The 1981 Masters Tournament was the 45th Masters Tournament, held April 9–12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Tom Watson won his second green jacket and fifth major title by two strokes over Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller. Five-time champion Nicklaus shot a bogey-free 65 on Friday and led by four strokes after 36 holes, but a 75 on Saturday put him a stroke behind Watson entering the final round. It was the fourth runner-up finish for Nicklaus at the Masters and the third for Miller. Nicklaus won his sixth Masters five years later in 1986 at age 46. Defending champion Seve Ballesteros shot 154 (+10) and missed the cut by six strokes; he also missed the cut as defending champion in 1984. Lee Trevino, needing a green jacket to complete the career grand slam, also shot 154 with an ailing back. His best finishes at Augusta were tenth place ties in 1975 and 1985. Greg Norman, age 26, appeared in his first Masters and was fourth, the first of his eight top-five finishes at Augusta. He was runner-up three times, in 1986, 1987, and 1996. This was the first Masters with bentgrass greens, which were formerly Bermuda and ryegrass.

Field

Tommy Aaron, George Archer, Seve Ballesteros (3,8), Gay Brewer, Billy Casper, Charles Coody, Raymond Floyd (8,11), Doug Ford, Bob Goalby, Jack Nicklaus (2,3,4,9,10), Arnold Palmer (8), Gary Player (8), Sam Snead, Art Wall Jr., Tom Watson (3,8,9,11), Fuzzy Zoeller (8,12) Hubert Green (8,12), Hale Irwin (9,11,12), Andy North (8,9), Jerry Pate (8) Johnny Miller (11) John Mahaffey (11,12), Dave Stockton, Lanny Wadkins (12) Jim Holtgrieve (7,a), Bob Lewis (a), Hal Sutton (6,7,a), Dick von Tacky (a) Jay Sigel (7,a) Bob Tway (a) Andy Bean (10,11,12), Jim Colbert, Ben Crenshaw (11), Ed Fiori, Gibby Gilbert, Jay Haas, Tom Kite (11,12), Billy Kratzert (11), Gil Morgan (9,10,12), Larry Nelson (11,12), Calvin Peete, Jack Renner, Jim Simons, J. C. Snead Keith Fergus, Joe Hager, Mark Hayes (12), Lon Hinkle (10), Joe Inman, Pat McGowan, Mike Morley, Mike Reid, Bill Rogers (10,11), Ed Sneed, Craig Stadler, Curtis Strange (10,11), Lee Trevino (10,11,12), Bobby Wadkins Howard Twitty (11), Bobby Walzel John Cook, Bob Gilder, Phil Hancock, Scott Hoch, Peter Jacobsen, Wayne Levi, Bruce Lietzke, Mark Pfeil, Don Pooley, Scott Simpson, Mike Sullivan, Doug Tewell Lee Elder Isao Aoki (9), Bruce Devlin (9), Duncan Evans (6,a), David Graham (4,8,11), Dan Halldorson (11), Sandy Lyle, Jack Newton (8), Greg Norman, Norio Suzuki

Round summaries

First round

Thursday, April 9, 1981 Source:

Second round

Friday, April 10, 1981 Source:

Third round

Saturday, April 11, 1981 Source:

Final round

Sunday, April 12, 1981

Final leaderboard

Sources:

Scorecard

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par Source: