You always know that the golf season starts when The Masters, the first major of the year, is played. Not that it is the first tournament of the year, but you seem to think that you know who is hot and who isn’t, not to mention that this time, you are really pulling for your favorites…. If they are lucky enough to be in the field.
Now, though there are rules on how you qualify to play, the Masters has been and will always be an invitational tournament, and remains –and will remain-, unique among all championships.
When Bobby Jones retired in 1930 after winning the “Grand Slam” of his era (U.S. and British Opens and U.S. and British Amateur Championships), he and millionaire Clifford Roberts sought to buy some property where to build a golf course and start an exclusive club where the members would love golf. After all, Jones had won 13 major championships and was very famous. Some would argue that he was more famous than Tiger Woods is because it was a time where communications were not as good as now.
They bought the land, and Jones suggested Alllister McKenzie as architect. Jones had met McKenzie in 1929 after losing an early match in the 1929 U.S. Amateur in Pebble Beach, after which he was invited to play Cypress Point G.C., which he loved and wanted to meet the architect… McKenzie readily accepted and with Jones, designed Augusta National Golf Club. The course was finished in 1931, opened in 1932 and Roberts and Jones, in order to promote the club in a small city not so close to a metropolitan area, decided to have a golf tournament that they called “Augusta National Invitational”.
The Masters was first played in 1934, and all of the invited players were masters of the game of their time, either amateurs or professionals that had competed against Bobby Jones for 15 years. There was a purse for the professionals, and accommodations for the amateurs. After Horton Smith (32 professional wins, 2 majors) won the first Augusta National Invitational, Roberts wanted a better known name for the event so they could sell tickets and not cost the club a penny. Considering that the field included many of the best golfers of the day, he wanted to name it The Masters Championship, but Jones would have none of it. But fate has its way sometimes.
In 1935, Craig Wood (25 professional wins, 2 majors) was in the clubhouse with a seemingly insurmountable lead of three shots at six under par, 282. Only one player was on the course that could catch him, but the last few holes were playing very tough. However, fate struck and Gene Sarazen (42 professional wins, 7 majors including all four majors at least once), in front of only a few players and a few people in the gallery, holed out a 4 wood second shot in the par 5, #15 hole for a double eagle (it is called “the shot heard around the world”), made pars coming in, tied Craig Wood and bested him in the 18 hole playoff the next day.
Between the “shot heard around the world” and Clifford Roberts, the press “renamed” the tournament, Jones accepted the turn of fate, and as of 1936, it was known as The Masters. Here are some other facts unique to The Masters:
- Has the smallest field of all majors (96 this year) opposed to at least 152 in the other three.
- DOES NOT HAVE an “alternates list”.
- Is the only major by “invitation only”(*).
- Only major who hosts its amateurs at the club’s cabins where they stay and dine at the expense of the hosts.
- Only tournament and major that has official honorary starters; this year, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player will hit the opening tee shots to start the tournament.
- As a policy, The Masters doesn't start anyone on #10 but has done it in bad weather.
- The Masters is the only one of the majors who has a “champions dinner” hosted by the defending champion (Tuesday before the tournament).
- The Masters is the only major that invites all living champions to enter the tournament (though now discourages, but doesn't prohibit, those older ones not to play because of the length of the course).
- It is played in the same course every year.
- The Club has a “Champions Locker Room”.
- It is the only major with a “mini tournament” as part of the week, “The Par-3 Tournament” (played on Wednesday)
- It never announces the purse in advance.
- You can buy a Pimento Cheese sandwich for only $2.00, and a Cokes for $1.00.
- It is not organized by a golf organization (PGA Championship is organized by the PGA of America, U.S. Open is hosted by the United States Golf Association and The Open (British Open) is hosted by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (Association) of Scotland).
- If you ever want to play Augusta National, you better have lots of cash, prove that you know the rules of golf and its traditions, and be invited to become a member… or BE VERY, VERY GOOD AT PLAYING GOLF SO YOU CAN QUALIFY FOR AN INVITATION.