Why a garment and not a trophy? The inside story of the Green Jacket

Although the Augusta Masters has been played since 1934, the tradition of awarding the Green Jacket to the champion of the tournament dates back to 1949. The Augusta National Golf Club opened in 1932. Five years later, the club members began wearing the green jackets. that color, as a symbol of equality. And over time, the same partners were the ones who fulfilled the task of being the supervisors in the Masters, for which they decided to use the jackets, which have the Augusta National logo on the chest, to be easily identifiable. Initially they were thick cloth, but the heat of the time when the tournament is played (second week of April) made them very uncomfortable. Today they are of a lighter fabric.

The first Green Jackets were purchased in New York, but today the fabric used is from a factory located in West Yorkshire, England. The color of the garment is even patented as “Green Masters”. Once the fabric is dyed, it is sent to the Henry Poole Co., in London, where it is made. The buttons are made of bronze and the club’s shield is also engraved.

The first player to receive the coveted Green Jacket was Sam Snead, who won the Masters that year.

If only members could wear the garment, where did the tradition of giving one to the winner of the Masters come from? In 1949 it was decided, at the suggestion of the founder of the first Grand Slam on the calendar, the legendary Bobby Jones, to give the winner a jacket. Jones’s suggestion was made to emulate an old tradition at the English club Royal Liverpool, where British captains wear red jackets. The only exception was the winner of the British Open. The first player to receive the coveted Green Jacket was Sam Snead, who won the Masters that year.

As it is not known who will be the champion, the winner of the Masters that year receives a jacket from a partner who has a similar build while measurements are taken and sent to England to be made. The winner can keep it during the year following his victory, with the commitment to return it in the following edition. The jacket remains at the clubhouse and can be worn by the player (it can be found hanging in the cupboard in the Champions dressing room) while inside the premises. The only exceptions, Gary Player, who won in 1962 and never returned the garment, and Seve Ballesetros, who also did not return it after his victories in 1980 and 1983. The club had to make them others and opened a Pandora’s box for other players to do the same.

Tradition has it that at the award ceremony on the putting green (previously there is a symbolic award for the TV that holds the rights, CBS, in the Butler Cabin) the defending champion hands the jacket to his successor. In 1966 there was, for the first time, the case of a player who repeated the title: it was Jack Nicklaus, who imposed it on himself. Since then, when that case is presented, the president of the Augusta National Golf Club is the one who delivers the jacket. It has only happened twice more since then: in 1990, when Nick Faldo repeated, and in 2002, when Tiger Woods won his third title, the second in a row.

The garment is property of the Augusta National Golf Club, which guards it and leaves it available in the ‘locker’ for when the champion visits the club.

The Green Jacket, which has been awarded to the winner of the Augusta Masters for more than 70 years, is undoubtedly one of the most precious awards in this sport, given its exclusivity and the importance of being crowned in the tournament that is considered the most important in the world. . In 1942 the members of the club began to officiate as ‘marshalls’ of the tournament and kept their dress to be easily identifiable on the golf course. One of the members who has become worthy of it is the Spanish Ana Patricia Botín, President of Santander, and one of the women who entered the club sector together with the former American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.

The garment is property of the Augusta National Golf Club, which guards it and leaves it available in the ‘locker’ for when the champion visits the club, either the week of the tournament or if he attends (the course is closed in the months of May, June , July and August for the heat) with a member and guests in spring, fall or winter. The champion also receives a replica of the trophy displayed each year in the tournament display tent next to the merchandise store.