The plan of the founders of Augusta National, New York investment banker Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones, one of the greatest golfers of all time, had been to create an elite club which would host the US Open. There would be two 18-hole courses, 1,800 members and homes built on the site. None of these four things came to pass.
The United States Golf Association were not prepared to host the US Open in Georgia as the weather was too hot in June, the traditional date of the US Open. So the club founded its own tournament.
The winner of that first tournament in 1934 got $1,500. In comparison, the winners of the US Open and USPGA that year would take home $1,000. But despite this largesse, and Bobby Jones coming out of competitive retirement to add some big-name glamour, in the early years the Augusta National Invitational Tournament (the name was changed to The Masters in 1939) was a little-regarded event held by a private club.
It was not until 1961 that it had it first international victor, who was to win three Green Jackets in all. It was not until 1980 that a second international golfer was to win The Masters. This victory heralded a period of repeated European success at the event. No European had won it before 1980, but from then until 1991 seven of those eleven tournaments were won by Europeans.
The US Masters has been won by three golfers from Spain and South Africa, two from England and one from Germany, Scotland, Wales, Fiji, Canada, Argentina, Australia and Japan. Can you name them all? You have four minutes. You need only type in the surnames to answer.
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