How The Masters Actually Works

The Masters Tournament is one of four major championships in professional golf, alongside the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship. It is held annually during the first full week of April at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Unlike other majors that rotate venues, The Masters is always played at Augusta National, giving it a fixed identity and allowing viewers and players to develop deep familiarity with the course. The winner receives the iconic green jacket and an invitation to return for life.

The Masters was co-founded by amateur golf legend Bobby Jones and investment banker Clifford Roberts in 1934. Jones designed Augusta National with Scottish architect Alister MacKenzie on the site of a former plant nursery—which is why each hole is named after a flower or shrub. The tournament was initially seen as a minor event but grew rapidly in prestige. Roberts controlled the tournament with an iron hand, establishing traditions that persist today: the green jacket ceremony, the Champions Dinner, and strict control over media coverage, spectator behavior, and commercial branding.

The Masters is a 72-hole stroke-play event over four days (Thursday–Sunday). The field is smaller than other majors—typically around 90 players—and participation is by invitation based on specific criteria including world ranking, previous major wins, and tour performance. After 36 holes, a cut eliminates roughly half the field. The course features dramatic elevation changes, lightning-fast greens, and the iconic back nine with Amen Corner (holes 11, 12, and 13) where tournaments are often decided.

The Masters matters because it is golf's most recognizable event and the one that generates the most mainstream attention each year. Its timing—the first major of the season—gives it an outsized role in setting narratives for the golf year. The tournament's broadcast is meticulously produced and its traditions (the Par 3 Contest, the honorary starters, the azaleas) create a spectacle that transcends golf. Tiger Woods's victories, particularly his 1997 and 2019 wins, are among the most iconic moments in all of sports.

Augusta National has faced persistent criticism for its exclusionary practices. The club did not admit its first Black member until 1990 and its first female members until 2012. The Masters has also been criticized for its intense control of media coverage, prohibition of cell phones, and treatment of the surrounding community. Despite—or perhaps because of—this exclusivity, The Masters maintains an aura of prestige and scarcity that no other golf event matches.