Easter well ahead of Masters in 2016

The final round of the Masters has fallen on Easter Sunday 17 times.

This year, Easter is a full two weeks before the final round of the Masters.

The last time Easter fell on the final round of the Masters, in 2012, Bubba Watson used a spectacular shot from the trees on the second playoff hole to defeat Louis Oosthuizen.

The Masters and Easter coincide on a regular basis because the Masters is played the first full week of April and because Easter falls on the Sunday after the paschal full moon, which always occurs between March 22 and April 25.

Some neat facts about Easter and the Masters:

-- Jimmy Demaret is the only person to win twice on Easter, and Arnold Palmer won his first Masters in 1958.

-- Jack Nicklaus won an 18-hole playoff the day after Easter to become the first player to claim green jackets in consecutive years.

-- Mark O’Meara and Phil Mickelson made birdies on the final hole to win on past Easters.

Watson, Bernhard Langer and Zach Johnson are three of the more recent champions who won on Easter and have talked about their faith.

Langer won his second green jacket in 1993, and Johnson overcame tough conditions to win his first major in 2007.

The last five times the Masters fell on Easter Sunday, a first-time winner put on the green jacket.

MASTERS EASTER SUNDAYS

Year - Winner

1947 - Jimmy Demaret

1950 - Jimmy Demaret

1955 - Cary Middlecoff*

1958 - Arnold Palmer*

1966 - Jack Nicklaus

1968 - Bob Goalby*

1971 - Charles Coody*

1974 - Gary Player

1977 - Tom Watson*

1979 - Fuzzy Zoeller*

1982 - Craig Stadler*

1993 - Bernhard Langer

1998 - Mark O’Meara*

2004 - Phil Mickelson*

2007 – Zach Johnson*

2009 – Angel Cabrera*

2012 – Bubba Watson*

*First-time Masters winner