Masters Golf Tournament

Created by famed golfer Bobby Jones and his friend Clifford Roberts in 1934, The Masters Golf Tournament has become one of the PGA Tour's four major tournaments. The tournament is held at the Augusta National Golf Club, which Jones and Roberts built in Augusta, Georgia, with the intention of providing a course that would be pleasurable and challenging to both the average as well as the champion golfer. Since 1949, the winner of the event has received a green jacket, which has since become one of the most well-known and respected "trophies" in golf. Three-time Masters winner Gary Player described the significance of the jacket to Thomas Bonk for the Masters official web site. "That green jacket stands for a lot more than just winning the Masters." Player noted, "It stands for a gentleman like Bobby Jones and his legacy to the game. It stands for a man like Clifford Roberts, who gave his heart and soul to Augusta National and the tournament itself. It stands for a great golf tournament, it stands for the greatest golf course in the world, and it stands for great men and great achievements. The Masters jacket epitomizes perfection in golf."

Jack Nicklaus had won the most green jackets through 1998, with six, the last coming in 1986 when Nicklaus was 46 years old. Before 1997, Spaniard Severiano Ballesteros was the youngest champion, winning in 1980 at age 23. However, 21 year-old Tiger Woods shattered Ballesteros' record in 1997. In addition to being the youngest ever to win, he set 19 tournament records while tying six others. Woods set a course record while winning by 12 strokes, the largest margin of victory ever.

—D. Byron Painter

Further Reading:

Eubanks, Steve. Augusta: A Revealing Look Inside America's Most Intriguing Golf Club. New York, Broadway Books, 1997.

Palmer, Arnold. "Augusta Then and Now." Golf Magazine. April1998, 84-89.

Official Masters Web Site. http://www.masters.org. April 1999.