The Masters Tournament is a golf competition that was established in 1934, with Horton Smith winning the inaugural tournament. The Masters is the first of four major championships to be played each year, with the final round of the Masters always being scheduled for the second Sunday in April. The Masters is the only one of the four majors to use the same course every year; the Augusta National Golf Club. Masters champions are automatically invited to play in the other three majors (the U.S. Open, the Open Championship (British Open), and the PGA Championship) for the next five years, and earn a lifetime invitation to the Masters. They also receive membership on the PGA Tour for the following five seasons and invitations to the Players Championship for the five years following their victory. The champion also receives the "Green Jacket", the first one being won by Sam Snead in 1949. The champion takes the jacket home for a year and returns it thereafter. A multiple-time champion will only have one jacket unless his size changes dramatically.
Jack Nicklaus holds the record for the most Masters victories, winning the tournament six times during his career. Nicklaus is also the oldest winner of the Masters: he was 46 years 82 days old when he won in 1986. Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, and Tiger Woods co-hold the record for most consecutive victories with two. Woods was the youngest winner of the Masters, 21 years 104 days old when he won in 1997. Woods also set the record for the widest winning margin (12 strokes), and the lowest winning score, with 270, 18 below par (-18) in 1997. The latter was equaled by Jordan Spieth in 2015.
The highest winning score of 289 (+1) was originally set by Sam Snead in 1954, it was equalled by Jack Burke Jr. in 1956, and Zach Johnson in 2007. Five golfers have won the Masters wire-to-wire; Craig Wood in 1941, Arnold Palmer in 1960, Nicklaus in 1972, Raymond Floyd in 1976, and Jordan Spieth in 2015. Other players have led wire-to-wire if ties after a round are included, most recently Trevor Immelman in the 2008 Masters Tournament.
Champions
By year
Multiple champions
By nationality
Notes
References
General
- "Masters Champions". Masters. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved August 19, 2011.Â
Specific
External links
- Masters website
- Augusta website
