1937 Masters Tournament

The 1937 Masters Tournament was the fourth Masters Tournament, held April 1–4 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Opening with a six-under 66, Byron Nelson led after the first and second rounds, but a 75 on Saturday dropped him four strokes back, in a tie for third. On the final nine on Sunday, he gained six strokes on third round leader Ralph Guldahl over two holes and won the tournament by two strokes. Compared to Guldahl's 5–6 (double bogey, bogey), Nelson played the 12th and 13th holes 2–3 (birdie, eagle), respectively. The Nelson Bridge, over Rae's Creek departing the 13th tee, was dedicated in 1958 to commemorate the feat.

At age 25, this was the first of Nelson's five major titles; he won the Masters again in 1942, which was not held again until 1946. Guldahl rebounded and won three majors over the next two years: the U.S. Open in 1937 and 1938 and the Masters in 1939.

Sam Snead made his Masters debut and finished 18th. The purse was $5,000 with a winner's share of $1,500.

Field
Gene Sarazen (2,4,6,7,9,10), Horton Smith (7,9,10,12)
 * 1. Masters champions

Tommy Armour (4,6,9,10), Billy Burke (9,10), Bobby Jones (3,4,5), Willie Macfarlane, Tony Manero (10,12), Sam Parks Jr. (7,9), George Sargent
 * 2. U.S. Open champions

Lawson Little (5,9), Jess Sweetser (5,a)
 * 3. U.S. Amateur champions

Jock Hutchison (6), Denny Shute (6,9,10,12)
 * 4. British Open champions


 * 5. British Amateur champions

Johnny Revolta (7,9,10), Paul Runyan (7,9,10)
 * 6. PGA champions

Ky Laffoon (9,10), Henry Picard (9,10), Craig Wood (9,12)
 * 7. Members of the U.S. 1935 Ryder Cup team


 * Olin Dutra (2,6) and Walter Hagen (2,4,6,9) did not play.

Charlie Yates (a)
 * 8. Members of the U.S. 1936 Walker Cup team


 * Albert Campbell (9,11,a), George Dunlap (a), Walter Emery (a), Johnny Fischer (11,a), Harry Givan (a), Johnny Goodman (10,11,a), Francis Ouimet (a), Reynolds Smith (a), George Voigt (11,a) and Ed White (a) did not play.

Harry Cooper (10), Wiffy Cox (10), Bobby Cruickshank, Ed Dudley, Al Espinosa, Vic Ghezzi (110, Ray Mangrum (10), Jug McSpaden (10,12), Byron Nelson, Jimmy Thomson (10,12), Al Watrous
 * 9. Top 30 players and ties from the 1936 Masters Tournament


 * Johnny Dawson (a), Johnny Farrell (2,10), Dick Metz (10) and Orville White did not play.

Herman Barron, Al Brosch, Clarence Clark, Ralph Guldahl, Tom Kerrigan, Chuck Kocsis (a), Frank Moore, Jack Munger (a), Felix Serafin
 * 10. Top 30 players and ties from the 1936 U.S. Open


 * Zell Eaton, Jerry Gianferante, Willie Goggin and Macdonald Smith did not play

John Riddell (a)
 * 11. 1936 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists


 * Ray Billows (a) and Russell Martin (a) did not play.

Jimmy Hines, Bill Mehlhorn
 * 12. 1936 PGA Championship quarter-finalists

Leonard Dodson, Sam Snead
 * 13. Two players, not already qualified, with the best scoring average in the winter part of the 1937 PGA Tour

Francis Francis (a)
 * 14 Foreign invitations

Fred Haas (a) winner of 1936 Canadian Amateur Championship
 * Additional invitation

First round
Thursday, April 1, 1937 Source:

Second round
Friday, April 2, 1937 Source:

Third round
Saturday, April 3, 1937 Source:

Final round
Sunday, April 4, 1937

Final leaderboard
Sources:

Scorecard
Final round Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par Source: