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1937 Masters Tournament
Tournament information
Dates	April 1–4, 1937
Location	Augusta, Georgia; 33°30′11″N 82°01′12″W / 33.503°N 82.020°W
Course(s)	Augusta National Golf Club
Organized by	Augusta National Golf Club
Tour(s)	PGA Tour
Statistics
Par	72
Field	46 players
Cut	None
Prize fund	$5,000
Winner's share	$1,500
Champion
	Byron Nelson
	283 (−5)
Location map
	Augusta National Location in the United States Augusta National Location in Georgia
	← 1936 1938 →

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,^[2] Byron Nelson led after the first and second rounds,^[3] but a 75 on Saturday dropped him four strokes back, in a tie for third.^[4] 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.^[5]^[6] The Nelson Bridge, over Rae's Creek departing the 13th tee, was dedicated in 1958 to commemorate the feat.^[7]

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

1. Masters champions

Gene Sarazen (2,4,6,7,9,10), Horton Smith (7,9,10,12)

2. U.S. Open 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

3. U.S. Amateur champions

Lawson Little (5,9), Jess Sweetser (5,a)

4. British Open champions

Jock Hutchison (6), Denny Shute (6,9,10,12)

5. British Amateur champions

6. PGA champions

Johnny Revolta (7,9,10), Paul Runyan (7,9,10)

7. Members of the U.S. 1935 Ryder Cup team

Ky Laffoon (9,10), Henry Picard (9,10), Craig Wood (9,12)

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

8. Members of the U.S. 1936 Walker Cup team

Charlie Yates (a)

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.

9. Top 30 players and ties from the 1936 Masters Tournament

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

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

10. Top 30 players and ties from the 1936 U.S. Open

Herman Barron, Al Brosch, Clarence Clark, Ralph Guldahl, Tom Kerrigan, Chuck Kocsis (a), Frank Moore, Jack Munger (a), Felix Serafin

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

11. 1936 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists

John Riddell (a)

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

12. 1936 PGA Championship quarter-finalists

Jimmy Hines, Bill Mehlhorn

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

Leonard Dodson, Sam Snead

14 Foreign invitations

Francis Francis (a)

Additional invitation

Fred Haas (a) winner of 1936 Canadian Amateur Championship

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 1, 1937

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Byron Nelson	66	−6
2	Ralph Guldahl	69	−3
T3	Ed Dudley	70	−2
	Wiffy Cox
	Lawson Little
T6	Leonard Dodson	71	−1
	Tony Manero
	Johnny Revolta
	Jimmy Thomson
T10	Vic Ghezzi	72	E
T10	Al Espinosa	72	E

Source:^[2]

Second round

Friday, April 2, 1937

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Byron Nelson	66-72=138	−6
T2	Ralph Guldahl	69-72=141	−3
T2	Ed Dudley	70-71=141	−3
T4	Harry Cooper	73-69=142	−2
T4	Wiffy Cox	70-72=142	−2
T6	Ky Laffoon	73-70=143	−1
	Tony Manero	71-72=143
	Johnny Revolta	71-72=143
T9	Vic Ghezzi	72-72=144	E
T9	Jimmy Thomson	71-73=144	E

Source:^[3]

Third round

Saturday, April 3, 1937

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Ralph Guldahl	69-72-68=209	−7
2	Ed Dudley	70-71-71=212	−4
T3	Harry Cooper	73-69-71=213	−3
T3	Byron Nelson	66-72-75=213	−3
5	Johnny Revolta	71-72-72=215	−1
6	Vic Ghezzi	72-72-72=216	E
T7	Leonard Dodson	71-75-71=217	+1
	Jimmy Hines	77-72-68=217
	Ky Laffoon	73-70-74=217
	Al Watrous	74-72-71=217

Source:^[4]

Final round

Sunday, April 4, 1937

Final leaderboard

Champion
Silver Cup winner (low amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion

