1998 Masters Tournament


The 1998 Masters Tournament was the 62nd Masters Tournament, held from April 9–12 at Augusta National Golf Club. Mark O'Meara won his first major championship with a birdie putt on the final hole to win by one stroke over runners-up David Duval and Fred Couples.
He birdied three of the final four holes in a final round 67.
In one of the most remarkable performances of his career, Jack Nicklaus tied for sixth place at the age of 58. His final round 68 yielded a 283, the lowest 72-hole score by a player over age 50 at the Masters. Nicklaus was in contention for the title until well into the back nine holes in the final round. It was his last serious run for a major championship, twelve years after his sixth Masters victory in 1986. Three-time champion Gary Player, age 62, became the oldest ever to make a cut at the Masters.
In his first Masters, David Toms shot a 29 on the back nine on Sunday, en route to a 64. He had six consecutive birdies on holes 12–17.
O'Meara's win came in his 15th attempt at Augusta, setting a record for appearances before a victory. He had previously been considered one of the best players to never win a major. Later in July, he won the Open Championship and earned PGA Tour Player of the Year honors for 1998.
Matt Kuchar, a 19-year-old sophomore at Georgia Tech, was the low amateur at even-par 288 and tied for 21st place. The reigning U.S. Amateur champion, he carded a four-under 68 in the third round.

Field

;1. Masters champions
Tommy Aaron, Seve Ballesteros, Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Fred Couples, Ben Crenshaw, Nick Faldo, Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize, Jack Nicklaus, José María Olazábal, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods, Ian Woosnam, Fuzzy Zoeller
;2. U.S. Open champions
Ernie Els, Lee Janzen, Steve Jones, Corey Pavin
;3. The Open champions
John Daly, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Greg Norman, Nick Price
;4. PGA champions
Paul Azinger, Mark Brooks, Steve Elkington, Davis Love III
;5. U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up
Joel Kribel, Matt Kuchar
;6. The Amateur champion
Craig Watson
;7. U.S. Amateur Public Links champion
Tim Clark
;8. U.S. Mid-Amateur champion
Ken Bakst
;9. Top 24 players and ties from the 1997 Masters
Stuart Appleby, Mark Calcavecchia, Fred Funk, John Huston, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Tom Kite, Jesper Parnevik, Costantino Rocca, Vijay Singh, Jeff Sluman, Paul Stankowski, Tommy Tolles, Lee Westwood, Willie Wood
;10. Top 16 players and ties from the 1997 U.S. Open
Billy Andrade, Olin Browne, Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Jay Haas, Scott Hoch, Bradley Hughes, Jeff Maggert, Scott McCarron, Colin Montgomerie, David Ogrin, Bob Tway
;11. Top eight players and ties from 1997 PGA Championship
Phil Blackmar
;12. Winners of PGA Tour events since the previous Masters
Michael Bradley, Billy Ray Brown, David Duval, David Frost, Bill Glasson, Tim Herron, Gabriel Hjertstedt, Billy Mayfair, Phil Mickelson, Frank Nobilo, Scott Simpson, David Toms
;13. Top 30 players from the 1997 PGA Tour money list
John Cook, Brad Faxon, Andrew Magee, Mark O'Meara
;14. Special foreign invitation
Darren Clarke, Ignacio Garrido, Retief Goosen, Shigeki Maruyama, Masashi Ozaki

Nationalities in the field

Past champions in the field

Made the cut

Missed the cut

Source:

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 9, 1998
Friday, April 10, 1998
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Fred Couples69−3
T2Scott Hoch70−2
T2José María Olazábal70−2
T2Paul Stankowski70−2
T5Paul Azinger71−1
T5Phil Blackmar71−1
T5David Duval71−1
T5Colin Montgomerie71−1
T5Tiger Woods71−1
T5Fuzzy Zoeller71−1

First round suspended by darkness; start was delayed by 90 minutes to get course playable after heavy rains Wednesday night.

Second round

Friday, April 10, 1998
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
T1Fred Couples69-70=139−5
T1David Duval71-68=139−5
3Scott Hoch70-71=141−3
T4Paul Azinger71-72=143−1
T4Jay Haas72-71=143−1
T4Phil Mickelson74-69=143−1
T4José María Olazábal70-73=143−1
T4Tiger Woods71-72=143−1
T9Scott McCarron73-71=144E
T9Mark O'Meara74-70=144E

Source:
Amateurs: Kuchar, Kribel , Watson, Clark, Bakst.

Third round

Saturday, April 11, 1998
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo par
1Fred Couples69-70-71=210−6
T2Paul Azinger71-72-69=212−4
T2Phil Mickelson74-69-69=212−4
T2Mark O'Meara74-70-68=212−4
T5David Duval71-68-74=213−3
T5Jim Furyk76-70-67=213−3
T7Jay Haas72-71-71=214−2
T7Scott Hoch70-71-73=214−2
T7José María Olazábal70-73-71=214−2
T10Ernie Els75-70-70=215−1
T10Colin Montgomerie71-75-69=215−1
T10Jack Nicklaus73-72-70=215−1
T10Tiger Woods71-72-72=215−1

Final round

Sunday, April 12, 1998
PlacePlayerCountryScoreTo parMoney
1Mark O'Meara74-70-68-67=279−9576,000
T2Fred Couples69-70-71-70=280−8281,600
T2David Duval71-68-74-67=280−8281,600
4Jim Furyk76-70-67-68=281−7153,600
5Paul Azinger71-72-69-70=282−6128,000
T6Jack Nicklaus73-72-70-68=283−5111,200
T6David Toms75-72-72-64=283−5111,200
T8Darren Clarke76-73-67-69=285−389,600
T8Justin Leonard74-73-69-69=285−389,600
T8Colin Montgomerie71-75-69-70=285−389,600
T8Tiger Woods71-72-72-70=285−389,600

Amateurs: Kuchar, Kribel.

Scorecard

Final round
Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112131415161718
Par454343454443545344
O'Meara−4−5−6−7−7−7−7−7−7−6−6−6−6−6−7−7−8−9
Couples−5−6−6−7−7−7−8−9−8−8−8−8−6−6−8−8−8−8
Duval−2−3−3−3−3−3−4−4−5−6−7−7−8−8−9−8−8−8
Furyk−3−4−4−3−2−2−2−3−4−5−5−5−6−6−5−6−7−7
Azinger−4−5−5−4−4−5−5−5−5−5−5−4−5−5−6−6−6−6
Nicklaus−1−2−3−2−2−3−4−4−4−4−4−3−4−4−5−5−5−5
Toms+3+2+2+3+3+3+2+2+2+1+1E−1−2−3−4−5−5
Mickelson−4−5−5−5−5−5−4−4−4−4−4−2−2−1−2−3−1−2

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par
Source: