1981 Masters Tournament Winner and Scores
The 1981 Masters Tournament was the 45th time this major championship was played. Tom Watson outlasted Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus to win this tournament for the second time.
Winner: Tom Watson, 280
Where it was played: Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia
Tournament dates: April 9-12, 1981
Leader after first round: Johnny Miller, Curtis Strange, Lon Hinkle and Greg Norman, 69
Leader after second round: Jack Nicklaus, 135
Leader after third round: Tom Watson, 209
What Happened in the 1981 Masters Tournament
Tom Watson claimed his second Green Jacket as Masters champion in 1981, holding off Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus to win by two strokes. It was Watson's fifth major championship victory and his 26th overall PGA Tour win. He also won the 1977 Masters.Nicklaus had a 4-stroke lead at the halfway point after scoring 65 in the second round. But he shot 75 in Round 3. Watson began the final round with a 1-stroke lead over Nicklaus, and Nicklaus never caught him. Nicklaus fell three behind with a bogey on the seventh hole, and was never closer than the final margin of two after that.
Miller began the final round from farther back, four shots behind Watson, and rallied with a 68. And when Miller birdied the 17th hole, he pulled within one stroke of Watson, who was playing the 14th at the time. But Watson then birdied the 15th and parred out from there.
John Mahaffey also got within one stroke of Watson, at the turn, but finished with three consecutive bogeys.
For Nicklaus, it was his fourth time finishing as runner-up at Augusta. That tied Nicklaus with Ben Hogan and Tom Weiskopf for most second-place finishes at The Masters. (It was Miller's third runner-up finish in The Masters.)
The 1981 Masters was the first one played on bentgrass greens. Previously, Augusta had featured bermudagrass, but the club resodded its greens with bentgrass in the fall of 1980.
This was the last Masters tournament in which 3-time winner Sam Snead completed play without withdrawing; he missed the cut. This was the first Masters played by Greg Norman, and he made it a good one, finishing fourth after sharing the first-round lead.
1981 Masters Final Scores
| Tom Watson | 71-68-70-71—280 |
| Johnny Miller | 69-72-73-68—282 |
| Jack Nicklaus | 70-65-75-72—282 |
| Greg Norman | 69-70-72-72—283 |
| Tom Kite | 74-72-70-68—284 |
| Jerry Pate | 71-72-71-70—284 |
| David Graham | 70-70-74-71—285 |
| Ben Crenshaw | 71-72-70-73—286 |
| Raymond Floyd | 75-71-71-69—286 |
| John Mahaffey | 72-71-69-74—286 |
| George Archer | 74-70-72-71—287 |
| Hubert Green | 70-70-74-73—287 |
| Peter Jacobsen | 71-70-72-74—287 |
| Bruce Lietzke | 72-67-73-75—287 |
| Gay Brewer | 75-68-71-74—288 |
| Bob Gilder | 72-75-69-72—288 |
| Gary Player | 73-73-71-71—288 |
| Jim Simons | 70-75-71-72—288 |
| Don Pooley | 71-75-72-71—289 |
| Curtis Strange | 69-79-70-71—289 |
| John Cook | 70-71-72-77—290 |
| Gil Morgan | 74-73-70-73—290 |
| Calvin Peete | 75-70-71-74—290 |
| Lanny Wadkins | 72-71-71-76—290 |
| Jim Colbert | 73-68-74-76—291 |
| Hale Irwin | 73-74-70-74—291 |
| Wayne Levi | 72-71-73-75—291 |
| Gibby Gilbert | 71-71-76-74—292 |
| Lon Hinkle | 69-70-74-79—292 |
| Sandy Lyle | 73-70-76-73—292 |
| Bruce Devlin | 74-72-72-75—293 |
| Jay Haas | 75-71-72-75—293 |
| Jack Renner | 73-72-73-75—293 |
| David Stockton | 72-72-70-79—293 |
| a-Jay Sigel | 72-75-75-72—294 |
| Mike Sullivan | 72-74-74-74—294 |
| Keith Fergus | 76-72-75-72—295 |
| Scott Hoch | 73-70-75-77—295 |
| Bill Rogers | 76-72-75-72—295 |
| Charles Coody | 74-71-75-76—296 |
| a-Robert Lewis | 77-70-73-76—296 |
| Howard Twitty | 75-72-74-75—296 |
| Craig Stadler | 76-71-73-77—297 |
| Fuzzy Zoeller | 77-70-78-72—297 |
| Isao Aoki | 70-76-77-77—300 |
| Norio Suzuki | 74-74-75-77—300 |
| a-Jim Holtgrieve | 70-77-79-75—301 |
| Tommy Aaron | 77-71-76-79—303 |
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