The 2016 Masters Tournament was the 80th edition of the Masters Tournament, held April 7–10 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Danny Willett won his first major championship, three strokes ahead of runners-up Lee Westwood and defending championJordan Spieth.[1] Spieth suffered one of the biggest collapses in Masters history.[2] Spieth led the tournament from the first round and built a five-shot lead going to the back nine on Sunday, but lost six shots to par over the next three holes culminating in a quadruple-bogey on the 12th hole where he hit two balls into Rae's Creek.[3] Willett shot a bogey-free 67 to overtake Spieth when the leader faltered on the back nine. Willett became the first European to win the Masters since 1999, and the first Englishman to do so since Nick Faldo in 1996.[4]
This was the final Masters appearance for former champion Tom Watson.
The Masters has the smallest field of the four major championships. Officially, the Masters remains an invitation event, but there is a set of qualifying criteria that determines who is included in the field. Each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, with other categories in which he qualified shown in parentheses.
Golfers who qualify based solely on their performance in amateur tournaments (categories 6–10) must remain amateurs on the starting day of the tournament to be eligible to play.
15. Winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the FedEx Cup, between the 2015 Masters Tournament and the 2016 Masters Tournament
Defending champion Jordan Spieth shot a 6-under-par 66 to take a two-shot lead over Danny Lee and Shane Lowry. His bogey-free round was his ninth consecutive Masters round of par or better. World number one Jason Day was 5-under-par through the front nine but shot 5-over-par on the back nine, including a triple-bogey on the 16th hole, to end at even-par. Ernie Els scored a record-worst nine on the first hole after taking six putts from within three feet and ended his round at 8-over-par. The course played difficult due to windy conditions and the scoring average for the field was 74.16.[11][12][13]
Jordan Spieth led by as many as five shots but then carded four bogeys and a double bogey and needed a 14-foot par save at the 18th to preserve a one-shot advantage over Rory McIlroy. This was Spieth's sixth consecutive round with the lead at the Masters, tying the record set by Arnold Palmer in 1960–61. Amateur Bryson DeChambeau got to within a shot of the lead but suffered a triple bogey at the last to finish at even-par. Gusting winds led to difficult scoring conditions, with only four players (Daniel Berger, Dustin Johnson, McIlroy, and Troy Merritt) shooting under par, each shooting 71. The scoring average for the round was 75.02, the highest since 2007 and only seven golfers were under par after two rounds.[14]Tom Watson missed the cut in his 43rd and final Masters.
Jordan Spieth held the lead at the Masters for the seventh consecutive round, a new tournament record, and the third straight year after 54 holes. After a double bogey at the 11th, Spieth rebounded with birdies on three of his next four holes to take a four-shot lead, but then bogeyed the 17th and carded another double bogey on the 18th to post 73 (+1) and drop the lead to one. Smylie Kaufman recorded the lowest score of the round with 69 (−3) and moved into second place. Two-time champion Bernhard Langer, at age 58 attempting to become the oldest major champion, shot a round of 70 and tied Hideki Matsuyama for third, two shots back of Spieth. Rory McIlroy entered the round a shot out of the lead but failed to make a birdie and carded 77 (+5).[15]
Danny Willett came back from five shots down at the start of the back nine to win his first major title.[16]Jordan Spieth birdied his final four holes of the front-nine to open up a five-shot advantage. After bogeys at the 10th and 11th, Spieth put two balls in the water on the par-3 12th and made quadruple bogey, dropping him to a tie for fourth. Willett, meanwhile, made birdie at 13 and 14 to take the lead. Lee Westwood chipped in for eagle at the 15th to get within one of Willett, but then made bogey on 16 while Willett made birdie. Willett made par on the last two holes to post a round of 67 and five-under for the tournament.[17]
After rebounding with birdies on 13 and 15, Spieth needed to birdie two of his last three holes to tie but missed an 8-foot (2.4 m) birdie at 16 then bogeyed 17 to fall out of contention. Spieth's downfall in the final round capped one of the biggest collapses in Masters history, with many comparing it to the meltdown of Greg Norman at the 1996 Masters.[a]Dustin Johnson also made birdie on 13 and 15 to get within two of Willett, but made double bogey on the 17th. Smylie Kaufman began the round a shot out of the lead but shot 81 (+9) and finished in 29th.[23] For the first time in Masters history, three players (Shane Lowry, Davis Love III, and Louis Oosthuizen) made a hole-in-one on the par-3 16th.[24]
Danny Willett
