1956 Masters Tournament

1956 Masters Tournament
Tournament information
Dates	April 5–8, 1956
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
Length	6,965 yards (6,369 m)
Field	84 players
Cut	None
Winner's share	$6,000
Champion
	Jack Burke Jr.
	289 (+1)
Location map
	Augusta National Location in the United States Augusta National Location in Georgia
	← 1955 1957 →

The 1956 Masters Tournament was the 20th Masters Tournament, held April 5–8 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Jack Burke Jr. won his first major championship and only Masters, one stroke ahead of amateur Ken Venturi. It was the final Masters played without a 36-hole cut. CBS televised the third and fourth rounds of the tournament for the first time, and has done so every year since.

Burke shot a 71 (−1) on Sunday, one of only two players to break par in the final round; he rallied from a tournament record eight shots back to pass Venturi, who had led the entire tournament.^[2]^[3] Then a 24-year-old amateur, Venturi opened with a first round 66 (−6), the best round to date at the Masters by an amateur.^[4] But on Sunday, he shot a 42 (+6) on the final nine holes to card a disappointing 80 (+8).^[1]^[5] Burke's 289, along with Sam Snead in 1954 and Zach Johnson in 2007, remains the highest winning total in Masters history.

Burke was late arriving at the course for his final round on Sunday after going to church and had only fifteen minutes to warm up.^[6] He won a second (and final) major title in late July at the PGA Championship, in its penultimate edition as a match play competition.

Field

1. Masters champions

Jimmy Demaret, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan (2,4,6,9,10), Cary Middlecoff (2,7,9,10,12), Byron Nelson (2,6,9), Henry Picard (6), Gene Sarazen (2,4,6), Horton Smith, Sam Snead (4,6,7,9,10), Craig Wood

Ralph Guldahl (2) and Herman Keiser did not play.

2. U.S. Open champions

Julius Boros (9,10), Billy Burke, Johnny Farrell, Jack Fleck (10), Ed Furgol (9), Lawson Little (3,5), Tony Manero, Lloyd Mangrum (9), Fred McLeod, Sam Parks Jr., George Sargent, Lew Worsham (12)

3. U.S. Amateur champions

Dick Chapman (5,a), Gene Littler (9,10), Billy Maxwell (9), Arnold Palmer (9,10), Skee Riegel (9), Sam Urzetta, Harvie Ward (5,8,9,10,11,a)

4. British Open champions

Jock Hutchison (6), Denny Shute (6)

5. British Amateur champions

Joe Conrad (8,9,a), Frank Stranahan (9,10)

6. PGA champions

Walter Burkemo (9), Doug Ford (7,10,12), Vic Ghezzi, Chick Harbert (7), Johnny Revolta, Jim Turnesa

7. Members of the U.S. 1955 Ryder Cup team

Jerry Barber, Tommy Bolt (9,10,12), Jack Burke Jr. (9,10,12), Ted Kroll

Marty Furgol and Chandler Harper (6) did not play.

8. Members of the U.S. 1955 Walker Cup team

Rex Baxter (a), William C. Campbell (a), Don Cherry (a), Bruce Cudd (a), Jimmy Jackson (a), Ed Meister (a), Dale Morey (a), Billy Joe Patton (a)

Dick Yost (a) did not play. Baxter and Meister were reserves for the team.

9. Top 24 players and ties from the 1955 Masters Tournament

Pete Cooper, Jay Hebert, Dick Mayer, Johnny Palmer, Bob Rosburg (10), Mike Souchak (10)

10. Top 24 players and ties from the 1955 U.S. Open

Bob Harris, Fred Hawkins (12), Bud Holscher, Walker Inman, Shelley Mayfield (12), Al Mengert, George Schneiter, Ernie Vossler, Art Wall Jr.

Smiley Quick did not play.

11. 1955 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalists

Bill Booe (a), Joe Campbell (a), Ed Hopkins (a), Bill Hyndman (a), Charles Kunkle (a), Jim McCoy (a), Hillman Robbins (9,a)

12. 1955 PGA Championship quarter-finalists

Don Fairfield

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

Ken Venturi (a)

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

Don Bisplinghoff (a)

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

Fred Haas

16. Two players, not already qualified, from a points list based on finishes in the winter part of the 1956 PGA Tour

Dow Finsterwald, Lionel Hebert

17. Foreign invitations

Al Balding, Henry Cotton (4), Roberto De Vicenzo, Stan Leonard (9), Moe Norman (a)

