The 1987 Masters Tournament was the 51st Masters Tournament, held April 9−12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Augusta native Larry Mize won his only major championship in a sudden-death playoff over Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman. Norman had barely missed a birdie opportunity on the 72nd hole which would have won him the tournament in regulation.

The playoff began on the par-4 10th hole, where the approach shots of Ballesteros and Norman came to rest on the fringe, and Mize's was on the green, below the hole. Ballesteros failed to par and was eliminated while Norman two-putted for four. Mize's uphill birdie putt came up short and he tapped in to continue with Norman. Both of their tee shots were in the fairway on the next hole, the par-4 11th, but with the pond on the left of the green, Mize's avoidant approach shot was about pin-high but well right, about from the hole. Norman then played conservatively to the right fringe, with a putt, sensing a par could win the green jacket. But Mize chipped in for an improbable birdie 3 and a stunned Norman failed to hole his to tie, which ended the Mize was the first, and only winner of the Masters to come from Augusta.

It was considered one of the most miraculous shots (and endings) in major championship history, and was just one of the many "bad breaks" in Norman's career.

Field 1. Masters champions Tommy Aaron, Seve Ballesteros (3,8), Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Ben Crenshaw (8,9,11,12), Raymond Floyd (2,4,9,11,12,13), Doug Ford, Bernhard Langer (8,9,12), Jack Nicklaus (8,9), Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Craig Stadler (9,13), Art Wall Jr., Tom Watson (2,3,8,12), Fuzzy Zoeller (2,8,9,11,12,13)

George Archer, Jack Burke Jr., Bob Goalby, Ralph Guldahl, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan, Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff, Byron Nelson, Henry Picard, Gene Sarazen, and Sam Snead did not play.

2. U.S. Open champions (last five years) Larry Nelson, Andy North (13)

3. The Open champions (last five years) Sandy Lyle (8,11), Greg Norman (8,9,10,11,12)

4. PGA champions (last five years) Hubert Green (13), Hal Sutton (9,11,12,13), Lee Trevino (9), Bob Tway (8,9,10,11,12)

5. 1986 U.S. Amateur semi-finalists Buddy Alexander (6,7,a), Chris Kite (a), Bob Lewis (7,a), Brian Montgomery (a)

6. Previous two U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions David Curry (a), Garth McGimpsey (a)

Sam Randolph forfeited his exemption by turning professional.

7. Members of the 1986 U.S. Eisenhower Trophy team Billy Andrade (a), Jay Sigel (a)

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1986 Masters Tournament Dave Barr, Chen Tze-chung (11), Jay Haas, Donnie Hammond (12), Tom Kite (11,12,13), Gary Koch (9), Roger Maltbie, Mark McCumber (9), Larry Mize (12), Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Corey Pavin (11,12), Calvin Peete (12,13), Nick Price, Payne Stewart (9,10,11,12), Curtis Strange (11,13)

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1986 U.S. Open Chip Beck, Mark Calcavecchia (11), David Frost, David Graham (10), Jodie Mudd, Joey Sindelar (12), Scott Verplank, Bobby Wadkins (12), Lanny Wadkins (11,143), Denis Watson

10. Top eight players and ties from 1986 PGA Championship Mike Hulbert (11,12), Bruce Lietzke, Jim Thorpe (11,12), D. A. Weibring

Peter Jacobsen (13) did not play.

11. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters Paul Azinger (12), Andy Bean (12), George Burns, Rick Fehr, Ernie Gonzalez, Ken Green (12), Johnny Miller, Bob Murphy, Mac O'Grady (12), Dan Pohl (12), Gene Sauers, Scott Simpson, Fred Wadsworth, Mark Wiebe (12)

12. Top 30 players from the 1986 PGA Tour money list John Cook, Kenny Knox, John Mahaffey, Mark O'Meara (13), Don Pooley, Doug Tewell

13. Members of the U.S. 1985 Ryder Cup team

14. Special foreign invitation Isao Aoki, Howard Clark, José María Olazábal, Masashi Ozaki

Round summaries

First round Thursday, April 9, 1987 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 John Cook 69 −3 2 Larry Mize 70 −2 T3 Bernhard Langer 71 −1 Corey Pavin Calvin Peete Payne Stewart Curtis Strange Tom Watson T9 Tommy Aaron 72 E Jay Haas Mac O'Grady Scott Simpson D. A. Weibring Source:

Second round Friday, April 10, 1987 PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Curtis Strange 71-70=141 −3 T2 John Cook 69-73=142 −2 Roger Maltbie 76-66=142 Larry Mize 70-72=142 Corey Pavin 71-71=142 T6 Chen Tze-chung 74-69=143 −1 Bernhard Langer 71-72=143 Tom Watson 71-72=143T9 Seve Ballesteros 73-71=144 E Andy Bean 75-69=144 Jay Haas 72-72=144 Joey Sindelar 74-70=144 Source:

Third round Saturday, April 11, 1987 PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Ben Crenshaw 75-70-67=212 −4 Roger Maltbie 76-66-70=212T3 Bernhard Langer 71-72-70=213 −3 Greg Norman 73-74-66=213T5 Seve Ballesteros 73-71-70=214 −2 Chen Tze-chung 74-69-71=214 Larry Mize 70-72-72=214 Curtis Strange 71-70-73=214 T9 Mark McCumber 75-71-69=215 −1 Lanny Wadkins 73-72-70=215 Source:

