Masters Scrapbook : The Course Is Tough but Not Awesome

Notes from the Masters’ scrapbook:

The velvety acres of the Augusta National Golf Club course are indeed difficult to master, but the statistics show that the travails are subtle rather than stark.

The bogeys may pile up as a player makes his way around and through the scenery, but while there are plenty of famous holes on the course there are few that act as overwhelming hurdles.

PGA Tour officials keep records each year to determine the 100 most difficult holes played on the circuit and only two from the Augusta National made the group last year.

The fifth hole, an uphill, 450-yard, par-4, tied as the 57th toughest on the tour with a stroke average of 4.322 (almost a third of a stroke over par). There were 22 birdies, 156 pars, 76 bogeys, 15 double bogeys and one triple bogey at the fifth hole last year.

The famed par-3 12th hole, with Rae’s Creek ambling by just in front of the green, was the 71st most difficult hole on the tour in 1984. There were 30 birdies there last year with 166 pars, 46 bogeys, 25 double bogeys and three triple bogeys -- coming out to an average of 3.285.

As is often the case, the most difficult hole on the tour last year was the par-3 16th at Cypress Point, which played to a stroke average of 3.588 during the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am.

Masters founder Bobby Jones created the tournament as a way to gather with his friends each spring and he, himself, took part in the reunion through the formative years of the event.

His last competitive appearance, however, came in 1942, at the age of 40. He shot a 16-over 304 and tied for last place with Charley Yates, Tommy Armour, Gene Sarazen and amateur Marvin Ward -- 24 shots behind winner Byron Nelson.

The first winner of Jones’ tournament was Horton Smith (in 1934) and part of the tradition of the Masters is that every past champion has a lifetime invitation to play in the event.

Smith availed himself of that opportunity through the last year of his life. In 1963, at the age of 54, he shot rounds of 91 and 86.

In the early days of the tournament the field was made up of no more than a handful of competitors, but shortly after World War II, the tournament began to escalate toward its current size.

The year the field began to increase in size is easy to pinpoint. There were just 23 players on hand in 1947, but the next year there were 48 and its growth was steady after that.

The title “Masters champion” is one of the most prestigious a player can carry, but the title, “leading money winner,” isn’t a bad one to have, either. A dozen times during the 48 years in which the Masters has been played a player has worn both crowns.

Smith was the first player to lead the tour in money the same year he won the Masters, doing so in 1936. Others who have done so included Jimmy Demaret (1947), Sam Snead (1949), Arnold Palmer (1958-60-62), Art Wall (1959), Gary Player (1961), Jack Nicklaus (1965-72-75) and Tom Watson (1977).

Palmer and Nicklaus dominated the tournament during the late 1950s and early 1960s, winning seven out of nine Masters.

But in their initial trip to Augusta things did not work out so well.

Palmer’s first trip to the Masters was in 1955, the year after he won the U.S. Amateur title. He shot a 78 in his first tour of the Augusta National, but managed to come back to close with a 3-under 69 and finished tied for 10th with a 293 total.

Nicklaus’ first Masters was played as an amateur in 1959. He posted rounds of 76-74 and missed the cut.

Although the TPC is receiving more and more support to be listed among golf’s major tournaments, the Grand Slam events are still generally recognized to be the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA.

No one has ever won all four in the same year and it has been 13 years since anyone has won the first two -- the Masters and U.S. Open.

Nicklaus won both titles that year and would probably have won the British Open as well had it not been for a number of magical chip-ins by Lee Trevino, who edged Nicklaus at Murifield.

Palmer won the Masters and U.S. Open in 1960 and, like Nicklaus 12 years later, finished second in the British Open.

The only player to have won three of the four titles in one year was Ben Hogan, who captured the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open in 1953 but did not play in the PGA because it was held that year the week after the British Open.