Luis Rivero
6 minutes
The Masters Tournament, is one of the four major championships in Golf. It is scheduled for the first full week of April and it is the first of the majors to be played each year. Unlike the other major championships, the Masters is held each year at the same location, in Augusta National Golf Club, a private golf club in Georgia, USA.
The Masters was started by Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones. Jones designed Augusta National with course architect Alister MacKenzie. The land had been an indigo plantation in the early nineteenth century and a plant nursery since 1857. Jones hired MacKenzie to help design the course, and work began in 1931. The course formally opened in 1933.
The first "Augusta National Invitational" Tournament, as the Masters originally known, began on March 22, 1934, and was won by Horton Smith. The present name was adopted in 1939. The first tournament was played with current holes 10 through 18 played as the first nine, and 1 through 9 as the second nine, then reversed permanently to its present layout for the 1935 tournament.
The field of the Augusta National Invitational was initially composed of Bobby Jones' close associates. Jones had petitioned the USGA to hold the U.S. Open at Augusta but the USGA denied the petition, noting that the hot Georgia summers would create difficult playing conditions.
Due to World War II, the tournament was not played from 1943 to 1945. To assist the war effort, cattle and turkeys were raised on the Augusta National grounds.
Since the Augusta National course first opened in 1933, it has been modified many times by different architects.
The field of players for the Masters has always been smaller than those of the other major championships because it is an invitational event.
Because of its long history, changes and history makers, this tournament has a number of traditions, such as:
- Since 1949, a green jacket has been awarded to the champion, who must return it to the clubhouse one year after the time of that player's victory. The green jacket is only removed from the club's grounds by a first-time champion. A golfer who wins the event multiple times uses the same green jacket awarded upon his initial win (unless he needs to be re-fitted with a new green jacket).
- The Champions Dinner, inaugurated by Ben Hogan in 1952, is held on the Tuesday before each tournament, and is open only to past champions and certain board members of the Augusta National Golf Club.
- Beginning in 1963, legendary golfers, usually past champions, have hit an honorary tee shot on the morning of the first round. Such golfers have included Fred McLeod, Jock Hutchinson, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
- Since 1960, a semi-social par 3 contest, on a par-3 course on Augusta National's grounds, has been played on the day before the first round of each Masters Tournament.
Jack Nicklaus has won more Masters Tournaments than any other golfer, winning six times between 1963 and 1986. Other multiple winners include Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, with four wins each; and Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson, with three wins each. Gary Player, from South Africa, was the first non-American player to win the tournament in 1961.
To learn more about this incredible History and Tradition you can go to The Masters Website here.
This information was provided by: Wikipedia
