The final round of the Masters (April 12-15) ended with three men tied at 280 -- Sam Snead, Tom Watson, and Fuzzy Zoeller. All three golfers parred the first playoff hole, then Zoeller won the Green Jacket with a birdie on the second playoff hole. Zoeller became the first Masters rookie to win the tournament since Gene Sarazen in 1935, as well as the first sudden-death playoff winner in Masters history.

Fuzzy Zoeller celebrates his Masters win

Hale Irwin had a three-stroke lead over Tom Weiskopf heading into the final round of the U.S. Open (Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, June 14-17). Neither Irwin nor Weiskopf played well on the final 18 holes, shooting 75 and 76, respectively, but no other players were close enough to challenge for the lead and Irwin wound up with his second U.S. Open win.

Lee Trevino won the Canadian Open (Glenn Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario, ended June 24) .

Jerilyn Britz finished two strokes ahead of Debbie Massey and Sandra Palmer to win her first LPGA Tour event, the U.S. Women's Open (Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Connecticut, July 12-15).

Jerilyn Britz

Despite missing eight of nine fairways when using his driver, Seve Ballesteros ended the final round of the British Open (Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England, July 18-21) with a 70 to win his first major championship, one stroke ahead of Ben Crenshaw and two strokes ahead of Jack Nicklaus.

David Graham reached the 72nd hole of the PGA Championship (Oakland Hills Country Club at Bloomfield, Michigan, August 2-5) with a two-stroke lead, but then recorded a double-bogey. Despite the bad hole, he ended the final round with a 65, and tied with Ben Crenshaw. It took three sudden-death playoff holes, but Graham secured his first major title.

SEE ALSO
In the Year 1979
Lee Trevino

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This page was last updated on September 25, 2017.