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

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 5, 1956

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Ken Venturi (a)	66	−6
2	Cary Middlecoff	67	−5
T3	Tommy Bolt	68	−4
T3	Shelley Mayfield	68	−4
5	Ben Hogan	69	−3
T6	Doug Ford	70	−2
	Bob Rosburg
	Billy Joe Patton (a)
T9	Jerry Barber	71	−1
T9	Fred Hawkins	71	−1

Second round

Friday, April 6, 1956

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Ken Venturi (a)	66-69=135	−9
2	Cary Middlecoff	67-72=139	−5
T3	Tommy Bolt	68-74=142	−2
	Pete Cooper	72-70=142
	Doug Ford	70-72=142
	Shelley Mayfield	68-74=142
T7	Jack Burke Jr.	72-71=143	−1
T7	Jerry Barber	71-72=143	−1
T9	Fred Hawkins	71-73=144	E
T9	Bob Rosburg	70-74=144	E

Third round

Saturday, April 7, 1956

Place	Player	Score	To par
1	Ken Venturi (a)	66-69-75=210	−6
2	Cary Middlecoff	67-72-75=214	−2
3	Doug Ford	70-72-75=217	+1
T4	Jack Burke Jr.	72-71-75=218	+2
T4	Lloyd Mangrum	72-74-72=218	+2
T6	Jerry Barber	71-72-76=219	+3
T6	Pete Cooper	72-70-77=219	+3
T8	Tommy Bolt	68-74-78=220	+4
	Fred Hawkins	71-73-76=220
	Mike Souchak	73-73-74=220

Final round

Sunday, April 8, 1956

Final leaderboard

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

*Top 10*
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money (US$)
1	Jack Burke Jr.	72-71-75-71=289	+1	6,000
2	Ken Venturi (a)	66-69-75-80=290	+2	0
3	Cary Middlecoff (c)	67-72-75-77=291	+3	3,750
T4	Lloyd Mangrum	72-74-72-74=292	+4	2,325
T4	Sam Snead (c)	73-76-72-71=292	+4	2,325
T6	Jerry Barber	71-72-76-75=294	+6	1,350
T6	Doug Ford	70-72-75-77=294	+6	1,350
T8	Tommy Bolt	68-74-78-76=296	+8	975
	Ben Hogan (c)	69-78-74-75=296
	Shelley Mayfield	68-74-80-74=296

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
11	Johnny Palmer	76-74-74-73=297	+9	825
T12	Pete Cooper	72-70-77-79=298	+10	735
	Gene Littler	73-77-74-74=298		735
	Billy Joe Patton (a)	70-76-79-73=298		0
	Sam Urzetta	73-75-76-74=298		735
16	Bob Rosburg	70-74-81-74=299	+11	675
T17	Walter Burkemo	72-74-78-76=300	+12	660
	Roberto De Vicenzo	75-72-78-75=300		660
	Hillman Robbins (a)	73-73-78-76=300		0
	Mike Souchak	73-73-74-80=300		660
21	Arnold Palmer	73-75-74-79=301	+13	630
T22	Frank Stranahan	72-75-79-76=302	+14	630
T22	Jim Turnesa	74-74-74-80=302	+14	630
T24	Julius Boros	73-78-72-80=303	+15	480
	Dow Finsterwald	74-73-79-77=303
	Ed Furgol	74-75-78-76=303
	Stan Leonard	75-75-79-74=303
	Al Mengert	74-72-79-78=303
T29	Al Balding	75-78-77-74=304	+16	300
	Vic Ghezzi	74-77-77-76=304
	Fred Haas	78-72-75-79=304
	Fred Hawkins	71-73-76-84=304
	Walker Inman	73-75-74-82=304
T34	Jimmy Demaret (c)	73-75-76-81=305	+17	300
	Billy Maxwell	75-75-81-74=305
	Art Wall Jr.	75-80-75-75=305
	Harvie Ward (a)	76-70-81-78=305		0
	Lew Worsham	74-72-80-79=305		300
39	Byron Nelson (c)	73-75-78-80=306	+18	300
T40	Chick Harbert	73-76-78-80=307	+19	300
	Bob Harris	73-79-77-78=307
	Skee Riegel	72-79-76-80=307
T43	William C. Campbell (a)	77-78-77-76=308	+20	0
	Jack Fleck	74-77-76-81=308		300
	Dick Mayer	75-74-81-78=308		300
T46	Rex Baxter (a)	76-79-79-75=309	+21	0
	Claude Harmon (c)	77-79-76-77=309		300
	Henry Picard (c)	75-76-82-76=309		300
T49	Bud Holscher	73-81-80-76=310	+22	300
T49	Gene Sarazen (c)	77-75-78-80=310	+22	300
T51	Jimmy Jackson (a)	77-74-76-84=311	+23	0
T51	Ted Kroll	75-75-79-82=311	+23	300
T53	Bruce Cudd (a)	78-77-84-74=313	+25	0
	Jay Hebert	74-76-82-81=313		300
	Bill Hyndman (a)	79-77-77-80=313		0
T56	Joe Campbell (a)	77-80-78-79=314	+26
T56	Ed Hopkins (a)	76-76-82-80=314	+26
T58	Don Bisplinghoff (a)	77-80-81-78=316	+28
	Don Fairfield	78-75-77-86=316		300
	Ed Meister (a)	78-78-84-76=316		0
T61	Joe Conrad (a)	76-79-81-81=317	+29	0
	Lionel Hebert	77-77-80-83=317		300
	Ernie Vossler	78-79-83-77=317		300
64	George Schneiter	77-80-82-79=318	+30	300
T65	Dick Chapman (a)	79-82-82-76=319	+31	0
	Dale Morey (a)	83-75-83-78=319		0
	Sam Parks Jr.	80-82-76-81=319		300
T68	Henry Cotton	77-83-81-80=321	+33	300
T68	Jim McCoy (a)	77-81-81-82=321	+33	0
70	Craig Wood (c)	76-80-78-88=322	+34	300
71	Denny Shute	82-79-89-74=324	+36	300
T72	Don Cherry (a)	79-81-81-84=325	+37	0
T72	Lawson Little	77-81-85-82=325	+37	300
74	Bill Booe (a)	82-80-87-77=326	+38	0
75	Johnny Revolta	84-81-79-84=328	+40	300
76	Horton Smith (c)	86-84-84-82=336	+48	300
77	Charles Kunkle (a)	78-82-85-95=340	+52	0
WD	Johnny Farrell	79-86-86=251	+35
	Moe Norman (a)	75-78=153	+9
	Billy Burke	80-80=160	+16
	Tony Manero	81-80=161	+17
	Fred McLeod	90-88=178	+34
	Jock Hutchison	83	+11
	George Sargent

