US Masters

The US Masters Tournament, also known as The Masters, is the first of four major championships in professional golf held throughout the year. The tournament is scheduled for the first full week of April, held each year at the same location, Augusta National, in Georgia, USA. 

The Masters was started by Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones. Jones designed Augusta National with course architect Alister MacKenzie.  The tournament is an official money event on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and the Japan Golf Tour, with points counting towards each tour's Order of Merit. 

The Masters has the smallest field of all four major championships, with around 90 players lining up at the start of the tournament. Unlike other majors, there are no alternates. It is an invitational event, with invitations largely issued on an automatic basis to players who meet published criteria. The top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are all invited, along with past champions who are granted a lifetime invitation. 

Since 1949, a green jacket has been awarded to the champion. Since 1963, it has become tradition for past champions to shoot an honorary tee shot on the morning of the first round, including the likes of Jock Hutchinson, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. Since 1960, a warm-up par 3 contest on a par-3 course has been played on the day before the first round of each Masters Tournament, although nobody winning that tournament has gone on to win the main event. 

While Jack Nicklaus has won more US Masters Tournaments than any other golfer, clinching six titles between 1963 and 1986, there have been a number of other multiple winners including Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods, who have both won four times, with Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson all being awarded the famous green jacket on three occasions. South African Gary Player was the first non-American player to win the tournament when he won in 1961.

Since the course first opened in 1933, there have been a number of changes made to the course over the years, with reshaped greens and the introduction of more bunkers and water hazards, making it one of the toughest on the Tour, as well as one of the most visually impressive. 

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