2024 Masters Tournament: traditions you should know
1. Champions Gala Dinner
The Champions' Dinner is held each year on the Tuesday evening preceding Thursday's first round. The dinner was first held in 1952, hosted by defending champion Ben Hogan, to honor the past champions of the tournament. At that time 15 tournaments had been played, and the number of past champions was 11. Officially known as the "Masters Club", it includes only past (lifetime) winners of the Masters, although selected members of the Augusta National Golf Club have been included as honorary members, usually the chairman (the current chairman is being held by Mr. Fred Ridley).
The defending champion, as host, selects the menu for the dinner. Frequently, Masters champions have served cuisine from their home regions prepared by the Masters chef.
The Masters Tournament Par-3 contest is a golf competition that precedes the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The first Par-3 contest was held before the 1960 tournament, and was won by three-time Masters champion Sam Snead. The contest takes place in a single round on a nine-hole, par-27 course in the northeast corner of the club's grounds, designed in 1958 by George Cobb and club founder Clifford Roberts.
Traditionally, the contest participants have invited family members to caddie for them, sometimes allowing them to play shots on their behalf. Through the 2019 contest, ninety-four holes in one have been recorded, including nine in the 2016 event.
Snead became the contest's first multiple winner in 1974, fourteen years after his first. The most recent is Tom Watson, who won his second Par-3 contest in 2018, 36 years after his first in 1982. Pádraig Harrington is the only one with three wins; he won his first pair in consecutive years (2003, 2004), as did Sandy Lyle (1997, 1998). Seven players have multiple wins; the other three are Isao Aoki, Jay Haas, and David Toms.
Jimmy Walker holds the course record of 19 (–8), set in 2016, which included an ace. The contest has been decided by a playoff on 21 occasions, and concluded with a tie twice. Just 14 of the 59 winners (including ties) are non-American. As of 2023, no winner of the Par-3 contest has gone on to win the Masters in the same year. Tom Hoge was the 2023's contest winner, but didn't make the cut during the tournament week.
3. Honorary starters
Since 1963, the custom in most years has been to start the tournament with an honorary opening tee shot at the first hole, typically by one or more legendary players. For a number of years before 1963, Jock Hutchison and Fred McLeod had been the first pair to tee off, both being able to play as past major championship winners. However, in 1963 the eligibility rules were changed and they were no longer able to compete. The idea of honorary starters was introduced with Hutchison and McLeod being the first two. This twosome led off every tournament from 1963 until 1973 when poor health prevented Hutchison from swinging a club. McLeod continued on until his death in 1976. Byron Nelson and Gene Sarazen started in 1981 and were then joined by Sam Snead in 1984. This trio continued until 1999 when Sarazen died, while Nelson stopped in 2001. Snead hit his final opening tee shot in 2002, a little over a month before he died.
In 2007, Arnold Palmer took over as the honorary starter. Palmer also had the honor in 2008 and 2009. At the 2010 and 2011 Masters Tournaments, Jack Nicklaus joined Palmer as an honorary co-starter for the event. In 2012, Gary Player joined them. Palmer announced in March 2016 that a lingering shoulder issue would prevent him from partaking in the 2016 tee shot. Palmer was still in attendance for the ceremony.
Following Palmer's death in 2016, the 2017 ceremony featured tributes; his green jacket was draped over an empty white chair, while everyone in attendance wore "Arnie's Army" badges.
In 2021 Lee Elder joined Nicklaus and Player as an honorary starter. He was invited to join them as he was the first African-American to take part in the Masters in 1975. Despite bad health preventing Elder from hitting a shot, he was still present and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
Two-time Masters champion Tom Watson joined Nicklaus and Player, starting in 2022.
4. Masters caddies policy
Until 1983, all players in the Masters were required to use the services of an Augusta National Club caddie, who by club tradition was always an African-American man. Club co-founder Clifford Roberts is reputed to have said, "As long as I'm alive, golfers will be white, and caddies will be black." Since 1983—six years after Roberts's death in 1977—players have been allowed the option of bringing their own caddie to the tournament.
The Masters requires caddies to wear a uniform consisting of a white jumpsuit, a green Masters cap, and white tennis shoes. The surname, and sometimes first initial, of each player is found on the back of his caddie's uniform. The defending champion always receives caddie number "1": other golfers get their caddie numbers from the order in which they register for the tournament. The other majors and some PGA Tour events formerly had a similar policy concerning caddies well into the 1970s; the U.S. Open first allowed players to use their own caddies in 1976.
5. Amateurs' pre-tournament traditions
Because the tournament was established by an amateur champion, Bobby Jones, the Masters has a tradition of honoring amateur golf. It invites winners of the most prestigious amateur tournaments in the world (i.e. U.S Amateur, British Amateur, Latin American Amateur, and Asia-Pacific Amateur; and starting 2024 the NCAA division 1 college championship winner added to the participation criteria). Also, the current U.S. Amateur champion always plays in the same group as the defending Masters champion for the first two days of the tournament.
Amateurs in the field are welcome to stay in the "Crow's Nest" atop the Augusta National clubhouse during the tournament. The Crow's Nest is 1,200 square feet (110 m2) with lodging space for five during the competition. U.S. Mid Amateur champion Stewart Hagestad is the frequent resident of the Crow's Nest since 2017.
