Things You Didn't Know About The Masters
Category
đ„
SportsTranscript
00:00 The US Masters is one of the most closely followed events in the golfing calendar.
00:04 But if you think you know everything about Augusta National, think again.
00:08 Here are some things that even the most seasoned US Masters watchers may not already know.
00:13 All of the hole yardages at Augusta either end with a zero or a five, which is odd.
00:19 The 12th measures 155 yards, the 13th is 510 yards, the 18th is 465 and so on.
00:27 Did you know that the Masters started out as the Augusta National Invitational Tournament?
00:32 It only got its current name in 1939, five years after that first invitational event.
00:38 The course used to be a plant nursery and the club purchased the land from a hotel chain
00:43 that bought the old plant nursery but ran out of money.
00:45 The inaugural Invitational Tournament was held in 1934 with Augusta City Council stumping up $10,000.
00:52 Horton Smith won $1,500, more than both the US Open and PGA Championship first place prizes at that time.
01:00 The winner of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship earns an invite to play at the Masters.
01:06 Hideki Matsuyama won the inaugural Asia-Pacific Amateur in 2010
01:10 and went on to win the Low Amateur at the 2011 Masters before, of course, winning the Green Jacket in 2021.
01:17 The fans, or patrons as they are known at the Masters, aren't allowed to bring their mobile phones onto the golf course.
01:24 So, when you watch the big moment at this year's tournament,
01:27 you'll notice the fans watching without holding their phones up in front of them.
01:31 It makes a nice change.
01:33 The current Augusta National Chairman, Fred Ridley, won the 1975 US Amateur Championship.
01:38 He also represented the USA at the Walker Cup and played in three Masters tournaments as an amateur.
01:44 He's the only Augusta National Chairman to have also played in the tournament.
01:48 The first and second round TV coverage of the Masters only began in 1982.
01:53 Previously, armchair fans had no way of watching the first two days play.
01:57 And not only that, 18-hole coverage on Sunday only started in 2002,
02:02 and the Par 3 contest only started being televised in 2008.
02:06 Moving on to the caddies, players were only given the option of using their own caddies during the Masters in 1983.
02:12 Before that, they were allocated one of the club's own caddies to use during the tournament week.
02:17 The front nine actually used to be the back nine.
02:19 The nines were reversed in 1935, a year after the inaugural Augusta National Tournament.
02:24 I think it's fair to say that move was a very good idea.
02:28 The hardest hole in the history of the Masters is the Par 4 10th, which averages 4.3.
02:33 The easiest is the Par 5 13th, with an average of 4.77.
02:37 The Masters is by far the hardest men's major to qualify for because it has the smallest field of the four majors.
02:44 In 2018, it had just 87 players, the lowest in its history.
02:48 Last year, the Open had a field of 156 competitors.
02:52 The Masters trophy, a model of the clubhouse, was introduced in 1961.
02:57 It was made in England and features 90 separate pieces of silver.
03:01 And finally, the now-famous Wednesday Par 3 contest started in 1960,
03:05 and since then, nobody has won that and the green jacket in the same week.
03:10 The Par 3 course measures 1,060 yards, with holes ranging from 70 to 140 yards.
03:16 So there you have it. That completes our look at some of those things about Augusta National that you may not already have known.
03:22 (music)