1965 Masters Tournament

The 1965 Masters Tournament was the 29th Masters Tournament, held April 8–11 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Jack Nicklaus, age 25, won the second of his six Masters titles with a score of 271 (−17), at the time a tournament record, three strokes better than Ben Hogan's 274 in 1953.^[2] It was equaled in 1976 by Raymond Floyd and surpassed in 1997 by Tiger Woods' 270 (−18). Nicklaus' winning margin of nine strokes also stood until 1997, when Woods was victorious by twelve strokes to win his first green jacket. It was the fourth of a record 18 major titles won by Nicklaus in his career.

The "Big Three" (Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player) were tied for the lead after 36 holes at 138 (−6),^[1][3] but Nicklaus shot a 64 (−8) on Saturday to post a 202 (−14), a gain of five shots on Player and eight on Palmer.^[4][5] Nicklaus' round tied the course record set by Lloyd Mangrum in the first round in 1940; it was lowered to 63 by Nick Price in the third round in 1986.

Nicklaus totally over-powered the Augusta National course, hitting short-irons into most of the par four holes and mid-irons into many of the par five holes, especially during his record-tying third round 64.^[6] After the tournament was over, when asked about Nicklaus' performance that week Bobby Jones said, "He plays a game with which I am not familiar."^[7]

Byron Nelson, age 53, tied for fifteenth place, the last cut made at Augusta by the two-time champion.

Art Wall Jr. won the sixth Par 3 contest with a score of 20.

Field

1. Masters champions

Jack Burke Jr. (4), Jimmy Demaret, Doug Ford (4), Ralph Guldahl, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan (8), Herman Keiser, Cary Middlecoff (2), Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus (2,4,8,10), Arnold Palmer (2,3,8,9,10,11), Henry Picard, Gary Player (3,4,8), Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr.

• Craig Wood did not play.

The following categories only apply to Americans

2. U.S. Open champions (last 10 years)

Tommy Bolt, Julius Boros (11), Billy Casper (8,9,11), Jack Fleck, Gene Littler (8,9,11), Dick Mayer, Ken Venturi (9,10)

3. The Open champions (last 10 years)

Tony Lema (8,11)

4. PGA champions (last 10 years)

Jerry Barber, Dow Finsterwald (8,9,11), Jay Hebert, Lionel Hebert, Bobby Nichols (9,10), Bob Rosburg (9)

5. U.S. Amateur and Amateur champions (last 10 years)

Deane Beman (6,a), William C. Campbell (7,a), Charles Coe (6,a), Richard Davies (6,a)

• Harvie Ward did not play. Other champions forfeited their exemptions by turning professional.

6. Members of the 1963 U.S. Walker Cup team

Robert W. Gardner (a), Downing Gray (a), Billy Joe Patton (a), Charlie Smith (7,a), Ed Updegraff (a)

• Labron Harris Jr. and R. H. Sikes forfeited their exemptions by turning professional.

7. 1964 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists

Don Allen (a), Dave Eichelberger (a), Gene Ferrell (a), John Mark Hopkins (a), Dale Morey (a), Ed Tutwiler (a)

8. Top 24 players and ties from the 1964 Masters Tournament

Jim Ferrier, Al Geiberger (9), Paul Harney, Don January (9), Dave Marr, Billy Maxwell (11), Johnny Pott (9,11), Mason Rudolph (10), Dan Sikes, Mike Souchak, Bo Wininger (10)

9. Top 16 players and ties from the 1964 U.S. Open

George Bayer, Gay Brewer (10), Bill Collins, Terry Dill, Raymond Floyd, Ed Furgol, Tommy Jacobs

10. Top eight players and ties from 1964 PGA Championship

Tom Nieporte

11. Members of the U.S. 1963 Ryder Cup team

Bob Goalby, Dave Ragan

12. Two players selected for meritorious records on the fall part of the 1964 PGA Tour

Frank Beard, Jack McGowan

13. One player, either amateur or professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-Masters champions

Wes Ellis

14. One professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Open champions

Tommy Aaron

15. One amateur, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Amateur champions

Bill Hyndman (a)

