The Masters: Ranking the 25 most exceptional performances at Augusta
By Bill Felber
3: Raymond Floyd, 1976 Masters, 271 (-17), Std. Deviation -3.12
Raymond Floyd had a reputation as a solid player with a major championship – the 1969 PGA – to his credit. Still he arrived at Augusta viewed generally as a faceless member of a pack led by Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson.
That changed over Masters weekend. Floyd blew away the field in stunningly convincing fashion, winning by eight strokes and never trailing. He became only the fourth player – following Craig Wood in 1941, Arnold Palmer in 1960 and Jack Nicklaus in 1972 – to hold the sole lead after all four rounds.
Floyd did it by mastering Augusta’s par 5s. For the week, he made 12 birdies and an eagle on the 16 par 5s, playing them 14 under par and recording almost all of his record -17 advantage on those holes.
Floyd actually won this tournament early, shooting 65-66 the first two rounds to lead Nicklaus by five strokes. “If we took Raymond’s name off the board, we might have a helluva tournament,” Larry Ziegler told reporters following that day’s play.
By comparison, his 70-70 weekend finish was mundane…but it never allowed anybody to make a run at him. On Sunday, leading Nicklaus by eight as play opened, Floyd even eased back on his aggression at the par 5s, accepting easy pars at the 2nd, 8th and 13th holes. Still, he led by as much as nine early in the round, by eight (over Ziegler) at the turn and by 10 when he birdied the par 3 12th.
A final birdie at the par 5 15th provided the coup de grace, expanding his advantage over eventual runner-up Ben Crenshaw to eight.