The Masters

The Masters, annual golf tournament held in Augusta, Georgia. The event is considered one of the four most important tournaments in the sport, along with the United States Open, British Open, and Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship. These four events make up the so-called grand slam of golf. The tournament, perhaps the most prestigious in the sport, takes place every April at the Augusta National golf course.

Augusta National is a private golf club and course created in the early 1930s by a group headed by champion golfer Bobby Jones. Laid out by designer Alister Mackenzie of Scotland, the course sits on land that was once a plant nursery and is famous for its beauty. To show off the new course, Jones invited his friends from the golf world to a tournament there in 1934, and a tradition was created. The competition, eventually dubbed the Masters, has always been an invitation-only event, but all of the world’s top golfers—professionals and amateurs—are usually included.

The Masters did not become one of the four “majors” until after World War II (1939-1945). It received a great boost in popularity from television coverage and from the dramatic play of American golfer Arnold Palmer, who won the tournament four times from 1958 to 1964. An influx of foreign champions began with two victories by Seve Ballesteros of Spain in the early 1980s. The all-time Masters champion is Jack Nicklaus of the United States, who claimed the green jacket—the traditional prize given to the tournament winner—six times from 1963 to 1986. In 2002 the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO) released a statement protesting the fact that the Augusta National club does not have any female members. The club refused to alter its membership policy but decided to drop the tournament’s major corporate sponsors in 2003 to prevent a boycott of those companies.