Masters Tournament
The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America)[2][3] is one of the four men's major golf championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week in April, the Masters is the first major golf tournament of the year. Unlike the other major tournaments, the Masters is always held at the same location: Augusta National Golf Club, a private course in the city of Augusta, Georgia.
"The Masters" redirects here. For other sports tournaments that may be referred to as "The Masters", see Master. For the C. P. Snow novel, see The Masters (novel).Tournament information
Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
1934
72
7,555 yards (6,908 m)[1]
Augusta National Golf Club
US$20,000,000
April[a]
268 Dustin Johnson (2020)
−20[b] as above
Amateur golf champion Bobby Jones and investment banker Clifford Roberts founded the Masters Tournament.[4] After his grand slam in 1930, Jones acquired the former plant nursery and co-designed Augusta National with course architect Alister MacKenzie.[1] First played in 1934, the Masters is an official money event on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and the Japan Golf Tour. The field of players is smaller than those of the other major championships because it is an invitational event, held by the Augusta National Golf Club.
The tournament has a number of traditions. Since the 1949 Masters, a green jacket has been awarded to the champion, who must return it to the clubhouse one year after his victory, although it remains his personal property and is stored with other champions' jackets in a specially designated cloakroom. In most instances, only a first-time and currently reigning champion may remove his jacket from the club grounds. 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 jacket.[5] The Champions Dinner, inaugurated by Ben Hogan at the 1952 Masters Tournament, is held on the Tuesday before each Masters and is open only to past champions and certain board members of the Augusta National Golf Club. Beginning in 1963, distinguished golfers, usually past champions, have hit an honorary tee shot on the morning of the first round to commence play. These have included Fred McLeod, Jock Hutchinson, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Elder, and Tom Watson. Since 1960, a semi-social contest on the par-3 course has been played on Wednesday, the day before the first round.
Nicklaus has the most Masters wins, with six between 1963 and 1986. Tiger Woods won five between 1997 and 2019. Palmer won four between 1958 and 1964. Five have won three titles at Augusta: Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, and Phil Mickelson. Player, from South Africa, was the first non-American player to win the tournament, in 1961; the second was Seve Ballesteros of Spain, the champion in 1980 and 1983.
The Augusta National course first opened in 1933 and has been modified many times by different architects. Among the changes: greens have been reshaped and, on occasion, entirely re-designed, bunkers have been added, water hazards have been extended, new tee boxes have been built, hundreds of trees have been planted, and several mounds have been installed.[6]
Traditions[edit]
Awards[edit]
The total prize money for the 2021 Masters Tournament was $11,500,000, with $2,070,000 going to the winner. In the inaugural year of 1934, the winner Horton Smith received $1,500 out of a $5,000 purse.[36] After Nicklaus's first win in 1963, he received $20,000, while after his final victory in 1986 he won $144,000.[37][38] In recent years the purse has grown quickly. Between 2001 and 2014, the winner's share grew by $612,000, and the purse grew by $3,400,000.[39][36][40]
Format[edit]
The Masters is the first major championship of the year. Since 1948, its final round has been scheduled for the second Sunday of April, with several exceptions. It ended on the first Sunday four times (1952, 1957, 1958, 1959) and the 1979 and 1984 tournaments ended on April 15, the month's third Sunday.[4] The first edition in 1934 was held in late March and the next ten were in early April, with only the 1942 event scheduled to end on the second Sunday. The 2020 event, postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, was held from November 12 to 15, thus being the last major of the year.
Similar to the other majors, the tournament consists of four rounds at 18 holes each, Thursday through Sunday (when there are no delays). The Masters has a relatively small field of contenders when compared with other golf tournaments, so the competitors play in groups of three for the first two rounds (36 holes) and the field is not split to start on the 1st and 10th tees unless weather shortens the available playing time. The tournament is unique in that it is the only major tournament conducted by a private club rather than a national golf organization like the PGA.[6]
Originally, the Masters was the only tournament to use two-man pairings during the first two rounds. It was also the only event to re-pair based on the leaderboard before Friday's round, as most tournaments only do this on the weekend. This practice ended in the early 2000s when the Masters switched to the more standard three-man groups and the groups are now kept intact on Friday, with players sharing the same playing partners in both of the first two rounds.
After 36 holes of play, a cut-off score is calculated to reduce the size of the field for the weekend rounds. In 2020, to "make the cut", players must be in the top 50 places (ties counting).[82] Before 1957, there was no 36-hole cut and all of the invitees played four rounds, if desired. From 1957 to 1961, the top 40 scores (including ties) made the cut. From 1962 to 2012, it was the top 44 (and ties) or within 10 strokes of the lead.[20] From 2013 to 2019, it was the top 50 (and ties) or within 10 strokes of the lead.[83]
Following the cut, an additional 36 holes are played over the final two days. Should the fourth round fail to produce a winner, all players tied for the lead enter a sudden-death playoff. Play begins on the 18th hole, followed by the adjacent 10th, repeating until one player remains. Adopted in 1976, the sudden-death playoff was originally formatted to start on the first hole,[84] but was not needed for the first three years. It was changed for 1979 to the inward (final) nine holes, starting at the tenth tee, where the television coverage began.[85] First employed that same year, the Masters' first sudden-death playoff, won by Fuzzy Zoeller, ended on the 11th green. The current arrangement, beginning at the 18th tee, was amended for 2004 and first used the following year. Through 2017, the eleven sudden-death playoffs have yet to advance past the second extra hole. Earlier playoffs were 18 holes on the following day, except for the first in 1935, which was 36 holes (Gene Sarazen defeated Craig Wood); the last 18-hole playoff was in 1970 when Billy Casper defeated Gene Littler, and none of the full-round playoffs went to additional holes.
