Sergio García defeated Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff, after they both completed the 72 holes in nine-under-par. This was his first major title, which came in his 74th attempt. Previously, García had 22 top-ten finishes in majors (including three at the Masters, the best a tie for fourth in 2004). He was the first Spaniard to win at Augusta in eighteen years, since José María Olazábalin 1999.[1]
The Masters has the smallest field of the four major championships. Officially, the Masters remains an invitation event, but there is a set of qualifying criteria that determines who is included in the field. Each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, with other categories in which he qualified shown in parentheses.[2]
Golfers who qualify based solely on their performance in amateur tournaments (categories 7–11) must remain amateurs on the starting day of the tournament to be eligible to play.
16. Winners of PGA Tour events that award a full-point allocation for the FedEx Cup, between the 2016 Masters Tournament and the 2017 Masters Tournament
Heavy rain forced the cancellation of the Par-3 contest for the first time in its history. Mike Weir recorded the only hole-in-one before play was suspended.[5]
Round summaries
First round
Thursday, April 6, 2017
After being one-over after five holes, Charley Hoffman birdied eight of his next twelve holes for 65 (−7). His four-stroke advantage after the first round was the largest at the Masters since 1955.[6][7]
Charley Hoffman fell back to the pack with 75 and into a four-way tie for the lead at 140 (−4).Rickie Fowler had four birdies and an eagle on his way to a round of 67 (−5), the lowest score of the round, and tied for the lead along with Sergio García and Thomas Pieters.[8] García was originally credited with a triple-bogey seven on the 10th, but his score was later corrected to a five. Fifteen players were within five shots of the lead, including past champions Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, and Jordan Spieth.[9] Amateur Stewart Hagestad became the first U.S. Mid-Amateur champion to make the cut at the Masters since the winner of that tournament was granted entry in 1989.[10]
Justin Rose birdied five of his final seven holes for 67 (−5), the lowest of the round, and tied Sergio García for the lead. Charley Hoffman held solo possession of the lead before a bogey at 14 and double-bogey at 16 after hitting his tee shot in the water, finishing two shots behind.[11]Jordan Spieth was five-under on his round and within a shot of the lead until a bogey at 18 tied him with Hoffman.[12]
Sergio García birdied two of his first three holes to open up a three-shot lead. Starting at the 6th, Justin Rose recorded three consecutive birdies to tie; with bogeys by García at the 10th and 11th, Rose went ahead by two shots. At the 13th, García was forced to take a drop when his tee shot found the trees, but was able to get up and down to save par while Rose missed his birdie attempt.[13] García made birdie at the 14th to get within one and hit his approach to the par-5 15th to fourteen feet (4.3 m). After converting the eagle attempt, he once again tied Rose, who made birdie. On the par-3 16th, both hit approaches to within eight feet (2.4 m), and Rose made his birdie from 7 feet, while García missed his gimme three-footer. At the 17th, however, Rose found the greenside bunker and suffered a bogey while Garcia two-putted for par, once again tying for the lead heading to the last hole. Rose missed a seven-footer for birdie, while García missed from three feet (0.91 m) to win the championship, forcing a sudden-death playoff.
Charl Schwartzel, the 2011 champion, had four birdies on the back-nine for 68 (−4) and third place, three shots behind García and Rose.[14]Thomas Pieters also shot 68 after making four straight birdies on holes 12–15 and tied for fourth place. Matt Kuchar birdied three consecutive holes on his final nine, then made a hole-in-one at 16 to equal the lowest score of the round with 67 and tied Pieters. Rickie Fowler began the round a shot out of the lead, but seven bogeys yielded a 76 (+4) and dropped him to eleventh, while 2015 champion Jordan Spieth, two back at the start of the round, shot 75 and tied Fowler.[15][16] (He was six-over for the round and then birdied three of the last four.) Charley Hoffman carded 41 on the final nine for 78 and tied for 22nd place.
After García took his drop on 13, some TV viewers reported the possibility that he caused his ball to move while removing some pine straw near his ball. Prior to the conclusion of the round Masters Officials determined there was no penalty.[17] Per Rule 18-2 (Decision 18/4) even if high definition TV camera evidence shows movement, there is no penalty if it is deemed that the movement was not reasonably discernible to the naked eye at the time.[18]
The sudden-death playoff began at the par four 18th; Rose's drive found the trees and he was forced to chip out. García's drive was in the fairway and he hit his approach to twelve feet (3.7 m), while Rose was fourteen feet (4.3 m) away for par.[21] Rose missed the putt, giving García two putts to win the championship, but he converted the birdie to win his first major championship. The win came in García's 19th Masters appearance and 74th major, the most by any player before their first title.[22]
