Masters Facts and Figures

Facts and figures concerning the 2002 Masters:

Event: The Masters Tournament, first major golf championship of the season, being played for the 66th time over the par-72 Augusta National Golf Club course.

Field: The field will include about 88 players, the exact number depending on how many of the former champions decide to compete. Masters Chairman Hootie Johnson has asked some of the former champions to consider not playing this year because of their recent inability to produce a competitive score. No such letter went to Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus, but a bad back will force Nicklaus to miss the tournament.

Qualifications: Those eligible to play include previous Masters winners; the last five winners of the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA; the finalists from last year's U.S. Amateur; the current British Amateur, U.S. Public Links and U.S. Mid-Amateur champions; the first 16 finishers from last year's Masters, the first 8 finishers from last year's U.S. Open and first 4 finishers from both last year's PGA and British Open; the top 40 money winners on the last year's PGA tour; the top 3 on this year's money list one month prior to the Masters; and the top 50 on the world rankings at the end of last year as well as one month prior to the Masters. In addition, Masters officials invite a small number of non-Americans who are not otherwise qualified. Only one such invitation was issued this year, that going to Greg Norman.

Conditions of Play: Four 18-hole rounds will be played. After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 44 players and ties, plus anyone who is within 10 shots of the lead.

Last year: Tiger Woods outdueled David Duval and Phil Mickelson to win his fourth consecutive major title. Woods became the first player ever to hold all four major trophies at the same time.

Scoring records: Woods set the 72-hole scoring record when he won his first Masters in 1997. His 270 total bested the record set by Nicklaus in 1965 and equaled by Raymond Floyd in 1976. The lowest 18-hole total is 63, established in 1986 by Nick Price and tied by Greg Norman in 1996.

First-time competitors: Teeing it up at the Masters for the first time will be professionals Nicklas Fasth, Charles Howell III, Jerry Kelly, Paul McGinley, Craig Perks, Adam Scott, Kevin Sutherland and Toru Taniguchi along with amateurs Bubba Dickerson, Robert Hamilton and Michael Hoey, Chez Reavie.

Among the missing: Professionals who played in last year's tournament but failed to win an invitation this year include Aaron Baddeley, Notah Begay, Greg Chalmers, Steve Flesch, Carlos Franco, Pierre Fulke, Dudley Hart, John Huston, Steve Jones, Jonathan Kaye, Franklin Langham, Jeff Maggert, Bob May, Dennis Paulson, Chris Perry, Loren Roberts, Eduardo Romero, Tom Scherer, Grant Waite and Duffy Waldorf.

Returning: After an absence of at least one year, those making it back in the field are Billy Andrade, John Daly, Bob Estes, Tom Kite, Matt Kuchar, Frank Lickliter, Billy Mayfair, Scott McCarron, Tom Pernice, Jr., Kenny Perry and Jeff Sluman. Pernice made his only other appearance in 1990. Kite, by finishing among the top eight at last year's U.S. Open, became the first player in Masters history to qualify after turning 50.

Playoffs: There have been 11 straight Masters conducted without a playoff, the longest such stretch in tournament history. Nick Faldo won the last two playoffs at the Masters in 1989 and 1990, the first time the tournament had experienced back-to-back playoffs.