winners (last three years)
Stephen Ames, Fred Funk.

British Amateur championJulien Gerrier.

U.S. Amateur Public Links championCasey Watabu.

U.S. Mid-Amateur championDave Womack.

Top 16 players and ties from the 2006 Masters
Tim Clark, Chad Campbell, Ángel Cabrera, Stewart Cink, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Arron Oberholser, Billy Mayfair, Scott Verplank, Rod Pampling.

Top eight players and ties from the 2006 U.S. Open
Colin Montgomerie, Pádraig Harrington, Nick O'Hern, Jeff Sluman, Steve Stricker, Kenneth Ferrie.

Top four players and ties from the 2006 Open Championship
Chris DiMarco.

Top four players and ties from 2006 U.S. PGA Championship
Adam Scott, Sergio García, Luke Donald.

Top 40 players from the 2006 U.S. PGA Tour money list
Trevor Immelman, Stuart Appleby, Brett Wetterich, David Toms, Rory Sabbatini, Davis Love III, Carl Pettersson, Brett Quigley, Dean Wilson, Lucas Glover, Joe Durant, Zach Johnson, K.J. Choi, J. J. Henry, Tom Pernice, Jr., Vaughn Taylor, Troy Matteson, Tim Herron, Camilo Villegas, Jerry Kelly.

Top 50 players from the final 2006 world ranking
Henrik Stenson, David Howell, Paul Casey, Shingo Katayama, Robert Karlsson, Yong-Eun Yang, Ian Poulter, Darren Clarke, Jeev Milkha Singh, Ben Crane, Niclas Fasth, Thomas Bjørn, Robert Allenby, Johan Edfors, Lee Westwood, Bradley Dredge.

Top 10 players from the 2007 U.S. PGA Tour money list on March 26
Charles Howell III, John Rollins, Aaron Baddeley, Mark Calcavecchia.

Top 50 players from world ranking published March 26
Justin Rose, Bart Bryant, Paul Goydos.

Special foreign invitation
Hideto Tanihara

Round by round results

First round (Thursday)

Billy 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 3 over 75, while Mayfair posted a 4 over 76. The course proved to be playing tough, as many big names faltered on the opening day. Ernie Els finished with a 6 over 78. Defending champion Phil Mickelson looked set to get the same score, but two late birdies, salvaged a poor round, as he came home with a 4 over 76, world number two Jim Furyk, managed a 3 over 75 to keep himself in contention. Gary Player playing in his 50th masters could only manage an 11 over 83, two times winner Severiano Ballesteros could only manage a 13 over par 86. 2006 runner up Tim Clark produced a wonderful shot on the 18th hole to get to a 1 under round of 71. Coming up the 18th Clark was level par, but he had pushed his second shot to the left of the green. Clark decided to putt from off the green, and his ball went all the way round the green before dropping in the hole to secure his 1 under round of 71. The leaders after the first round were Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich, both posted rounds of 3 under 69. Rose set a new lowest putts record, as he went round in 20 putts. 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 at 14 to move to three-under and made a fine save at the last having found a greenside bunker to secure his round of 69. Wetterich produced 5 birdies during his round to secure his place in the lead after 18 holes. The chasing pack consisted of David Howell who eagled the 15th to post a 2 under 70, and David Toms who was last out on the course and also produced a 2 under 70. Behind them on 1 under were Vaughn Taylor, Zach Johnson, Rich Beem and J. J. Henry.

Final round (Sunday)

Zach Johnson completed a Cinderella story with a three-under 69 to claim his first green jacket. Johnson captured the tournament with three birdies over his final six holes. Johnson became the third Masters champion to win the tournament with a score above par. However, he matched the round of the day and was able to hold off a group of three, including Tiger Woods, that finished two strokes back. Woods lost a major for the first time in which he held the lead at some point in the final round. However, since he was a stroke behind Stuart Appleby coming into the day his 12-0 record when leading going into the final round remained intact. Speaking of Appleby, he wilted with a five-over 75 and finished in a tie for seventh. South African's Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini shot matching three-under 69s to finish in a tie for second with Woods.

[http://www.golfsurround.com/masters/2007/scoring/index1.html "Full final leaderboard"]

Par 3 Contest

1998 Masters champion Mark O'Meara won the annual Par 3 contest, which took place on Wednesday, April 4.

External links

[http://www.masters.org/en_US/history/results/2007.html Full Results] - Masters official site