A look at some of the anniversaries this year at the 77th Masters, to be played April 11-14 at Augusta National Golf Club:
75 years ago (1938): Henry Picard atoned for a bad weekend at the 1935 Masters by closing with a 72-70 for a two-shot win over Harry “Lighthorse” Cooper and U.S. Open champion Ralph Guldahl. It was the only time the Masters was scheduled to start on Friday, only to be suspended by bad weather. The first round was played on Saturday, the second and third rounds were held on Sunday, and the final round was played Monday. With a one-shot lead going into the last round, Picard had a 32 on the front nine to pull away. It was the fourth runner-up finish for Cooper in the majors, and he never had another close call. It was the first time the club put pine log benches on the course for the patrons.
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50 years ago (1963): One year after winning the U.S. Open as a rookie, Jack Nicklaus cemented his status as golf’s next big star by winning the Masters in tough weather conditions. Nicklaus got back in the mix with a tournament-low 66 in the second round, and he built a one-shot lead over Ed Furgol with a 74 in the third round. Nicklaus closed with a 72 for a one-shot victory over Tony Lema, and two shots clear of Julius Boros and Sam Snead. This was the first year Augusta National put a limit on the number of tickets sold. As for the conditions, the average score for the week was 75.2. Of the six green jackets he won, Nicklaus shot par or worse in the final round three times.
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25 years ago (1988): Sandy Lyle became the first British player to win the Masters, and he won with a shot that now is part of Augusta National lore. Lyle took the lead with a 67 in the second round, and his even-par 72 in the third round allowed him to maintain a two-shot lead over Mark Calcavecchia. But the American rallied on Sunday and caught up going to the final hole. Lyle pulled his tee shot into the fairway bunker, and then hit a 7-iron over the lip and just beyond the flag, rolling back to 10 feet for a birdie. It was only the fourth time a birdie on the last hole won the Masters.
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20 years ago (1993): Bernhard Langer won his second green jacket when his challengers either faded away or failed to chase him. Dan Forsman hit two in the water on the 12th hole and made a 7. Langer was two shots ahead of Chip Beck when the German holed a 20-foot eagle putt on the 13th. Beck was three shots behind and had 236 yards to the green on the par-5 15th when he opted to lay up. Beck made par, Langer made birdie and the German cruised to a four-shot win. That made it five of the last six years a European had won the Masters.
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10 years ago (2003): One of the strangest weeks in Masters history ended with Mike Weir becoming the first Canadian in a green jacket. The focus early in the week was on club chairman Hootie Johnson’s defiant stance on the all-male membership. Then, it shifted to Tiger Woods’ bid to become the first to win the Masters three straight years. And then the tournament didn’t start until Friday because of heavy rain. Women’s rights activist Martha Burk staged a rally on Saturday a few miles down Washington Road that hardly anyone attended. Weir staged the most important rally, closing with a 4-under 68 to catch Len Mattiace, who had a tournament-best 65 on Sunday despite a bogey on the last hole. In the playoff, Mattiace pulled his approach down the slope to the left of the 10th green and made double bogey. Weir three-putted for bogey and became the first left-handed winner in Masters history.
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