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First-timer Zoeller wins Masters in 3-way playoff
By Robert Eubanks
Chronicle Sports Editor
Augusta, Ga., Monday, April 16, 1979 -- The new playoff format had been implemented quicker and worked far better than Masters Tournament officials ever dreamed.
Frank Urban Zoeller Jr. thought it was time to end the show. Darkness and the tricky, 155-yard 12th hole loomed at the Augusta National Golf Club.
``I thought about the Masters, that I could win. I said if I don't make it, we have to play No. 12, which I don't want to do. I'm three over par there this week.''
So, on the 445-yard, par 4 11th hole, Fuzzy Zoeller rolled in an 8-foot putt late Easter Sunday afternoon to beat a bitterly disappointed Ed Sneed and 1977 Masters champion Tom Watson in the first sudden death playoff in the 43-year history of the tournament.
He threw his Ping Zing putter into the air, he cared not where - even if it zonked him on the head - and leaped, then running away with fists clinched in a victory salute.
In so doing, the 28-year-old native of New Albany, Ind., became the first man to win on his initial trip since double-eagle man Gene Sarazen did it in 1935, the tournament's second year.
``I don't think I'll notice it until tomorrow. I'm on Cloud 9 and I guess I'll be up there for three or four weeks. I just wish my wife could be here,'' Zoeller said.
His wife, Dianne, is expecting their first child in the next three weeks and he expressed fear the excitement would make it come a week early.
The sudden death playoff was needed when Ed Sneed, who had carried a 5-shot lead into the final round, soared to a 76 and a tie at 280 with Zoeller (70) and Watson (71).
It seemed poetic justice that the tournament should be decided in the year the National decided to switch to sudden death playoff start from the first to the 10th hole.
The Masters, which had needed six other playoffs, had gone to sudden death in 1976. But the change was made because officials felt the back nine provided better viewing opportunities and a better test for participants.
Amen Corner, consisting of 10, 11 and 12, traditionally decides the tournament. And 12 is dangerous, especially under the gusty, windy conditions experienced Sunday.
Sneed couldn't believe it as he repeatedly saved par through the ``Corner,'' skirted disaster for birdie and then bogeyed the final three holes of the regulation round.
``I'm extremely disappointed,'' said Sneed, who has won only three tournaments in 11 years on the tour. ``I can't explain it. I'll just have to put it out of my mind but it won't be easy. You don't get too many chances to win a big tournament. I never felt like I lost control. I wanted to win but I didn't win it.''
Although Watson wore that Green Coat which is a reminder of his 1977 Masters victory, he was disappointed because he tied for second, a shot back, for the second straight year.
``I know what it means to lose with a lead. I had a 5-shot lead at the PGA and shot a 73 at Oakmont when I thought would win the tournament (John Mahaffey won),'' Watson said. ``The past is past. You can't dwell on it. You have to forget and move on.''
Until the playoff produced two holes of pinpoint golf and intense drama, it was a case of some men trying, others dying and some near crying as the feisty winds changed the National from a lovable lamb into a tigress.
The field, which had used the slow, soft greens as dart boards for three days, suddenly found itself facing a course playing up to its famed character.
Some of the chasers, like Craig Stadler (76-285), Bruce Lietzke (74-284), Lanny Wadkins (73-285), Leonard Thompson (74-285), Miller Barber (76-287) and 1976 winner Ray Floyd (77-288), were put in full retreat.
Stadler was eight under and only two shots back through six but dropped six strokes over an eight-hole span that included an eagle, two double bogeys and four bogeys.
A few, like 5-time champion Jack Nicklaus (69-281) and Tom Kite (72-283) challenged, but fell back at the end.
Nicklaus, who made a gallant par with a foot in the pond on 15, fell from eight to seven under par and a chance to tie when he zinged a shot from off the fairway over the green en route to a bogey on 17.
Kite was seven under for the tournament until he put one in the water and double-bogeyed on 16.
Defending champion Gary Player ended with 71 for par 288, typically bemoaning the fact that he played well but couldn't sink a putt. U.S. Open champion Andy North closed with a 69 for 287.
Low amateur was Bobby Clampett of Brigham Young, who shot a 73 and tied for 23rd at 290. By finishing in the top 24, he earned a return invitation.
Zoeller, who got into this event off his first professional victory in the San Diego Open earlier this year, took time out to applaud Sneed's great sand shot on the second playoff hole and then watched with a blank face as the determined Watson tried and missed on an 18-foot birdie putt.
Then it was his turn and he made it.
On the first playoff hole, the 485-yard, par 4 10th, they had put their three drives so near each other in the gully that a blanket would have covered them.
Then they surrounded the hole, Sneed zinging a 185-yard 6-iron, Watson using a 7-iron from 170 yards and Zoeller an 8-iron from 163 yards.
Zoeller putted first but the ball went around the hole. After a flagstick measurement by Hord Hardin, co-chairman of the tournament committee, Sneed had his 12-foot putt slide off to the right.
Watson then pushed his 12-footer to the right and they moved off to the 445-yard par 4 11th.
Sneed, approaching first, tried to crush a 5-iron for his 185-yard shot but hit it right over the flag into the trap. Watson followed with a 6-iron 185 yards to 18 feet of the hole. Then Zoeller rapped an 8-iron shot which the wind neatly carried within eight feet of the hole, setting up those final, dramatic minutes.
It had been a struggle throughout the afternoon.
There was Sneed's own shaky play that opened the gates.
And finally, there were Watson and Zoeller, in the confines of the white colonial clubhouse, safely perched there with an 8-under-par total while he tried so desperately to get it home.
After teetering on the brink of collapse and going 3 over par through the first 10 holes, Sneed appeared to right himself.
He made a 6- to 8-foot par putt on the 11th hole, saved par from a bunker on the 12th, birdied the 13th from four feet, saved par with a 10-footer on the next one and then appeared to have it wrapped up with an 8- to 10-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole.
That put him three in front with three holes to play.
But he 3-putted for bogey on the 16th. He was over the green on No. 17, chipped back to four feet and missed the putt. Another bogey. Now his lead was down to a single shot with only the 18th hole, uphill to a two-level green left between him and victory.
He drove the fairway but pushed his approach into an almost impossible position, resting against the rough grass on the lip of a bunker.
His chip was about as good as it could be, trickling some eight feet below the cup.
But Sneed couldn't get it in the hole. It stopped, hanging on the edge while he stared in a frustration only he could know.
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