16. Two players, not already qualified, from a points list based on finishes in the winter part of the 1965 PGA Tour

Doug Sanders, Bert Weaver

17. Foreign invitations

Peter Butler (8), Bob Charles (3,9), Chen Ching-Po, Gary Cowan (a), Bruce Crampton (8,9), Bruce Devlin (8), Harold Henning, Bernard Hunt, Geoffrey Hunt, Tomoo Ishii, George Knudson, Cobie Legrange, Stan Leonard, Kel Nagle (3,8), Chi-Chi Rodríguez (8), Leopoldo Ruiz, Ramón Sota, Nick Weslock (a)

• Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 8, 1965

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Gary Player	65	−7
T2	Tommy Aaron	67	−5
	Tony Lema
	Jack Nicklaus
	Dan Sikes
6	Frank Beard	68	−4
T7	George Bayer	69	−3
	Tommy Bolt
	Wes Ellis
	Raymond Floyd
	Doug Sanders

Source:^[8]

Second round

Friday, April 9, 1965

Place	Player	Score	To par
T1	Jack Nicklaus	67-71=138	−6
	Arnold Palmer	70-68=138
	Gary Player	65-73=138
4	Dan Sikes	67-72=139	−5
5	Tony Lema	67-73=140	−4
T6	Tommy Aaron	67-74=141	−3
	Doug Sanders	69-72=141
8	Bo Wininger	70-72=142	−2
9	George Bayer	69-74=143	−1
T10	Billy Casper	72-72=144	E
	Bruce Crampton	72-72=144
	Byron Nelson	70-74=144
	Bobby Nichols	73-71=144
	Tom Nieporte	71-73=144
	Ramón Sota	71-73=144

Source:^[3][9][10]

Third round

Saturday, April 10, 1965

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Jack Nicklaus	67-71-64=202	−14
2	Gary Player	65-73-69=207	−9
T3	Arnold Palmer	70-68-72=210	−6
	Dan Sikes	67-72-71=210
5	Mason Rudolph	70-75-66=211	−5
T6	Tommy Aaron	67-74-71=212	−4
	Gene Littler	71-74-67=212
T8	George Knudson	72-73-69=214	−2
	Ramón Sota	71-73-70=214
T10	Billy Casper	72-72-71=215	−1
	Doug Sanders	69-72-74=215

Source:^[4]

Scorecard

Third round, ties course record   31-33=64 (−8)

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
Nicklaus	E	−1	−1	−2	−2	−3	−4	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−7	−8	−8	−8

Final round

Sunday, April 11, 1965

Final leaderboard

Champion

Silver Cup winner (low amateur)

(a) = amateur

(c) = past champion

Top 10

Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (US$)
1	Jack Nicklaus (c)	67-71-64-69=271	−17	20,000
T2	Arnold Palmer (c)	70-68-72-70=280	−8	10,200
	Gary Player (c)	65-73-69-73=280
4	Mason Rudolph	70-75-66-72=283	−5	6,200
5	Dan Sikes	67-72-71-75=285	−3	5,000
T6	Gene Littler	71-74-67-74=286	−2	3,800
	Ramón Sota	71-73-70-72=286
T8	Frank Beard	68-77-72-70=287	−1	2,400
	Tommy Bolt	69-78-69-71=287
10	George Knudson	72-73-69-74=288	E	1,800

