MORE MASTERS TRADITIONS

MORE MASTERS TRADITIONS

You cannot speak about Masters traditions without mentioning the Champions Dinner, which is on Tuesday night. Ben Hogan started the tradition in 1952 as defending champion of 1951. This dinner is attended only by living past champions and the current Augusta National Chairman. There is a "Master of Ceremonies" which for many years was Byron Nelson. Now, Ben Crenshaw, one of the most knowledgeable golf historians among professional golfers, is the Masters of ceremonies. Ben Crenshaw won twice, in 1984 and 1995.

Crystal Goblets: if you make an eagle, or have the best score of the day, you get a crystal goblet with the Masters logo engraved.

The Green Jacket: you can only use the green jacket as a champion during the reigning champion year. Otherwise, you can only use it at the premises when you are visiting or during the Masters of that year. In the 60', Gary Player won and of course took the jacket with him, but after he didn't win the following year, he was spotted wearing the green jacket in South Africa. Clifford Roberts, chairman of Augusta National, called and asked Gary to send the jacket back to the USA. Gary said, "come and get it". They both agreed that Gary would not wear it any more until he returned to Augusta.

"Honorary Starters". The tradition started at the before 1963. Jock Hutchinson and Fred McLeod had been the first group out for years, but when they were not able to compete any more, they became honorary starters from 1963 to 1973. Byron Nelson and Gene Sarazen started in 1981. Sam Snead joined them in 1984. Snead hit his opening tee shot in 2002, about a month before he died. Arnold Palmer took over by himself in 2007, later joined by Jack Nicklaus and later by Gary Player. Palmer passed in 2016, and last year Jack and Gary were accompanied by Lee Elder, the first black golfer to ever compete in The Masters. He died later last year. Jack and Gary will be joined this year by two time winner, Tom Watson.

New "traditions" are the "Drive, Chip & Putt" and the "Augusta National Women's Amateur". It would take pages to describe these two.

Caddies: until 1983, all players were required to use caddies from Augusta National. Later it was opened to players being able to bring their regular caddies. Jack Nicklaus won five Masters with local Caddy Willie Peterson, but his greatest Masters ever, was won with his son Jackie on the bag. It was Jack's last win at Augusta, and if you see the leaderboard at the end, the top eight behind Jack on that Sunday, accumulated over 20 majors together!

ARNIE'S ARMY: some things are designed by our Creator without us ever knowing why. You can't speak about Augusta National or The Masters without speaking about Arnold Palmer, the first four time winner of the green jacket. Here is where the "perfect storm began:

First, The Masters was not a famous event at all, not until way after the 60's when Palmer had already won his last Masters title in 1964. Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts founded The Masters, but one man, made The Masters famous: Arnold Palmer. Up to the early 60's, The Masters never sold all their tickets. Every unsold ticket, was given to Fort Gordon to send as many soldiers as they could to watch The Masters. Clifford Roberts had a plan: the tournament first started a telecast in 1956 and he wanted to have as many spectators on tv as possible. In his mind, how could he say this was an "important" tournament if there were only a few people watching. He needed as many people in the gallery as he could have so that the broadcast showed thousands interested!

Enter Arnold Palmer. His first win was in 1958. During the round he was having difficulty pulling away from Doug Ford and Fred Hawkins. But not to worry, the soldiers from Fort Gordon, knowing that Arnie was a vet from the U.S. Coast Guard, "picked him" as their favorite golfer to cheer for and he ended up winning by a single stroke over these two great golfers.

That my friends, is where the term "Arnie's Army" began. Arnie's Army became a fixture at Augusta National and the nationally, as Arnie continued to win majors and tournaments all over the world. If you go to Augusta National during the Tournament, you will see hundreds of people with "Arnie's Army" buttons. Even today's professionals wear an "Arnie's Army" button. Augusta National used Palmer's personality to sell their tournament, and Palmer used The Masters and his charisma to sell himself. A match made in heaven!

And that, my friends, as Paul Harvey used to say, is the rest of the story!