The Green Jacket

Lore & Background

First presented in 1949, the Green Jacket is a symbol of membership at Augusta National Golf Club. The tradition began so that Masters champions could be easily identified by club patrons. The jacket remains the property of the club and must be returned after the winner's first year, though past champions may wear theirs when visiting Augusta National.

In Their Own Story

The rain had stopped just before the final putt. The 18th green at Augusta sat under a thin, broken sky, the azaleas along the fringe still damp, their pink and red petals beaded with droplets that caught the late-afternoon sun. The crowd along the green was silent in the way only Augusta crowds go silent—thousands of people holding their breath as one.

He stroked the ball. It rolled, kissed the fringe, and dropped. The flagstick wobbled in the cup. For a heartbeat, nothing. Then the green erupted, and the sound rolled back toward the clubhouse like a low tide coming in.

In the members' gallery, a staff member was already reaching for the garment draped over the chair's back. Dark green. Cut clean. Waiting. He would walk it down the steps, through the corridor, out onto the green, and drape it over the shoulders of the man who had just done the one thing Augusta asks of you: win. And in that moment, the jacket would stop being a piece of cloth and become a history, a lineage, a key to a door that opens only once a year, in April, in Georgia, under the pines.

Reader's Guide

The cast includes Elvire Popesco as La duchesse de Maulévrier, Victor Boucher as Le comte Hubert de Latour-Latour, Jules Berry as Parmeline, and others.

Did You Know?

• The Green Jacket has been awarded to the Masters champion since 1949.
• The jacket is kept at Augusta National and may only be worn by the champion for one year before being stored at the club.
• Past champions are allowed to wear their Green Jacket only when on the grounds of Augusta National.