First Sunday in April: The Masters »

Forget the birds, the flowers, and April showers: in golf, you know spring has sprung when the Masters rolls around. Held on the hallowed grounds of the Augusta National Golf Club, and widely broadcast on TV, it’s one of the world’s most-watched sporting events each year. This collection celebrates that famed tournament, as some of America’s best known sportswriters—such as Grantland Rice and Jim Murray—praise the event’s illustrious history and traditions. The Masters has provided the stage for golf’s most prominent names, and they’re all represented on these pages, from Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods. Fans (many of whom dream of playing it themselves) will take a ride down memory and Magnolia Lane, as they recall great moments in golf, and find out about some of the quirkier, behind-the scene moments, both touching and humorous.
 
MASTERS’ FACTS AND FIGURES:
• 43 million Americans watched Tiger Woods win his first of four green jackets.
• It’s the number one televised golf tournament in the world.
• You cannot apply for membership; you must be invited.
• The tradition of wearing green jackets began in 1937.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower was the only president to have been a club member.

Foreword   Don Wade     xi
Introduction   Brad Faxon     1
The Traditions     7
"The Men of the Masters": from A Good Walk Spoiled: Days and Nights on the PGA Tour   John Feinstein     9
"My First Time at Augusta": from A Golfer's Life   Arnold Palmer   James Dodson     33
"The Masters Its Ownself": from Fairways and Greens: The Best Golf Writing of Dan Jenkins   Dan Jenkins     39
"The Wearing of the Green Masters Jacket"   Craig Dolch     49
"Masters Sets the Standard for Civility"   Ron Agostini     53
The Personalities     55
"Charles de Clifford Roberts, Jr.": from the Introduction to The Masters: Golf, Money, and Power in Augusta, Georgia   Curt Sampson     57
"The 1942 Masters": from Byron Nelson: An Autobiography   Byron Nelson     65
"Call It Sam's Place, Augusta"   Tom Callahan     71
"Thanks, Arnie"   John Boyette     75
"Augusta": from Jack Nicklaus: My Story   Jack Nicklaus   Ken Bowden     89
"A Master Feat"   Brad Townsend     105
"'Did I Tell You the One About...'"   Craig Bestrom     113
The Course     139
"The World's Wonder Inland Golf Course": from The Making of the Masters   David Owen     141
"The Other Side: For Starters, Champion Must Master Augusta's Unheralded Front Nine"   Bill Nichols     151
"The Fateful Corner-Amen Corner"   Herbert Warren Wind     157
"The 12th"   Rick Reilly     165
"The Masters Look"   Mark Stith     179
"Bentgrass Greens Hit Milestone"   David Westin     185
"A Crack in the Code"   Ron Whitten     189
The Background     197
"Masters Hardly Defines Augusta"   John Eisenberg     199
"What's It Like to Be a Member?"   Ron Sirak     205
"Before the Masters There's the Madness"   Bob Harig     215
"The Masters: Toughest Ticket in Sports"   Mike Fish     219
The Caddies     225
"Tales from the Caddyshack"   David Westin     227
"Those New Masters Caddies"   Dave Anderson     237
"The Masters: Get Your Mouth Off My Ball!": from Who's Your Caddy?   Rick Reilly     241
The Moments     261
"War Comes to Augusta": from When War Played Through: Golf During World War II   John Strege     263
"The Day When Burke Roared"   Steve Campbell     275
"Strokes of Genius"   Rick Reilly     281
"The Tournament Begins on the Back Nine on Sunday": from The Majors   John Feinstein     289
"Holly, Par 4, 465 Yards, Dogleg Right": from One Magical Sunday (But Winning Isn't Everything)   Phil Mickelson   Donald T. Phillips     315
The Controversies     325
"More Agony at Augusta": from Getting Up & Down: My 60 Years in Golf   Ken Venturi   Michael Arkush     327
"A Ridiculous Rule"   Arthur Daley     337
"Mopping Up": from The Snake in the Sandtrap (and Other Misadventures on the Golf Tour)   Lee Trevino   Sam Blair     341
"Off Course in Augusta"   Susan Reimer     345
"Masters of Their Domain"   Bill Simmons     357
The History     363
The Champions     367
The Records     371
Credits     373
Index     375