1991

3-way tie broken on 18th hole

By David Westin
Staff Writer

Augusta, Ga., Monday, April 15, 1991 -- Ian Woosnam of Wales, outdueling opponents inside the ropes and silencing critics on the outside, won the 55th Masters Tournament with a roundabout par on the 72nd hole Sunday afternoon at the Augusta National Golf Club.

Woosnam, 33, hammered out an even-par 72 to prevail by one shot and win his first major championship.

The runner-up also was from Europe - Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal, 25.

Americans Tom Watson, Steve Pate, Ben Crenshaw and Lanny Wadkins tied for third place, two shots behind the 5-foot-4'; Woosnam.

Woosnam, of Owestry, Wales, is the fourth straight European to win the Masters and the sixth in the last nine years.

``I guess they're better players,'' said Watson of the Europeans, who have won the last two Ryder Cup matches from the Americans.

``Maybe Tom is right, I don't know,'' said Woosnam, who as a teen-ager patterned his golf swing after that of Watson, a five-time British Open champion.

Woosnam, a winner of 27 tournaments worldwide and now two in the last month in the United States, solidified his No. 1 ranking in the world of golf with the victory.

``I had said I felt I was the best player in the world,'' said Woosnam. ``I felt I had to prove what I had said.''

Woosnam collected $243,000 of the Masters record $1.35 million purse.

Woosnam has won two of the four tournaments he has played in the United States this year. Though he's a member of the European Tour, Woosnam has won $476,683 on the PGA Tour this season.

With a par on No. 18, Olazabal and Watson would have tied Woosnam after 72 holes. But Olazabal, playing in the group ahead of the Woosnam-Watson pairing, found two bunkers on the par-4 hole, then missed a 45-foot par putt. He ended up shooting a 70 that featured six birdies and four bogeys.

``I would love to hit the tee shot on the 18th again,'' said Olazabal, whose hooked tee shot landed in a gaping faraway bunker.

In his own words, Watson, 41 and a two-time Masters champion ``shoved'' his drive into the right woods. His second shot on the hole found the same left, greenside bunker that Olazabal had visited minutes earlier.

Like the Spaniard, Watson could not save par. In fact, he made double-bogey, three-putting from 30 feet. Watson had to settle for 73 despite eagles on the two par 5s on the back nine. Watson, whose putter has run hot and cold this week, had 3-putt greens Sunday and a double-bogey on No. 12, where he found the water.

I played well enough to have a chance to win the tournament on the 18th, and I didn't do it,'' said Watson.

Pate, with the day's low round, a 65, had finished more than an hour before the leaders reached the 18th tee. Pate had birdied No. 18, as did Wadkins, who shot a 71. Crenshaw fired a 68.

Woosnam, who hit after Watson off the No. 18 tee, flew the bunkers on the left side of the fairway. After personally directing the gallery blocking his approach shot to the 18th, Woosnam hit an 8-iron that came up short of the green, landing on the left-front fringe. Woosnam elected to putt his next shot, leaving him an 8-footer for par and the victory. He knocked it in the center of the hole.

``You dream of holing a putt on the last hole to win the Masters,'' said Woosnam, making his fourth Masters appearance. ``The putt will be in my memory for a long time.''

In what Woosnam called ``a tough day,'' he became the first Welshman to win the Masters. Though his final round was the highest final round by a winner since Craig Stadler's 73 in 1982, his winning total of 11-under-par 277 was the lowest winning score since Crenshaw's 277 in 1984.

``To shoot level par and win it, I feel a little lucky,'' said Woosnam. ``All I had in mind was to play steady. I had a lot of people come charge at me, fall back and come charging back.''

``I'm not surprised he won it with an even-par final round,'' said Olazabal. ``There is a lot of pressure in the last round.''

``Ian's a winner,'' said Watson. ``He proved he can win on the European Tour and now on our tour. He's a nice person, good, tough. He's a tough competitor. And he's young and strong.''

Woosnam was hardly the crowd favorite, despite the fact he was the shortest golfer in the field and one of the longest drivers of the ball. Watson, seeking to end the European dominance in this tournament, was the people's choice.

Woosnam said hecklers followed him throughout the day.

``There were a few people out there trying to give me a hard time and trying to get to me - they were saying, `you know, this isn't a links course, this is Augusta,''' said Woosnam. ``I just tried to take that in my stride and try to play my own game.''

Watson, in a show of sportsmanship, took Woosnam aside and ``told him a story,'' as Watson put it.

Though Watson declined to reveal what he told Woosnam, the Welshman didn't have any reservations.

``He told me (former PGA Tour pro) Don January used to say (negative) things to him and he'd turn around and say, `thank you very much, thank you very much,''' said Woosnam. ``On the No. 14 tee, there was a guy there shouting a little bit and saying all these things. I hit my drive right down the middle and I turned around and said, `thank you very much.'''

Though Woosnam called the heckling bad sportsmanship, he said it wasn't unexpected.

``Europeans have won this tournament for the last four years now,'' said Woosnam. ``Everybody wants to see an American win it at the moment and you're going to get a few biased people. You've got to expect that.''

Woosnam said the heckling helped him more than it hurt him.

``The more angry I get, the better I play,'' said Woosnam. ``It made me more determined to play well and get the people on my side.''

Woosnam, the leader by one shot over Watson after 54 holes, never lost the lead Sunday.