Virtual Masters: Who's left amidst the top at the finish?

Mickelson survives a stretch battle with Demaret and Player to win the all-time masters tournament.

At the decisive moment, the championship battle for the virtual Masters came down to Jimmy Demaret’s six-foot par putt on the 72nd green. When it curled under the cup and stopped two inches to the left, Phil Mickelson had the ultimate Green Jacket.

Mickelson, Demaret, and third-round leader Gary Player battled start-to-finish Sunday, the left-handed three-time Masters champion shooting 65 to take the title by that single stroke at -18 270. Demaret’s par miss left him at 271, one stroke ahead of Player in third

First-round leader Ben Hogan doggedly chased those leaders most of the day Sunday but was never able to make up ground on them. He finished fourth at 273. Jack Nicklaus and Horton Smith tied for fifth at 274.

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At various points on Sunday, four players either held the lead outright or shared it. With the possible exception of Demaret, none experienced as sudden an unexpected fall as Hogan, who began play three strokes behind Player, but triple-bogeyed the first hole. When Player birdied the first, Hogan found himself seven out of the lead and functionally dead.

He spent the remainder of the round futilely trying to overcome that early disaster, at one point birdying seven holes in a 12-hole stretch. It was a noble effort, lifting him within a stroke of Demaret’s lead with three holes to play. But Hogan bogeyed 18 and finished third, three back.

Nicklaus began four off the lead, strung three straight birdies between five and seven, and was within one shot at the turn. But a bogey at the par-three 13th sabotaged his momentum and he wound up in a tie with Smith for fourth.

The 1934 and 1936 Masters champion used an early surge to make a run at the lead. Smith caught Player with a birdie at the third hole and passed him with a five-foot birdie putt at the par three 4th.

He held that lead until bogeying No. 9, and managed no better than a 37 back nine for a disappointing 74.

That reduced the issue to the three most stable forces Sunday, Player, Mickelson, and Demaret.

Player birdied the first hole, extending his lead to three strokes. But Mickelson eagled the second and Demaret birdied it, moving within one and two strokes of Player respectively. Demaret also birdied the third hole, and he followed a bogey at the fourth with birdies at four and six to move within a stroke of Smith.

When Smith bogeyed the 9th hole to drop to -15, Demaret’s birdie moved him into sole possession of the lead. All three contenders birdied the 11th, leaving Demaret at -17 one up on Smith and two ahead of Mickelson.

That status held until 14, when Mickelson leveraged a twisting 30-footer into a birdie to move him to -16, one behind Demaret.

Player, who to that point had strung seven consecutive pars since birdieing the seventh, managed a badly needed birdie at 15 to climb within two of Demaret and one of Mickelson. But Mickelson and Demaret both birdied 16. That functionally finished Player, who parred in to claim solo third.

Trailing Demaret by a stroke, Mickelson dropped his approach within six feet at the par four 17 and then drained the birdie putt to send both players to the final tee dead even at -18. Both hit the fairway, but while Mickelson’s approach found the center of the green 15 feet above the hole, Demaret pushed his iron into the right greenside bunker.

From there Demaret blasted out within six feet, then watched Mickelson cajole his birdie effort within easy tap-in range. When Demaret’s par putt dodged low and left of the cup, Mickelson tapped in for the victory.

Here are the leaders’ cards

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Par 4 5 4 3 4 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 5 4 5 3 4 4 — 72

Mickelson 3 3 4 3 4 4 3 5 4 3 4 3 5 3 5 2 3 4 – 65

Demaret 4 4 3 4 3 3 3 5 3 3 4 3 5 4 5 2 4 5 – 67

Player 3 5 4 4 4 3 3 5 4 4 4 3 5 4 4 3 4 4 –70

Hogan 7 5 4 3 3 3 3 5 4 3 3 2 4 4 3 3 4 5 – 68

Nicklaus 4 5 4 3 3 2 3 5 3 4 4 4 5 4 5 2 4 4 – 68

Smith 4 3 3 2 4 3 4 5 5 3 4 3 5 5 5 4 4 4 – 70

The scores.

Phil Mickelson 66-70-69-65-270 -18

Jimmy Demaret 67-67-70-67-271 -17

Gary Player 69-65-68-70-272 -16

Ben Hogan 64-70-71-68-273 -15

Jack Nicklaus 69-69-68-68-274 -14

Horton Smith 65-71-68-70-274 -14

Henry Picard 67-72-69-68-276 -12

Arnold Palmer 67-70-75-65-277 -11

Vijay Singh 69-70-70-68-277 -11

Bob Goalby 66-67-75-69-277 -11

Ralph Guldahl 66-70-69-73-278 -11

Fred Couples 69-70-71-68-278 -10

Tiger Woods 70-68-70-72-280 -8

Ray Floyd 71-68-69-73-281 -7

Herman Keiser 74-67-71-69-281 -7

Miguel Angel Cabrera 76-74-65-66-281 -7

Byron Nelson 67-72-69-74-282 -6

Cary Middlecoff 66-72-74-70-282 -6

Fuzzy Zoeller 71-75-67-69-282 -6

Jordan Spieth 72-71-68-72-283 -5

Adam Scott 69-68-75-71-283 -4

Larry Mize 72-69-74-69-284 -4

Tom Watson 71-68-72-74-285 -3

Ian Woosnam 72-67-74-77-290 -3

Jose Maria Olazabal 78-69-70-69-286 -2

Nick Faldo 73-68-70-76-287 -1

Sergio Garcia 74-70-71-78-287 -1

Charl Schwartzel 72-70-72-73-287 -1

Ben Crenshaw 72-70-70-76-288 E

Craig Wood 79-71-70-68-288 E

Gene Sarazen 74-74-71-69-288 E

Seve Ballesteros 71-74-71-72-288 E

Danny Willett 72-79-71-66-288 E

Doug Ford 72-74-68-75-289 +1

Bernhard Langer 79-66-70-74-289 +1

Zach Johnson 72-73-73-72-290 +2

Billy Casper 73-76-70-71-290 +2

Sam Snead 65-74-77-75-291 +3

Gay Brewer 69-75-75-72-291 +3

Patrick Reed 75-79-72-66-292 +4

Claude Harmon 74-67-74-77-292 +4

Mark O’Meara 70-75-71-77-293 +5

George Archer 70-74-74-76-294 +6

Mike Weir 75-69-78-73-295 +7

Craig Stadler 74-71-75-75-295 +7

Sandy Lyle 71-76-77-71-295 +7

Jack Burke Jr. 73-75-73-76-297 +9

Art Wall Jr. 75-74-75-74-298 +10

Trevor Immelman 80-74-72-72-298 +10

Tommy Aaron 68-73-78-83-302 +14

Bubba Watson 79-77-77-73-306 +18

Charles Coody 71-78-72-87-308 +20

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Virtual Masters: Who’s left amidst the top at the finish?

By Bill Felber | Apr 12, 2020

Mickelson survives a stretch battle with Demaret and Player to win the all-time masters tournament.

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