Inaugural Masters Tournament: Dream Course

On March twenty fifth, nineteen thirty four, Horton Smith finishes the very first Master's Tournament four under par, one stroke ahead of the runner up Craig Woods, to win the very first Master's Tournament. Here's a story about how the masters all began today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. Now, to truly understand how we got to the Master's Tournament, we have to go back to nineteen thirty when Bobby Jones, arkably the most famous golfer at the time, had retired but had decided to build his own golf course in Augusta, Georgia. He wanted it to be a unique, architect actual golf course that also was at a location that was warm enough to be played year round, and he found a location called the fruit Land Nurseries, which was the three hundred and sixty five acre property that was once an indigo plantation. Upon seeing the property, Jones said it was perfect and they began to construction in nineteen thirty one, and they opened the golf course in December of nineteen thirty two, making it a member's only golf course. Jones decided he wanted to hold a tournament, but at the time it was not called the Master's Tournament. It was called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament for They would changed the name to the Masters in nineteen thirty nine due to many in the PGA tournament wanting a more simple name, and Jones finally agreed, and one of the things they decided to do differently in this tournament was to play four days on the eighteen whole course instead of playing two days of eighteen holes and on the third day playing thirty six holes and eliminating the qualifying round and also roping off the fairways to keep spectators out of the playing area, and they were able to provide a pairing sheet and spectator booklet for the spectators, giving it more of the field that we have today now. Is also important about this first Masters is Bobby Jones, still arguably the most famous golfer in the world, came out of retirement just to play in this tournament, and though Wharton Smith was battling for the lead throughout the whole tournament, Bobby Jones was the one getting all the attention, even though he finished with a plus four, tied for thirteenth, but Jones will continue to play in this one tournament through the rest of his career, but never winning his own Master's tournament, and beginning in nineteen forty, they decided to move the tournament to the first week of April, where it has stood ever since. Now one of the most famous things about the Masters it's a ward or trophy. Now there is an actual trophy that many all we often forget about, but we always remember the green jacket. And the green jacket didn't happen until nineteen forty nine. It was a concept that had actually been at the course previously. When they first opened the course, members were given a green jacket to help the staff know who was a member and who was a guest, and also was very helpful for tournaments. Members could wear their jackets and help spectators that were visiting know they could ask people in green jackets questions about the course. They later did away with these green jackets remembers because they were thick, heavy, made of wool, and down in Georgia during the summer months was not very comfortable. But these green jackets really stood out and so they used them as part of the tradition of the Masters starting the nineteen forty nine and they went back and gave every previous winner but jacket as well. And for the nineteen thirty four Masters featured seventy two players with the total prize winnings of five thousand dollars and the winner, Horton Smith, won fifteen hundred dollars, which is roughly thirty three thousand dollars to day, and Horton led after each round. First round he had two under, finished the second round still out two under. Third, he was four under in the final round and on the seventeenth hole he sank a twenty foot putt to Bertie, giving him the lead over craig Woods, winning with a score of four under par, beating craig Wood by one stroke, and two years later Horton would win the tournament again, becoming the first two time winner of the tournament. Today, the Master's is argably the most famous tournament, the most famous golf tournament in the world, with over three million dollars in winnings at the twenty twenty three Masters and change the game of golf and how tournaments are ran to this day. Thank you for listening. To Daily Sports History. If you like this, please follow or subscribe wherever you're listening. We want you to join our community, and when you do that, and make sure you don't miss any episodes, because we'll be back tomorrow with more Daily Sports History