The late Sam Snead, legendary golf champion from Bath County, was awarded the first green jacket ever awarded to a Masters Tournament champion.
Snead’s championship victory at the Augusta National Golf Club’s Masters in 1949 resulted in a tradition that has continued 73 years.
The tournament began in 1934 as the Augusta Invitational Tournament but was renamed the Masters in 1939.
No champion had been awarded the traditional green jacket since the tournament began until Snead was honored with his.
The members of Augusta National Golf Club had traditionally worn their green jackets to identify themselves as members of the club.
World War II interrupted tournament play 1943-1945 after Byron Nelson won the 1942 tournament.
Snead, who lived in Warm Springs, has a highway in Bath County named in his honor. He won two more Masters Championships, one in 1952 and another one in 1954.
Only Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus have won more green jackets than Snead. Woods has won five, and Nicklaus holds the record, having won six.
Gary Player, Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson are the only other golfers to have won the Masters three times.
Even the great Ben Hogan fell short of Snead’s wins, after winning two green jackets, one in 1951 and one in 1953.
Woods is the youngest golfer to win the Masters. He achieved the feat in 1997 at 21, and he has won more Masters than any golfer other than Nicklaus.
Woods’ four other green jackets were awarded to him after he won again in 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2019.
Nicklaus, “The Golden Bear,” remains the oldest golfer to win a green jacket. In 1986, he scored 65 on his final round to win at Augusta at 46.
His other five green jacket victories came in 1963, 1965, 1966, 1972 and 1975.
Golfers invited to compete in the Masters include PGA Champions, winners of Players Championships, current Gold Medalist, the current US Amateur Champion, and the runner-up to the current US Amateur Champion.
Bobby Jones, the legendary golfer, is a co-founder of the Masters that will feature the top golfers in the world teeing off at the Augusta National Golf Club beginning on Sat., April 7.
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