The Masters

The Masters was the creation of Bobby Jones, who designed his course at Augusta in Georgia with Dr Alister Mackenzie in the 1920s. He had the idea of inviting the leading players in the world to compete on his course each year and thus the Masters tournament was born. It is the only major tournament that is always played on the same course each year. With the rise of television, the astonishing beauty of the course and the drama that the tournament so often creates has made the Masters a worldwide favorite. Bobby Jones came out of retirement to compete in the first Masters in 1934. However, there was no fairy-tale ending and he finished 13th behind Horton Smith. Smith won again two years later and in the intervening year Gene Sarazen won for the first and only time when he holed his second shot at the par-5 15th for an albatross or double eagle - one of the most famous shots ever played on a golf course.

The first person to win the Masters three times was Jimmy Demaret, who won in 1940, 1947 and 1950. When he won in 1950 he came from five strokes behind with six holes to play. Sam Snead won the first of his three title in 1949 and for the next four years swopped the due with Ben Hogan. Palmer won the first of his four dues in 1958, jack Nicklaus became the youngest winner in 1963 at the age of twenty-three, and Gary Player became the first non-American winner when he won the first of his three titles in 1961. The most prolific winner is Jack Nicklaus who has won the Masters six times. The last occasion was in 1986 when he was forty-six and so became the oldest man to win the title. By then he was no longer the youngest winner as Severiano Ballesteros won the first of his two titles in 1980 when he had just turned twenty-three, two months younger than Nicklaus had been in 1963. Seve was the first European winner and he won a second title in 1983, to be followed by the fine German golfer, Bernhard Langer in 1985. The 1987 Masters was won by Larry Mize's chip-in in a play-off to deny Greg Norman victory, and then followed four years of winners from Britain. Sandy Lyle won in 1988, playing the most miraculous shot to get down in two from a bunker 140 yards (128m) short of the pin at the 72nd hole to win by a stroke from Mark Calcavecchia. Nick Faldo won in 1989 and 1990 and became only the second person in golfing history to win back-to-back titles, Jack Nicklaus being the first in 1965 and 1966. Ian Woosnam won his only major in 1991 in another dramatic finish. Fred Couples won for the USA in 1992 to interrupt the European sequence, but Langer won for the second time in 1993 and Jose-Maria Olazabal of Spain won in 1994. Ben Crenshaw won an emotional second title shortly after the death of his guide and mentor, Harvey Pennick, in 1995. Finally, in 1996 Greg Norman looked to have spread­eagled the field at the stan of the last round when he held a six-stroke lead over second placed Nick Faldo. Norman's golf for the first three rounds, which included a record equaling 63, had been unsurpassed. What followed was one of the most extraordinary turnarounds in golfing history. Faldo, playing with icy composure, produced a round of flawless golf while Norman simply fell apart, finishing with a 78 to Faldo's 67, the lowest round of the day. Faldo had won by five strokes. The huge crowd appeared numbed by what they were seeing; an awed hush hung over the whole course and the last holes were played in almost complete silence.