2008 Masters Tournament

Infobox_Individual_Golf_Tournament
tournament_name = 2008 Masters Tournament


dates = April 10–13, 2008
location = Augusta, Georgia
course = Augusta National Golf Club
tour = PGA Tour
PGA European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
par = 72
yardage = 7,445
field = 94 players, 45 after cut
cut = +3
purse = $7,500,000
winners_share = $1,350,000 [ cite web|url=http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=golf-m/scores/leaderboard.aspx?sportcode=BE,id=1190 |title=2008 Masters Final Scores and Earnings |publisher=sportsnetwork.com |accessdate=2008-04-13 ]
Champion = Trevor Immelman
Score = 280 (-8)The 2008 Masters Tournament was a golf competition held at Augusta National Golf Club from April 10 to April 13. It was the 72nd Masters Tournament, and the first major of the 2008 season. Trevor Immelman won with a score of -8 (280) and became the first winner since Raymond Floyd in 1976 to hold the lead at the end of each of the four days of play. [cite news | url=http://www.napit.co.uk/viewus/infobank/golf/masters.php| title=The Masters History | publisher=Napit| date=| accessdate=2008-04-14] Tiger Woods finished in second place, three shots back at -5 (283). Defending champion Zach Johnson finished tied for 20th at +3 (291). The annual Par 3 contest, which is held on the Wednesday before the first round, was won by Rory Sabbatini.

Field

The Masters has the smallest field of the major championships, with 94 players having earned invitations in 2008. Officially the Masters remains an invitation event but there is now a qualification process, although in theory the club could simply decline to invite a 'qualified' player. Here is a list of all players qualified to play in the 2008 Masters Tournament. Each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses: [cite web|url=http://www.masters.org/en_US/scores/bios/tournament_2008.html |title=2008 Tournament Invitees |publisher=masters.org |accessdate=2008-04-09]

1. Past Masters Champions
Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Zach Johnson (10,14,15,16,17,18), Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Phil Mickelson (4,5,14,15,16,17,18), Larry Mize, José María Olazábal, Mark O'Meara, Gary Player, Vijay Singh (4,10,14,16,17,18), Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Mike Weir (17,18), Tiger Woods (3,4,10,11,13,14,15,16,17,18), Ian Woosnam, Fuzzy Zoeller.

(Past champions not competing: Tommy Aaron, Seve Ballesteros, Jack Burke, Jr., Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Nick Faldo, Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer.)

2. Last five U.S. Open Champions
Ángel Cabrera (11,15,17,18), Michael Campbell, Jim Furyk (10,11,14,15,16,17,18), Retief Goosen (10,17,18), Geoff Ogilvy (14,15,16,17,18).

3. Last five Open Champions
Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton, Pádraig Harrington (10,12,14,15,16,17,18).

4. Last five PGA Champions
Shaun Micheel.

5. Last two of The Players Champions
Stephen Ames (17,18).

Winners of the Players Championship get three years of Masters invitations. With the Players having moved from March to May, beginning 2007, there will be only two such champions in the Masters field in both 2008 and 2009. In 2010 and after, there will once again be three Players champions in the field.

6. Top two finishers in the 2007 U.S. Amateur
Michael Thompson (runner-up).(2007 U.S. Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links Champion Colt Knost has since turned professional, thereby forfeiting his invitations to the Masters, U.S. Open and The Open Championship. [cite web|url=http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA100207.03D.NZ.State.GLFtxopenknost.en.3279b1c.html |title=Knost making pro debut at Valero Texas Open |publisher=mysanantonio.com |accessdate=2008-04-09 ] )

7. Winner of the 2007 The Amateur Championship
Drew Weaver.

8. Winner of the 2007 U.S. Amateur Public Links
"See number 6."

9. Winner of the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur
Trip Kuehne.

10. The top 16 finishers and ties in the 2007 Masters Tournament
Stuart Appleby (17,18), Paul Casey (17,18), Tim Clark (14,16,17,18), Luke Donald (14,17,18), Jerry Kelly (11), Ian Poulter (17,18), Justin Rose (14,16,17,18), Rory Sabbatini (14,15,16,17,18), Vaughn Taylor, David Toms (11,17).

11. Top 8 finishers and ties in the 2007 U.S. Open
Nick Dougherty (17), Niclas Fasth (17,18), Scott Verplank (14,15,16,17,18), Bubba Watson.

