1957 Masters Tournament Series Badge - Doug Ford Win - Augusta National Golf Club

A 1957 Masters Tournament Series Badge from Augusta National Golf Club.  The Masters starting using plastic badges from 1961 onwards, making for pre 1961 "paper" badges extremely collectible and rare finds.

The 1957 Masters Tournament was the 21st Masters Tournament, held April 4–7 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. This was the first Masters played with a 36-hole cut; 101 players started and forty made the cut at 150 (+6).

Doug Ford won his only Masters, three strokes ahead of runner-up Sam Snead, a three-time champion.^[2] Snead was the third round leader, but could only shoot even-par in a round that included six birdies and six bogeys. Ford was three strokes back after 54 holes,^[3] but was bogey-free on Sunday. On the final hole, Ford holed out from the bunker for birdie for his 66 (–6).^[1][4] This was Ford's second and final major title; he also won the 1955 PGA Championship.

This year was the Masters debut of Gary Player, age 21, and he tied for 24th. He won three Masters, in 1961, 1974, and 1978. Five-time British Open winner Peter Thomson was fifth, his best career finish in the Masters. Amateur Harvie Ward was fourth at even-par 288, five strokes behind Ford.

Two-time champion Ben Hogan had finished in the top ten in the last fourteen Masters that he had entered, but had 32 putts on Friday and missed the event's first-ever cut by a stroke.^[5][6] It was the only cut he missed at Augusta; in nine more Masters he had three top ten finishes, including his final appearance at age 54 in 1967.