*Top 10*
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (US$)
1	Byron Nelson	66-72-75-70=283	−5	1,500
2	Ralph Guldahl	69-72-68-76=285	−3	800
3	Ed Dudley	70-71-71-74=286	−2	600
4	Harry Cooper	73-69-71-74=287	−1	500
5	Ky Laffoon	73-70-74-73=290	+2	400
6	Jimmy Thomson	71-73-74-73=291	+3	300
7	Al Watrous	74-72-71-75=292	+4	250
T8	Tommy Armour	73-75-73-72=293	+5	175
T8	Vic Ghezzi	72-72-72-77=293	+5	175
T10	Leonard Dodson	71-75-71-77=294	+6	100
T10	Jimmy Hines	77-72-68-77=294	+6	100

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
12	Wiffy Cox	70-72-77-76=295	+7	100
T13	Clarence Clark	77-75-70-74=296	+8
	Tony Manero	71-72-78-75=296
	Johnny Revolta	71-72-72-81=296
	Denny Shute	74-75-71-76=296
17	Bobby Cruickshank	79-69-71-78=297	+9
18	Sam Snead	76-72-71-79=298	+10
T19	Lawson Little	70-79-74-76=299	+11
	Willie Macfarlane	73-76-73-77=299
	Paul Runyan	74-77-72-76=299
	Felix Serafin	75-76-71-77=299
	Horton Smith (c)	75-72-77-75=299
T24	Ray Mangrum	71-80-72-77=300	+12
T24	Gene Sarazen (c)	74-80-73-73=300	+12
T26	Craig Wood	79-77-74-71=301	+13
T26	Charlie Yates (a)	76-73-74-78=301	+13
28	Francis Francis (a)	77-74-75-76=302	+14
T29	Billy Burke	77-71-75-80=303	+15
	Al Espinosa	72-76-79-76=303
	Bobby Jones	79-74-73-77=303
32	Jug McSpaden	77-79-72-76=304	+16
T33	Bill Mehlhorn	73-76-77-79=305	+17
T33	Henry Picard	75-77-75-78=305	+17
35	Chuck Kocsis (a)	76-72-77-82=307	+19
T36	Al Brosch	78-79-74-77=308	+20
	Tom Kerrigan	75-77-77-79=308
	Sam Parks Jr.	76-75-80-77=308
39	Frank Moore	73-79-76-82=310	+22
40	Jess Sweetser (a)	75-80-85-79=319	+31
41	John Riddell (a)	79-81-82-79=321	+33
WD	Fred Haas (a)	78-70-78=226	+10
	Jack Munger (a)	84-81-78=243	+27
	Herman Barron	78-75=153	+9
	Jock Hutchison	77-77=154	+10
	George Sargent	76	+4

Sources:^[8]^[9]

Scorecard

Final round

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	5	4	3	4	3	4	5	4	4	4	3	5	4	5	3	4	4
Nelson	−3	−3	−3	−3	−3	−2	−1	−1	−1	−2	−2	−3	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5
Guldahl	−7	−7	−7	−7	−6	−7	−7	−6	−5	−6	−6	−4	−3	−3	−4	−4	−3	−3
Dudley	−4	−2	−2	−3	−3	−2	−2	−2	−1	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−2
Cooper	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−2	−1	E	E	E	E	−1	−1	−2	−2	−1	−1

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source:^[5]

References

^ "Past winners and results". The Masters. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Bashful Byron Nelson's 66 leads golfers at Augusta". Spartanburg Herald. South Carolina. Associated Press. April 2, 1937. p. 15.
^ ^a ^b Rice, Grantland (April 3, 1937). "Nelson leads in golf play". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. North American Newspaper Alliance. p. 14.
^ ^a ^b "Guldahl shoots 68 to grab lead in Augusta golf play". Sunday Spartanburg Herald-Journal. South Carolina. Associated Press. April 4, 1937. p. 22.
^ ^a ^b "Nelson beats down four stroke lead on last nine to win Augusta tourney". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 5, 1937. p. 15.
^ "Byron Nelson captures Augusta golf classic". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. April 5, 1937. p. 3, part 2.
^ "Augusta club honors Nelson and Hogan". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Florida. Associated Press. April 3, 1958. p. 8.
^ "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
^ "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.