1934 Masters Tournament Winner and Scores
Winner: Horton Smith, 284
Where it was played: Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia
Tournament dates: March 22-25, 1934
Leader after first round: Emmet French, Jimmy Hines and Horton Smith, 70
Leader after second round: Horton Smith, 142
Leader after third round: Horton Smith, 212
What Happened at the 1934 Masters Tournament
Who was the very first Masters champion? Horton Smith, who shared or held the lead after each round. Smith secured the win with a 20-foot birdie putt on the next-to-last hole, and edged runner-up Craig Wood by one stroke. While the hole that winning putt happened on was the 17th in 1934, today it is the 8th hole, because when the tournament debuted its nines were reversed: the front nine then is today's back nine; the back nine then is today's front nine.Tournament co-founder Bobby Jones finished tied for 13th. It was Jones' first competitive tournament appearance since the 1930 U.S. Amateur, where he completed the Grand Slam and after which he retired from competition. He was talked into playing here by co-founder Clifford Roberts, who knew that Jones playing would guarantee major press coverage of the tournament — and of the new golf club for which they were trying to sell memberships. And it worked: Many of the news articles about the early rounds focused on Jones' play. (Jones played in The Masters 12 times total.)
Ralph Stonehouse played the first shot in Masters history and finished 16th. Ross Somerville made the first hole-in-one in Masters history on the 16th hole during the second round. Charlie Yates was The Masters' first low amateur. This was the only Masters played entirely in March (one other Masters started in March).
Winner Smith went on to win the 1936 Masters as well, making him the tournament's first two-time champion. Runner-up Wood finished second again at the 1935 Masters before winning the tournament in 1941.
The Masters was so new in 1934 that it wasn't even officially named "The Masters." Roberts wanted from the start to use that name for the event, but Jones thought the name too presumptuous. So the very first Masters (and several more) was called the "Augusta National Invitation Tournament." Although the golfers and some media informally referred to the tournament as "The Masters" all along, it didn't officially take that name until 1939.
1934 Masters Final Scores
| Horton Smith | 70-72-70-72—284 |
| Craig Wood | 71-74-69-71—285 |
| Billy Burke | 72-71-70-73—286 |
| Paul Runyan | 74-71-70-71—286 |
| Ed Dudley | 74-69-71-74—288 |
| Willie MacFarlane | 74-73-70-74—291 |
| Al Espinosa | 75-70-75-72—292 |
| Jimmy Hines | 70-74-74-74—292 |
| Harold McSpaden | 77-74-72-69—292 |
| Macdonald Smith | 74-70-74-74—292 |
| Mortie Dutra | 74-75-71-73—293 |
| Al Waltrous | 74-74-71-74—293 |
| Walter Hagen | 71-76-70-77—294 |
| Bobby Jones | 76-74-72-72—294 |
| Denny Shute | 73-73-76-72—294 |
| Leo Diegel | 73-72-74-76—295 |
| Ralph Stonehouse | 74-70-75-76—295 |
| Ky Laffoon | 72-79-72-73—296 |
| Johnny Revolta | 75-72-75-74—296 |
| Bill Schwartz | 75-72-71-78—296 |
| Johnny Golden | 71-75-74-77—297 |
| a-Charlie Yates | 76-72-77-72—297 |
| a-Johnny Dawson | 74-73-76-75—298 |
| Henry Picard | 71-76-75-76—298 |
| Henry Ciuci | 74-73-74-78—299 |
| Tom Creavy | 74-73-80-72—299 |
| Vic Ghezzi | 77-74-74-74—299 |
| Bobby Cruickshank | 74-74-80-72—300 |
| Jim Foulis | 78-74-76-72—300 |
| Mike Turnesa | 75-74-77-74—300 |
| Charles Lacey | 74-73-80-74—301 |
| John Kinder | 77-76-74-76—303 |
| Phil Perkins | 74-76-76-78—304 |
| a-George Dunlap | 76-75-78-77—306 |
| Joe Turnesa | 75-75-77-79—306 |
| Johnny Farrell | 77-80-78-72—307 |
| Joe Paletti | 73-79-75-80—307 |
| Errie Ball | 74-75-74-86—309 |
| Abe Espinosa | 76-77-75-81—309 |
| Gene Kunes | 80-76-78-75—309 |
| David Ogilvie | 79-75-77-78—309 |
| Tom Kerrigan | 76-78-80-79—310 |
| George Kerrigan | 84-74-76-77—311 |
| a-Ross Somerville | 82-78-74-77—311 |
| a-Willie Turnesa | 75-78-80-79—312 |
| Sam Parks Jr. | 79-81-79-74—313 |
| John Perelli | 79-77-79-78—313 |
| W.D. Fondren | 79-79-74-83—315 |
| a-Billy Howell | 76-80-83-76—315 |
| Fred McLeod | 80-81-79-76—316 |
| George Sargent | 80-76-82-78—316 |
| Charles Hall | 79-81-77-80—317 |
| George Jacobus | 79-80-77-81—317 |
| a-Walter Emery | 77-76-82-84—319 |
| a-Sam Perry | 77-81-80-81—319 |
| Jim Vincent | 80-80-77-82—319 |
| Willie Dow | 81-79-80-80—320 |
| a-Jess Sweetser | 80-82-81-78—321 |
| a-C.T. Wilson | 80-83-80-79—322 |
| a-Bayard Mitchell | 84-79-84-85—332 |
| Cyril Walker | 88-85-81-80—334 |
Next: 1935 Masters