Final round

Sunday, April 12, 1987

Final leaderboard Champion Silver Cup winner (low amateur)(a) = amateur(c) = past champion Top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney (US$)T1 Seve Ballesteros (c) 73-71-70-71=285 −3 Playoff Larry Mize 70-72-72-71=285 Greg Norman 73-74-66-72=285T4 Ben Crenshaw (c) 75-70-67-74=286 −2 37,200 Roger Maltbie 76-66-70-74=286 Jodie Mudd 74-72-71-69=286T7 Jay Haas 72-72-72-73=289 +1 26,200 Bernhard Langer (c) 71-72-70-76=289 Jack Nicklaus (c) 74-72-73-70=289 Tom Watson (c) 71-72-74-72=289 D. A. Weibring 72-75-71-71=289 Leaderboard below the top 10PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)T12 Chip Beck 75-72-70-73=290 +2 17,640 Chen Tze-chung 74-69-71-76=290 Mark McCumber 75-71-69-75=290 Curtis Strange 71-70-73-76=290 Lanny Wadkins 73-72-70-75=290T17 Paul Azinger 77-73-69-72=291 +3 13,050 Mark Calcavecchia 73-72-78-68=291 Sandy Lyle 77-74-68-72=291 Craig Stadler (c) 74-74-72-71=29121 Bobby Wadkins 76-69-73-74=292 +4 10,800T22 Gary Koch 76-75-72-70=293 +5 9,750 Nick Price 73-73-71-76=293T24 John Cook 69-73-74-78=294 +6 7,900 Tom Kite 73-74-74-73=294 Mark O'Meara 75-74-71-74=294T27 David Graham 73-77-72-73=295 +7 6,267 Donnie Hammond 73-75-74-73=295 Corey Pavin 71-71-81-72=295 Scott Simpson 72-75-72-76=295 Denis Watson 76-74-73-72=295 Fuzzy Zoeller (c) 76-71-76-72=295T33 Calvin Peete 71-77-75-73=296 +8 5,200 Gene Sauers 75-73-74-74=296T35 Andy Bean 75-69-78-75=297 +9 4,257 Howard Clark 74-71-77-75=297 Hubert Green 80-71-74-72=297 John Mahaffey 73-75-76-73=297 Gary Player (c) 75-75-71-76=297 Joey Sindelar 74-70-81-72=297 Mark Wiebe 73-74-71-79=297T42 Johnny Miller 75-75-71-77=298 +10 3,333 Payne Stewart 71-75-74-78=298 Jim Thorpe 77-74-76-71=298T45 David Frost 75-70-77-78=300 +12 2,800 Kenny Knox 75-75-75-75=300 Don Pooley 76-75-76-73=30048 Mike Hulbert 76-75-71-79=301 +13 2,40049 Bruce Lietzke 75-74-77-76=302 +14 2,300T50 Tommy Aaron (c) 72-76-76-81=305 +17 2,200 Dave Barr 79-68-79-79=305 Billy Casper (c) 77-74-75-79=305 Mac O'Grady 72-79-79-75=30554 Bob Lewis (a) 74-77-79-79=309 +21 0CUT Buddy Alexander (a) 76-76=152 +8 Billy Andrade (a) 74-78=152 George Burns 78-74=152 Raymond Floyd (c) 75-77=152 Dan Pohl 81-71=152 Scott Verplank 76-76=152 Rick Fehr 78-75=153 +9 Andy North 79-74=153 Hal Sutton 77-76=153 Bob Tway 78-75=153 Tsuneyuki Nakajima 73-81=154 +10 Larry Nelson 75-79=154 José María Olazábal 79-75=154 Charles Coody (c) 75-80=155 +11 Ken Green 78-77=155 Bob Murphy 82-73=155 Masashi Ozaki 73-82=155 David Curry (a) 78-78=156 +12 Chris Kite (a) 80-76=156 Garth McGimpsey (a) 79-77=156 Lee Trevino 80-76=156 Fred Wadsworth 74-82=156 Ernie Gonzalez 77-80=157 +13 Isao Aoki 81-77=158 +14 Doug Ford (c) 79-81=160 +16 Arnold Palmer (c) 83-77=160 Jay Sigel (a) 77-83=160 Gay Brewer (c) 80-81=161 +17 Brian Montgomery (a) 77-84=161 Doug Tewell 85-76=161 Art Wall Jr. (c) 85-76=161

Sources:

Scorecard Hole 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 101112131415161718Par454343454 443545344 Mize −2−3−2−1−1−2−3−3−3−2−2−3−4−3−2−2−2−3 Norman −4−4−3−3−4−3−2−2−2−1E−1−2−2−3−2−3−3 Ballesteros −2−2−2−2−2−1−1−1−2−2−1−1−1−1−2−2−3−3 Crenshaw −4−5−5−5−5−4−3−3−3−3−3−3−3−3−3−3−2−2 Maltbie −4−4−4−4−4−3−3−4−4−3−2−2−2−1−1−1−2−2 Langer −3−3−2−2−2−2−2−2−3−2−2−1−1E+1+1+1+1 Chen −2−3−2−2−2−2−2−2−2−2EE+1+1E+1+2+2 Strange −2−1−1−2−2−3−3−3−2−1+1+2+2+1+2+1+2+2 Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par {|class="wikitable" span = 50 style="font-size:85%; |- |style="background: Pink;" width=10| |Birdie |style="background: PaleGreen;" width=10| |Bogey |style="background: Green;" width=10| |Double bogey |} Source:

Playoff PlacePlayerScoreTo parMoney ($)1 Larry Mize 4-3 −1162,000T2 Greg Norman 4-x 79,200 Seve Ballesteros 5-  Sudden-death playoff began on hole #10 and ended at hole #11, where Mize birdied.

References

External links Masters.com – past winners and results Augusta.com – 1987 Masters leaderboard and scorecards YouTube.com − video − 1987 Masters playoff highlights YouTube.com − video − 1987 Masters playoff-winning shot, from CBS Sports