The PGA TOUR has reached the first major championship of the season this week as the best golfers in the world head to the most well-known golf course in the world for “A Tradition Like No Other.” The Masters is the only major championship that takes place on the same course each year at Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta, Georgia. Let’s take a quick overview of the history of the event and the iconic environment where someone will earn a green jacket and a place in history this Sunday.
The history of the event
The Masters was first held in 1934 after grand slam winner Bobby Jones and architect Alister MacKenzie spent four years transforming the property from a plant nursery. The names of the holes still honor “The Fruitland Nurseries.” Each hole features the shrub, flower or tree that is in the name of the hole along the layout of the hole. The club claims that more than 80,000 plants of over 350 varieties have grown around the property over the years.
The first tournament in 1934 was known as the “Augusta National Invitation Tournament.” Horton Smith walked away with the victory and claimed the first-place purse of $1,500 (and no green jacket). The next year, the front-9 and back-9 flipped in the order, setting the course in its current order of play.
After a three-year break due to World War II, the Masters grew into the event golf fans know and love today throughout the 40s and 50s. The famous green jacket tradition began in 1949. The Champions Dinner occurred for the first time in 1952, when Ben Hogan was the host, and in 1960, the first par-3 event took place on the Wednesday before the event.
The winners of the event read like a who’s who of golf history. Jack Nicklaus has the most wins with six, just one ahead of Tiger Woods’ five victories. Arnold Palmer won four times, and Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player, Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson each won three times. Gary Player was the first non-American to win the tournament in 1961, and Seve Ballesteros was the first European when he won in 1980.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 Masters to be played in the fall, but it has returned to its spot as a rite of spring for each of the past four years. Scottie Scheffler won two of those years in 2022 and 2024 and is the defending champion this week. He’ll be looking to join that elite list of three-time winners in the 2025 edition of The Masters.
This week, the winner will claim a huge piece of the biggest purse in the history of the event. The full official purse breakdown hasn’t been announced yet, but last year, the total was $20 million, up from $18 million in 2023. Scheffler won a cool $3.6 million for his victory.
A closer look at the course and field
The field for this major is typically a little smaller than the rest of the major championships. Typically around 85 to 100 golfers tee it up and this year, 95 golfers are in the field at Augusta National after the withdrawal of Vijay Singh on Monday. The cut will be after Round 2 and reduce the field to the top-50 players and ties.
Here’s a look at Augusta National heading into Masters Week:
Augusta National has so many iconic nooks and crannies where specific players have had adventures or misadventures through the years. Every hole has so much history and so many memories that it is hard to pinpoint just the best or most famous parts of the course.
Amen Corner is the nickname given to the second shot at No. 11, all of hole No. 12 and the first two shots at No. 13. Ike’s Pond, Rae’s Creek and the famous Sarazen Bridge are some of the other most famous landmarks around the course, each with its own backstory.
The course is known for playing very difficult relative to par due to the fast greens and strategic layout. Over the past four tournaments, the average score has been 1.47 strokes over par, which ranks as the toughest annual course on the PGA TOUR. It is the seventh-longest course in the annual PGA TOUR rotation after stretching out the last few years to a 7,555-yard Par 72. The course is full of layup opportunities that allow players to play for par but also has plenty of risk-reward chances for players to be aggressive and pile up birdies.
Here’s one of several excellent overviews available with different perspectives of the famous course. This one features two-time winner Scottie Scheffler breaking down every hole:
As we look to predict the outcome of this year’s Masters Tournament, some of the top stat factors to consider are Strokes Gained: Approach, Stroked Gained: Approach 150+ yards, Course History, Driving Distance, Par 5 Scoring and Strokes Gained: Around the Green. The course usually does a great job providing a tough but fair test that has the best golfers in the field battling it out down the stretch on Sunday for a place in history.
