Why Masters winners and members get green jackets, per tradition?
Why Masters winners and members get green jackets, explained, including the history at Augusta National.
It can be argued that the green jacket is one of the best non-trophy trophies in all of sports. The way I see it? It's wearable bragging rights, one that you can put on for any event.
And golfers have taken advantage -- Sergio Garcia wore it to Wimbledon and Patrick Reed famously did the same at Chick-fil-a. It's also proof that you won one of the toughest events in all of sports, a test for rookies, vets, past champions and everyone in between. But what's up with the whole green jackets thing?
Let's help you out and dive in with some history and explanations: Why do Augusta National members wear green jackets in the first place? There's an origin story here, via PGA. com : The first story is Augusta National co-founder and one of golf’s greatest champions, Bobby Jones, attended a dinner at 12-time Open Championship venue Royal Liverpool in England where club captains were wearing matching jackets to denote their position.
Jones liked that. The other story is that Augusta National co-founder Clifford Roberts figured it was a way to identify club members as “reliable sources of information” to visiting non-members — and to let waiters know who got the check at dinner. The year 1937 when the green jackets started rolling in.