12. Top 4 finishers and ties in the 2007 Open Championship
Ernie Els (13,14,15,16,17,18), Sergio García (14,16,17,18), Richard Green (17), Andrés Romero (15,17,18).

13. Top 4 finishers and ties in the 2007 PGA Championship
Woody Austin (14,15,16,17,18), Arron Oberholser (17,18), John Senden (18).

14. Top 30 leaders on the 2007 PGA Tour [http://www.pgatour.com/r/stats/2007/109.html official money earnings list]
Robert Allenby (16,18), Aaron Baddeley (16,17,18), Mark Calcavecchia (16,17,18), K. J. Choi (15,16,17,18), Stewart Cink (16,17,18), Steve Flesch, Charles Howell III (16,17,18), Hunter Mahan (15,16,17,18), John Rollins (16), Adam Scott (16,17,18), Heath Slocum (16), Brandt Snedeker (15,16,17,18), Steve Stricker (15,16,17,18), Boo Weekley (15,16,17,18), Brett Wetterich (16,17).

15. Winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the season-ending Tour Championship, between the 2007 Masters Tournament and the 2008 Masters Tournament
Brian Bateman, Jonathan Byrd (16), Daniel Chopra, J. B. Holmes, Steve Lowery, Sean O'Hair (18), D. J. Trahan, Johnson Wagner, Nick Watney.

16. All players qualifying for the 2007 rendition of The Tour Championship
Camilo Villegas.

17. Top 50 on the 2007 Official World Golf Rankings list
Anders Hansen, Søren Hansen (18), Trevor Immelman (18), Miguel Ángel Jiménez (18), Robert Karlsson (18), Shingo Katayama, Nick O'Hern (18), Henrik Stenson (18), Richard Sterne (18), Toru Taniguchi (18), Lee Westwood (18).

18. Top 50 on the Official World Golf Rankings list going into the tournament
Martin Kaymer, Justin Leonard, Peter Lonard.

19. International invitees
Liang Wen-Chong, Prayad Marksaeng, Jeev Milkha Singh. [cite web|url=http://www.pgatour.com/2008/r/01/21/masters012108.ap/index.html |title=Augusta National invites three Asian standouts to play in Masters |publisher=PGA Tour |accessdate=2008-04-09 ]

Par 3 contest

The annual par 3 contest was held on Wednesday, April 8. The contest was won by Rory Sabbatini, runner-up in the 2007 Masters Tournament. He scored -5 (22) to finish ahead of Woody Austin and Miguel Ángel Jiménez. Four players hit a hole-in-one. Paul Azinger on the second hole, Charles Coody on the third, Fred Couples on the seventh and Wayne Grady on the ninth. [cite web|url=http://www.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Other-sports/2008/04/09/Golf-Masters-Par-3-Contest/ |title=Sabatini victorious in Par 3 contest |publisher=Setanta Sports |date=10-04-2008 |accessdate=2008-04-16 ] [ [http://www.masters.org/en_US/news/articles/2008-04-09/200804091207779732328.html Par 3 Contest] ]

ummary of rounds of play

The Masters Tournament is played over four days with an eighteen hole round being played each day, for a total of 72 holes plus practice rounds and a par-three contest on the neighboring par-three course. Everyone outside the top 44 and ties or outside ten strokes of the leader will be “cut” after 36 holes.

First round (Thursday)

After an hour delay due to fog, Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman shot rounds of -4 (68) to lead the field. For the players in the final few groups, the last holes were played in near darkness. Ian Poulter hit a hole in one on the 16th on the way to a -2 (70). Defending champion Zach Johnson shot a -2 (70) and four-time champion Tiger Woods shot an even par 72. In all, 18 players shot sub-par rounds and the scoring average was 74.18.

Final round (Sunday)

Miguel Ángel Jiménez had the low round of the day at -4 (68). For the round, 4 players were under par and the scoring average was 74.67. For the tournament, 10 players were under par and the scoring average was 73.77.

The following players missed the cut.

*(a) - amateur player
*WD - withdrew

Media coverage

ESPN broadcast the first two rounds of the tournament for the first time. Last year USA televised the first two rounds. ESPN also broadcast the par-3 contest on Wednesday afternoon, which was the first time the competition had been televised. BBC broadcast the whole event in the United Kingdom, with coverage being shared among BBC1, BBC2 and BBCi. CBS broadcast the third and fourth rounds as they had in previous years. [ cite web|url=http://www.masters.org/en_US/about/tvsched.html |title=TV Schedule |publisher=masters.org |accessdate=2008-04-09 ]

References