1956 Masters Tournament Explained

1956 Masters Tournament
Dates:	April 5–8, 1956
Location:	Augusta, Georgia
Course:	Augusta National Golf Club
Org:	Augusta National Golf Club
Tour:	PGA Tour
Par:	72
Field:	84 players
Cut:	None
Winners Share:	$6,000
Champion:	Jack Burke Jr.
Score:	289 (+1)
Previous:	1955
Next:	1957
Map:	USA#USA Georgia
Map Relief:	yes
Map Label:	Augusta National
Coordinates:	33.503°N -82.02°W

The 1956 Masters Tournament was the 20th Masters Tournament, held April 5–8 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

Jack Burke Jr. won his first major championship and only Masters, one stroke ahead of amateur Ken Venturi. It was the final Masters played without a 36-hole cut. CBS televised the third and fourth rounds of the tournament for the first time, and has done so every year since.

Burke shot a 71 (−1) on Sunday, one of only two players to break par in the final round; he rallied from a tournament record eight shots back to pass Venturi, who had led the entire tournament.^{[1] [2]} Then a 24-year-old amateur, Venturi opened with a first round 66 (−6), the best round to date at the Masters by an amateur.^[3] But on Sunday, he shot a 42 (+6) on the final nine holes to card a disappointing 80 (+8).^{[4] [5]} Burke's 289, along with Sam Snead in 1954 and Zach Johnson in 2007, remains the highest winning total in Masters history.

Burke was late arriving at the course for his final round on Sunday after going to church and had only fifteen minutes to warm up.^[6] He won a second (and final) major title in late July at the PGA Championship, in its penultimate edition as a match play competition.

Field

1. Masters championsJimmy Demaret, Claude Harmon, Ben Hogan (2,4,6,9,10), Cary Middlecoff (2,7,9,10,12), Byron Nelson (2,6,9), Henry Picard (6), Gene Sarazen (2,4,6), Horton Smith, Sam Snead (4,6,7,9,10), Craig Wood

• Ralph Guldahl (2) and Herman Keiser did not play.

2. U.S. Open championsJulius Boros (9,10), Billy Burke, Johnny Farrell, Jack Fleck (10), Ed Furgol (9), Lawson Little (3,5), Tony Manero, Lloyd Mangrum (9), Fred McLeod, Sam Parks Jr., George Sargent, Lew Worsham (12)

3. U.S. Amateur championsDick Chapman (5,a), Gene Littler (9,10), Billy Maxwell (9), Arnold Palmer (9,10), Skee Riegel (9), Sam Urzetta, Harvie Ward (5,8,9,10,11,a)

4. British Open championsJock Hutchison (6), Denny Shute (6)

5. British Amateur championsJoe Conrad (8,9,a), Frank Stranahan (9,10)

6. PGA championsWalter Burkemo (9), Doug Ford (7,10,12), Vic Ghezzi, Chick Harbert (7), Johnny Revolta, Jim Turnesa

7. Members of the U.S. 1955 Ryder Cup teamJerry Barber, Tommy Bolt (9,10,12), Jack Burke Jr. (9,10,12), Ted Kroll

• Marty Furgol and Chandler Harper (6) did not play.

8. Members of the U.S. 1955 Walker Cup teamRex Baxter (a), William C. Campbell (a), Don Cherry (a), Bruce Cudd (a), Jimmy Jackson (a), Ed Meister (a), Dale Morey (a), Billy Joe Patton (a)

• Dick Yost (a) did not play. Baxter and Meister were reserves for the team.

9. Top 24 players and ties from the 1955 Masters TournamentPete Cooper, Jay Hebert, Dick Mayer, Johnny Palmer, Bob Rosburg (10), Mike Souchak (10)

10. Top 24 players and ties from the 1955 U.S. OpenBob Harris, Fred Hawkins (12), Bud Holscher, Walker Inman, Shelley Mayfield (12), Al Mengert, George Schneiter, Ernie Vossler, Art Wall Jr.

• Smiley Quick did not play.

11. 1955 U.S. Amateur quarter-finalistsBill Booe (a), Joe Campbell (a), Ed Hopkins (a), Bill Hyndman (a), Charles Kunkle (a), Jim McCoy (a), Hillman Robbins (9,a)

12. 1955 PGA Championship quarter-finalistsDon Fairfield

13. One player, either amateur or professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-Masters championsKen Venturi (a)

14. One amateur, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Amateur championsDon Bisplinghoff (a)

15. One professional, not already qualified, selected by a ballot of ex-U.S. Open championsFred Haas

16. Two players, not already qualified, from a points list based on finishes in the winter part of the 1956 PGA TourDow Finsterwald, Lionel Hebert

17. Foreign invitationsAl Balding, Henry Cotton (4), Roberto De Vicenzo, Stan Leonard (9), Moe Norman (a)

• Numbers in brackets indicate categories that the player would have qualified under had they been American.

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 5, 1956

Place	Player	Score	To par
1		66	−6
2		67	−5
align=center rowspan=2	T3		68	−4
5		69	−3
align=center rowspan=3	T6		70	−2
Billy Joe Patton (a)
T9		71	−1

Second round

Friday, April 6, 1956

Place	Player	Score	To par
1		66-69=135	−9
2		67-72=139	−5
T3		68-74=142	−2
		72-70=142
		70-72=142
		68-74=142
T7		72-71=143	−1
		71-72=143
T9		71-73=144	E
		70-74=144

Third round

Saturday, April 7, 1956

Place	Player	Score	To par
1		66-69-75=210	−6
2		67-72-75=214	−2
3		70-72-75=217	+1
T4		72-71-75=218	+2
		72-74-72=218
T6		71-72-76=219	+3
		72-70-77=219
T8		68-74-78=220	+4
		71-73-76=220
		73-73-74=220

