Green with envy

Considering it is probably the most exclusive piece of clothing in the world it is not very attractive. It is not even a particularly nice shade of green.

I’m talking of what has been described as a piece of “symbolism draped on a clothes hanger” – a US Masters green jacket; the item of clothing which is presented to the winner of the major golf championship that each April is staged, when the Azaleas are blooming, over the course of the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

There are two ways of getting one. You can be invited to join the club or you can win the tournament. The first is said to be more tricky, so I’ll confine myself to the second… the jacket worn by the Masters champion.

Habitually referred to as a “coat” by Clifford Roberts, the crusty investment banker who helped Bobby Jones to found Augusta National, in his “The Story of the Augusta National Golf Club,” the green jacket had humble beginnings.

The first versions, bought from Brooks Uniform Co. in New York, were worn by members at the 1937 tournament, three years after the inception of the Masters, to allow patrons (they don’t refer to spectators at Augusta) to be able to easily find “a reliable source of information.”

Roberts, in fact, revealed that some of the members were not overly keen on the “kelly-green coats” but that they became accustomed to the practice over time.

The green jacket, to this day according to Masters lore, is “a three-button, single-breasted jacket made from three yards of tropical-weight wool and polyester with rayon lining.” The jackets never leave the premises and are kept in cedar-wood closets in the clubhouse.

Four different manufacturers have made the jackets throughout the last eight decades, but they have always retained their distinctive features – a green colour, brass buttons and the Augusta National badge on the breast pocket.

The emblem, incidentally represents a circled outline of the United States with a flagstick and hole centred on Augusta, Georgia.

There is no record of who had the original idea of awarding a green jacket to the winner of the Masters, and with it honorary membership of Augusta National, but in 1949 Sam Snead became the first recipient when he scored a three-stroke victory over Johnny Bulla and Lloyd Mangrum.

Snead went on to win the Masters twice more, in 1952 and 1954, but multiple winners generally do not receive more than one coat, unless their size changed dramatically between victories.

As with all things Augusta National, much of the detail is shrouded in secrecy. Having had the good fortune to cover the Masters for the Sunday Times in 1998 (Mark O’Meara’s year) I was intrigued to know what would happen if Ernie Els, who wears clothes of the extra large variety, were to win. Would there be a jacket big enough to fit him?

I sought information from Masters veterans and it turned out – and I have no way of authenticating this – that a key man was the head locker room attendant who would keep a keen eye on those in contention to have a jacket of a right size in readiness for the prize-giving.

I was told that the new champion would actually be presented with one of the members’ jackets at the awards ceremony and it would be the job of the head attendant to pick out one of the proper size. Afterwards the champion’s measurements would be taken and a tailor-made jacket ordered to be presented to him.

As to whether there would be a jacket large enough to fit Ernie, a veteran golf writer suggested that they would probably ask to borrow the one belonging to 1969 champion George Archer; at 6’6” the tallest champion in Masters history.

I enquired why the club did not keep a stock of, say, 10 new jackets to cover the size permutations but found no-one interested enough to pursue the issue. The Masters is as the Masters does.

Once a Masters champion has received the most exclusive item of clothing he will ever own he is also a member of the world’s most restricted club. As champion he will have access to the Champions’ Room, a locker room for the exclusive use of former winners, and he will be able to host, and then attend, the Champions’ Dinner which the defending champion hosts before the start of each new championship.

In 2002 Tiger Woods will host his second such dinner. He will sit at the head of a table that includes the master of masters Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Jose-Maria Olazabal, Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw, Ray Floyd, Billy Casper and Sam Snead, but will perhaps be more remarkable for those who will not be there.

Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Greg Norman, Hale Irwin, Nick Price, Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Colin Montgomerie, Davis Love, Sergio Garcia and David Toms count among those who don’t have a seat at the table and they will not have to be reminded that there is only one way of getting in… wear a green jacket.