Seventy-five years ago this past week, Sam Snead won the Masters Tournament and became the first champion to receive one of Augusta National Golf Club’s green jackets.
Until he died in 2002, the jacket is something he wears every time he returns to Augusta. Today, it is a fashion icon that shows, beyond the history of freight and magical rhododendrons and the geopolitical machines of golf and the growls in orchid galleries Radiating from Amen Corner to the clubhouse, Augusta National is more captivated by its champions than most venues.
Since the beginning of the month, Lottie Woad has won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur championship. Eight children were named champions of a junior golf competition after playing at Augusta. More than 30 previous Masters champions gather for dinner to honor Jon Rahm, last year’s champion, joins Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson on the tee shots to start this year’s tournament. Many of their brothers later played because they were allowed to play for life. On Sunday, Scottie Scheffler, who is used to locker rooms reserved for past champions, won his 88th Masters championship.
There is perhaps no place in men’s golf where hope, passion and ambition are as abundant as Augusta.
But in the past week, all the possibilities seem to have appeared more clearly than usual. There’s a solar eclipse on Monday, as fans look to the sky, just like Ben Crenshaw and Nick Faldo did here. After that, tiger forest, 48 years old and two years removed from last finishing a major, cut his record-tying 24th consecutive Masters. But he faded on Saturday.
Moving higher up the leaderboard in the third round, players such as Ludvig Aberg, Nicolai Hojgaard, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele hunt for their first major titles, while Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa and Cameron Smith look to Magical emblems that helped them become champions in other places not too long ago. Planner occasionally stumbled, but on Sunday he prevailed and won his second Masters before giving birth to his first child.
Golf enthusiasts often think of a trip to the Masters as a dream. It’s definitely for the players. masters represents the attempt to become one of history’s champions, with its green jackets and ability to enchant Augusta forever.
