At one point, The Masters passed a hat around just to pay out prize money. It's hard to picture that now, but that's where this whole thing started.

The club opened in late 1932. Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts had big plans during that time, and 1,800 members were the target of their plan. But they got 76—not exactly the grand launch anyone had in mind.

They'd gone after the U.S. Open first, thinking Augusta would be a natural fit. But the USGA shut it down before the conversation went anywhere. Georgia summers were too hot for a June event, and that was that.

So Jones and Roberts decided to run their own tournament and work out the structure as they went.

The details were rough, and the club fell behind on payments to course architect Alister MacKenzie. He died before the money came through. Members collected money by passing a hat around. When that still wasn’t enough, the Augusta city council added $10,000 to help start the 1934 event.

They expected around 20,000 fans each day, but only about 1,000 actually came.

A local businessman named Alvin M. McAuliffe stepped in around 1939. Ticket sales slowly began to rise after that. That same year, the tournament got its current name, The Masters. From there, things slowly started to improve, and the event found its own way to success one way or another.

How Arnold Palmer Helped Put The Masters in a Different League

The bigger shift came because of what happened on that plane.

Arnold Palmer and writer Bob Drum were on a flight to Ireland in 1960. Palmer had just won The Masters and the U.S. Open that year. Somewhere along the way, they started talking about what a modern Grand Slam in golf should be. Not the old version from Bobby Jones’ time, but one based on pro events.

Palmer named four tournaments: The Masters, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA Championship. Just like that, Augusta had its place in that group.

The money told its own story. The Masters winner got $17,500 that year. The U.S. Open paid $14,400. Augusta was already moving ahead.

Palmer later said it just caught on. It spread around St Andrews that week, then further once Drum wrote about it. After that, people didn’t really question it.

Augusta never went around asking to be called a major. It didn’t need to. The tournament had already come a long way, from small crowds and tight budgets to something much bigger.

At some point, the old symbols faded out. The green jacket took over, and that became the thing everyone remembered.

The Masters has come a long way. What do you think makes Augusta so special even today? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Shraabona Sengupta