Sources:^[7]^[8]

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
Burke	+2	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1
Venturi	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−4	−3	−2	−1	−1	E	+1	+1	+2	+2
Middlecoff	−3	−4	−4	−3	−1	−1	+1	+1	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+3	+3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

	Eagle		Birdie		Bogey		Double bogey

Source:^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b "Jack Burke Surprise Winner of Masters Golf". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 9, 1956. p. 18. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
^ "Venturi folds, steady Burke wins Masters". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. April 9, 1956. p. 4, part 2.
^ Drum, Bob (April 9, 1956). "Burke Master as Venturi folds". Pittsburgh Press. p. 24.
^ "Ken Venturi leads Masters with amateur record of 66". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. April 6, 1956. p. 16.
^ Wind, Herbert Warren (April 16, 1956). "And Then—Jackie Burke Took Charge". Sports Illustrated. p. 28. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
^ "Pros Baffled By 'Lost' Par". Pittsburgh Press. April 9, 1956. p. 24.
^ "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
^ "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
^ "Cards of the leaders". St. Petersburg Times. Florida. Associated Press. April 9, 1956. p. 16.

External links

Masters.com – Past winners and results
Augusta.com – 1956 Masters leaderboard and scorecards

[jbswomg-1] "Jack Burke Surprise Winner of Masters Golf". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. April 9, 1956. p. 18. Retrieved January 2, 2013.

[milsent9-2] "Venturi folds, steady Burke wins Masters". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. April 9, 1956. p. 4, part 2.

[bmavf-3] Drum, Bob (April 9, 1956). "Burke Master as Venturi folds". Pittsburgh Press. p. 24.

[kvlmwamr-4] "Ken Venturi leads Masters with amateur record of 66". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. April 6, 1956. p. 16.

[atjbtc-5] Wind, Herbert Warren (April 16, 1956). "And Then—Jackie Burke Took Charge". Sports Illustrated. p. 28. Retrieved March 30, 2016.

[6] "Pros Baffled By 'Lost' Par". Pittsburgh Press. April 9, 1956. p. 24.

[7] "Masters – Past Winners & Results". Augusta National Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2021.

[8] "Past results – Masters tournament". PGA Tour. Retrieved April 20, 2021.

[cothldrs-9] "Cards of the leaders". St. Petersburg Times. Florida. Associated Press. April 9, 1956. p. 16.

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