Most wins[edit]
The first winner of the Masters Tournament was Horton Smith in 1934, and he repeated in 1936. The player with the most Masters victories is Jack Nicklaus, who won six times between 1963 and 1986. Tiger Woods has five wins, followed by Arnold Palmer with four, and Jimmy Demaret, Gary Player, Sam Snead, Nick Faldo, and Phil Mickelson have three titles to their name. Player was the tournament's first overseas winner with his first victory in 1961. Two-time champions include Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw, José María Olazábal, Bubba Watson, and Scottie Scheffler.[101]
Records[edit]
Jack Nicklaus has won the most Masters (six) and was 46 years, 82 days old when he won in 1986, making him the oldest winner of the Masters.[24] Nicklaus is the record holder for the most top tens, with 22, and the most cuts made, with 37.[20][103] The youngest winner of the Masters is Tiger Woods, who was 21 years, 104 days old when he won in 1997. In that year, Woods also broke the records for the widest winning margin (12 strokes), and the lowest winning score, with 270 (−18). Jordan Spieth tied his score record in 2015. Dustin Johnson broke the record in 2020 with a 268 (-20).[104]
In 2013, Guan Tianlang became the youngest player ever to compete in the Masters, at age 14 years, 168 days on the opening day of the tournament;[105] the following day, he became the youngest ever to make the cut at the Masters or any men's major championship.[106]
In 2020, Australian Cameron Smith became the first golfer in Masters history to shoot all four rounds in the 60s (67, 68, 69, 69). Finishing at 15 under par, en route to a tie for second-place finish with Sungjae Im.
Gary Player holds the record for most appearances, with 52. Tiger Woods holds the record for consecutive cuts made with 24 between 1997 and 2024; he did not compete in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021.[107] In 2023, Fred Couples became the oldest player to make the cut, doing so at age 63 years, 186 days.[108]
Nick Price and Greg Norman share the course record of 63, with their rounds coming in 1986 and 1996 respectively.
The highest winning score of 289 (+1) has occurred three times: Sam Snead in 1954, Jack Burke Jr. in 1956, and Zach Johnson in 2007. Anthony Kim holds the record for most birdies in a round with 11 in 2009 during his second round.[104]
There have been only four double eagles carded in the history of the Masters; the latest was by a contender in the fourth round in 2012. In the penultimate pairing with eventual champion Bubba Watson, Louis Oosthuizen's 260-yard (238 m) downhill 4 iron from the fairway made the left side of the green at the par-5 second hole, called Pink Dogwood, rolled downhill, and in.[109] The other two rare occurrences of this feat after Sarazen's double eagle on the fabled course's Fire Thorn hole in 1935: Bruce Devlin made double eagle from 248 yards (227 m) out with a 4-wood at the eighth hole (Yellow Jasmine) in the first round in 1967, while Jeff Maggert hit a 3-iron 222 yards (203 m) at the 13th hole (Azalea) in the fourth round in 1994.[110]
Three players share the record for most runner-up finishes with four – Ben Hogan (1942, 1946, 1954, 1955), Tom Weiskopf (1969, 1972, 1974, 1975), and Jack Nicklaus (1964, 1971, 1977, 1981). Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the only golfers to have won the Masters in three separate decades.
Ticketing[edit]
Although tickets (more commonly referred to as "badges") for the Masters are not expensive at face value, they are very difficult to come by. Masters tickets are considered the second-hardest to obtain in sports, trailing only the Super Bowl.[143] Even the practice rounds can be difficult to gain entrance into. Practice rounds and daily tournament tickets are sold in advance, through a selection process, only after receipt of an online application. All tickets are sold in advance and there are no tickets sold at the gates.[144] Additionally, Georgia state law prohibits tickets from being bought, sold or handed off within a 2,700 foot boundary around the Augusta National Golf Club.[145][146]
Open applications for practice rounds and individual daily tournament tickets have to be made nearly a year in advance and the successful applicants are chosen by random selection. Series badges for the actual tournament, that is a badge valid for all four tournament rounds, are made available and sold only to individuals of a patrons list, which is closed. A waiting list for the patrons list was opened in 1972 and closed in 1978. It was reopened in 2000 and subsequently closed once again.[147][148] Individuals who are fortunate enough to be on the patron list are given the recurring opportunity to purchase series badges each year for life. According to Augusta National, after the death of a badge holder, the series badge account is transferable only to a surviving spouse and cannot be transferred to other family members.[147][149][150]
In 2008, as part of their Junior Pass Program, the Masters also began allowing children (between the ages of 8 and 16) to enter on tournament days for free if they are accompanied by the patron who is the original applicant of his or her series badge. The Junior Pass Program does not apply to individual daily tournament tickets, only to series badge patrons.[151][146]
The difficulty in acquiring Masters badges has made the tournament one of the largest events on the secondary resale ticket market.[152] Since a majority of the badges for the Masters are made available to the same group of patrons each year, these perennial ticket holders sometimes decide to sell their badges through large ticket marketplaces and/or third party ticket brokers. Although they do so at their own detriment as this action is strictly prohibited in the ticket purchase agreement and ticket policy.[153]