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
T11	Tommy Aaron	67-74-71-77=289	+1	1,550
	Bruce Crampton	72-72-74-71=289
	Paul Harney	74-74-71-70=289
	Doug Sanders	69-72-74-74=289
T15	George Bayer	69-74-75-72=290	+2	1,300
	Bruce Devlin	71-76-73-70=290
	Wes Ellis	69-76-72-73=290
	Tommy Jacobs	71-74-72-73=290
	Kel Nagle	75-70-74-71=290
	Byron Nelson (c)	70-74-72-74=290
T21	Dow Finsterwald	72-75-72-72=291	+3	1,200
	Ben Hogan (c)	71-75-71-74=291
	Tony Lema	67-73-77-74=291
T24	Terry Dill	72-73-75-72=292	+4	1,200
	Al Geiberger	75-72-74-71=292
T26	Bernard Hunt	71-74-74-74=293	+5	1,075
	Tomoo Ishii	74-74-70-75=293
	Billy Maxwell	74-72-76-71=293
	Tom Nieporte	71-73-75-74=293
	Bo Wininger	70-72-75-76=293
T31	Doug Ford (c)	74-74-73-73=294	+6	1,050
	Downing Gray (a)	72-74-73-75=294		0
	Dave Ragan	73-74-73-74=294		1,050
	Bert Weaver	72-75-72-75=294
T35	Billy Casper	72-72-71-80=295	+7	1,050
	Jimmy Demaret (c)	71-75-76-73=295
	Bobby Nichols	73-71-75-76=295
	Mike Souchak	74-74-72-75=295
T39	Don Allen (a)	70-77-74-75=296	+8	0
	Chen Ching-Po	71-77-77-71=296		1,025
	Bob Goalby	71-75-75-75=296
T42	Bill Hyndman (a)	73-73-75-76=297	+9	0
	Jack McGowan	73-75-77-72=297		1,025
	Johnny Pott	74-74-73-76=297
T45	Bob Charles	72-74-76-77=299	+11	1,025
	Art Wall Jr. (c)	71-76-77-75=299
47	Richard Davies (a)	70-78-78-76=302	+14	0
48	John Mark Hopkins (a)	70-78-78-77=303	+15
49	Deane Beman (a)	74-72-79-79=304	+16
CUT	Charles Coe (a)	73-76=149	+5
	Leopoldo Ruiz	76-73=149
	Sam Snead (c)	75-74=149
	Ed Tutwiler (a)	76-73=149
	Jerry Barber	71-79=150	+6
	Julius Boros	73-77=150
	Lionel Hebert	70-80=150
	Don January	72-78=150
	Harold Henning	72-79=151	+7
	Cary Middlecoff (c)	76-75=151
	Chi-Chi Rodríguez	75-76=151
	Jack Burke Jr. (c)	75-77=152	+8
	Peter Butler	76-76=152
	Bill Collins	74-78=152
	Raymond Floyd	69-83=152
	Ed Furgol	72-80=152
	Jay Hebert	75-77=152
	Cobie Legrange	76-76=152
	Claude Harmon (c)	74-79=153	+9
	Dave Marr	75-78=153
	Dick Mayer	76-77=153
	Billy Joe Patton (a)	70-83=153
	Charlie Smith (a)	73-80=153
	Gary Cowan (a)	75-79=154	+10
	Jim Ferrier	74-80=154
	Robert W. Gardner (a)	76-78=154
	Gene Sarazen (c)	78-76=154
	Gay Brewer	77-78=155	+11
	Stan Leonard	71-84=155
	Henry Picard (c)	76-79=155
	Dale Morey (a)	74-82=156	+12
	Bob Rosburg	76-80=156
	Nick Weslock (a)	80-76=156
	Dave Eichelberger (a)	74-83=157	+13
	Geoffrey Hunt	80-77=157
	Ken Venturi	77-80=157
	William C. Campbell (a)	81-77=158	+14
	Ralph Guldahl (c)	83-85=168	+24
WD	Herman Keiser (c)	80	+8
	Ed Updegraff (a)
DQ	Gene Ferrell (a)	78	+6
	Jack Fleck	79	+7

Sources:^[11][12]

Scorecard

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
Nicklaus	−15	−15	−15	−16	−15	−15	−15	−15	−15	−15	−15	−16	−16	−16	−16	−16	−17	−17
Palmer	−6	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−6	−7	−7	−7	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8	−8
Player	−9	−10	−9	−8	−7	−8	−8	−9	−9	−9	−8	−6	−7	−7	−8	−8	−8	−8
Rudolph	−5	−5	−4	−4	−4	−4	−4	−4	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−4	−4	−5	−5	−5
Sikes	−6	−6	−6	−5	−5	−5	−5	−6	−6	−5	−5	−4	−2	−2	−3	−3	−3	−3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

References

External links

• Masters.com – past winners and results
• GolfCompendium.com – 1965 Masters
• Augusta.com – 1965 Masters leaderboard and scorecards