6. Television coverage
CBS has televised the Masters Tournament in the United States every year since 1956 (its live coverage since 1960), when it used six cameras and covered only the final four holes. Because of resistance from the tournament organizers, 18 hole coverage did not begin until 2002 (coverage generally joining with the final group on the fifth or sixth hole all four days), but by 2006, over 50 cameras were used. USA Network added first- and second-round coverage in 1982, which was also produced by the CBS production team.
The previously independent USA Sports became part of NBC Sports through NBCUniversal in 2005, meaning the cable and network coverage of the Masters was split between rival companies. However, USA continued to use its own graphics for sports, and CBS continued to produce their coverage of the Masters, an arrangement that lasted through 2007. ESPN, another rival of CBS Sports, took over in 2008. However, ESPN uses CBS graphics and production with the CBS logo.
In 2007, CBS broadcast the tournament with high-definition fixed and handheld wired cameras, as well as standard-definition wireless handheld cameras. that same year, CBS also added "Masters Extra," an hour's extra full-field bonus coverage daily on the internet, preceding the television broadcasts. In 2008, CBS added full coverage of holes 15 and 16 live on the web.
While Augusta National Golf Club has consistently chosen CBS as its U.S. broadcast partner, it has done so on successive one-year contracts. Due to the lack of long-term contractual security, as well as the club's limited dependence on broadcast rights fees (owing to its affluent membership), it is widely held that CBS allows Augusta National greater control over the content of the broadcast, or at least perform some form of self-censorship, in order to maintain future rights. The club, however, has insisted it does not make any demands with respect to the content of the broadcast.
There are some controversial aspects to this relationship. Announcers refer to the gallery as "patrons" rather than spectators or fans ("gallery" itself is also used), and use the term "second cut" instead of "rough" (however, the second cut is normally substantially shorter than comparable "primary rough" at other courses). Announcers who have been deemed not to have acted with the decorum expected by the club have been removed, notably Jack Whitaker and analyst Gary McCord.
ESPN replaced USA in 2008 as the broadcaster for the early rounds. ESPN originally used Mike Tirico and Curtis Strange as their commentary team inside Butler Cabin. However, Mike Tirico left for NBC Sports in 2016 and was replaced by Scott Van Pelt. ESPN also used Tom Rinaldi for interviews until he left for Fox Sports in 2021.
Early round coverage of The Masters continues to be aired by ESPN, however, coverage is produced by CBS and uses CBS announcers and graphics (excluding Van Pelt, Strange, and Rinaldi).
- 2024 Masters commentators (CBS):
• Butler Cabin and 18th hole: Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman
• On-course reporter: Dottie Pepper
• 2nd, 11th and 17th hole: Frank Nobilo
• 3rd, 12th and 15th hole: Ian-Baker Finch
• 7th and 14th hole: Andrew Catalon
• 6th and 16th hole: Verne Lundquist
• Post-round interviewer: Amanda Renner
7. Tournament sponsorships
The club mandates minimal commercial interruption, currently limited to four minutes per hour (as opposed to the usual 12 or more); this is subsidized by selling exclusive sponsorship packages to two or three companies – currently these "global sponsors" are AT&T, IBM, and Mercedes-Benz. AT&T (then SBC) and IBM have sponsored the tournament since 2005, joined at first by ExxonMobil, which in 2014 was replaced as a global sponsor by Mercedes-Benz (under DaimlerBenz acquisition and since 2022 as part of Mercedes-Benz Group), which since that year became the official vehicle brand of the tournament after previously Buick and Cadillac from 1970s to 2000s. In 2002, in the wake of calls to boycott tournament sponsors over the Martha Burk controversy, club chairman Hootie Johnson suspended all television sponsorship of the 2003 tournament. He argued that it was "unfair" to have the Masters' sponsors become involved with the controversy by means of association with the tournament, as their sponsorship is of the Masters and not Augusta National itself. CBS agreed to split production costs for the tournament with the club to make up for the lack of sponsorship. After the arrangement continued into 2004, the tournament reinstated sponsorships for 2005, with the new partners of ExxonMobil, IBM, and SBC/AT&T Corporation.
The club also sells separate sponsorship packages, which do not provide rights to air commercials on the U.S. telecasts, to two "international partners"; in 2014, those companies were Rolex and UPS (the latter of which replaced Mercedes-Benz upon that company's elevation to "global sponsor" status; while Rolex currently became the tournament's official timekeeper since 2015 along with three other majors).
8. Music of the Masters Tournament
Since 1982, the tournament was colored by piece of music, composed and performed by Dave Loggins, through the song titled "Augusta". The song reflects many signature moments throughout the tournament's history. In 2007, music composer E.S. Posthumus performed a orchestral work of "Thrill Of Victory", which also frequently used during the tournament's coverage.
For more updates and live scoring of 2024 Masters, visit masters.com!
Don't miss the 88th Masters, April 11-14, 2024, LIVE from Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, GA, only on ESPN (day/round 1 and 2) and CBS (day/round 3 and fourth/final round)!