Final round

Sunday, April 8, 1956

Final leaderboard

Champion
Silver Cup winner (low amateur)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion

Top 10!Place!!Player!!Score!!To par!!Money (US$)

1		72-71-75-71=289	+1	6,000
2	Ken Venturi (a)	66-69-75-80=290	+2	0
3	Cary Middlecoff (c)	67-72-75-77=291	+3	3,750
T4		72-74-72-74=292	+4	2,325
Sam Snead (c)	73-76-72-71=292
T6		71-72-76-75=294	+6	1,350
	70-72-75-77=294
T8		68-74-78-76=296	+8	975
Ben Hogan (c)	69-78-74-75=296
	68-74-80-74=296

Leaderboard below the top 10
Place	Player	Score	To par	Money ($)
11		76-74-74-73=297	+9	825
T12		72-70-77-79=298	+10	735
	73-77-74-74=298
Billy Joe Patton (a)	70-76-79-73=298	0
	73-75-76-74=298	735
16		70-74-81-74=299	+11	675
T17		72-74-78-76=300	+12	660
	75-72-78-75=300
Hillman Robbins (a)	73-73-78-76=300	0
	73-73-74-80=300	660
21		73-75-74-79=301	+13	630
T22		72-75-79-76=302	+14	630
	74-74-74-80=302
T24		73-78-72-80=303	+15	480
	74-73-79-77=303
	74-75-78-76=303
	75-75-79-74=303
	74-72-79-78=303
T29		75-78-77-74=304	+16	300
	74-77-77-76=304
	78-72-75-79=304
	71-73-76-84=304
	73-75-74-82=304
T34	Jimmy Demaret (c)	73-75-76-81=305	+17	300
	75-75-81-74=305
	75-80-75-75=305
Harvie Ward (a)	76-70-81-78=305	0
	74-72-80-79=305	300
39	Byron Nelson (c)	73-75-78-80=306	+18	300
T40		73-76-78-80=307	+19	300
	73-79-77-78=307
	72-79-76-80=307
T43	William C. Campbell (a)	77-78-77-76=308	+20	0
	74-77-76-81=308	300
	75-74-81-78=308
T46	Rex Baxter (a)	76-79-79-75=309	+21	0
Claude Harmon (c)	77-79-76-77=309	300
Henry Picard (c)	75-76-82-76=309
T49		73-81-80-76=310	+22	300
Gene Sarazen (c)	77-75-78-80=310
T51	Jimmy Jackson (a)	77-74-76-84=311	+23	0
	75-75-79-82=311	300
T53	Bruce Cudd (a)	78-77-84-74=313	+25	0
	74-76-82-81=313	300
Bill Hyndman (a)	79-77-77-80=313	0
T56	Joe Campbell (a)	77-80-78-79=314	+26
Ed Hopkins (a)	76-76-82-80=314
T58	Don Bisplinghoff (a)	77-80-81-78=316	+28
	78-75-77-86=316	300
Ed Meister (a)	78-78-84-76=316	0
T61	Joe Conrad (a)	76-79-81-81=317	+29
	77-77-80-83=317	300
	78-79-83-77=317
64		77-80-82-79=318	+30	300
T65	Dick Chapman (a)	79-82-82-76=319	+31	0
Dale Morey (a)	83-75-83-78=319
	80-82-76-81=319	300
T68		77-83-81-80=321	+33	300
Jim McCoy (a)	77-81-81-82=321	0
70	Craig Wood (c)	76-80-78-88=322	+34	300
71		82-79-89-74=324	+36	300
T72	Don Cherry (a)	79-81-81-84=325	+37	0
	77-81-85-82=325	300
74	Bill Booe (a)	82-80-87-77=326	+38	0
75		84-81-79-84=328	+40	300
76	Horton Smith (c)	86-84-84-82=336	+48	300
77	Charles Kunkle (a)	78-82-85-95=340	+52	0
WD		79-86-86=251	+35
Moe Norman (a)	75-78=153	+9
	80-80=160	+16
	81-80=161	+17
	90-88=178	+34
	83	+11

Sources:^{[7] [8]}

Scorecard

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
Burke	+2	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+2	+1	+1	+2	+2	+2	+1	+1
Venturi	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−5	−4	−3	−2	−1	−1	E	+1	+1	+2	+2
Middlecoff	−3	−4	−4	−3	−1	−1	+1	+1	E	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+1	+3	+3

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Eagle

Birdie

Bogey

Double bogey

Triple bogey+ -->

Source:^[9]

External links

• Masters.com – Past winners and results
• Augusta.com  - 1956 Masters leaderboard and scorecards

Notes and References

1. News: Venturi folds, steady Burke wins Masters . Milwaukee Sentinel . Associated Press . April 9, 1956 . 4, part 2.
2. News: Burke Master as Venturi folds . Pittsburgh Press . Drum . Bob . April 9, 1956 . 24.
3. News: Ken Venturi leads Masters with amateur record of 66 . Spokesman-Review . Associated Press . April 6, 1956 . 16.
4. News: Jack Burke Surprise Winner of Masters Golf . . Associated Press . April 9, 1956 . 18 . January 2, 2013.
5. And Then—Jackie Burke Took Charge . . Wind . Herbert Warren . Herbert Warren Wind . April 16, 1956 . 28 . March 30, 2016.
6. News: Pros Baffled By 'Lost' Par . Pittsburgh Press . April 9, 1956 . 24.
7. Web site: Masters – Past Winners & Results . Augusta National Inc. . April 20, 2021.
8. Web site: Past results – Masters tournament . PGA Tour . April 20, 2021.
9. News: Cards of the leaders . St. Petersburg Times . Florida . Associated Press. April 9, 1956 . 16 .