Playing Golf with the Masters

What do you have when guys like Phil Mickelson, Tim Clark, Jose Maria Olazabal, Retief Goosen, Tiger Woods and a bunch of other guys get together? You have none other but the greatest golf tournament in the world, The Master's tournament.

Often times the Master's tournament is referred to as the "US masters" or simply "The Masters." The Master's tournament is done every year and is one of four major championships in men's professional golf. It is held every year at the same location, at a private golf club in August Georgia U.S.A known as the Augusta National Golf Club.

The Master's tournament was started by the designer of Augusta National Golf club, Clifford Roberts and Bobby Jones who was one of the greatest amateur golfer. It used to be called "Augusta National Invitation Tournament". It was only called the "Master's tournament" in 1939. Some of the world's best golfers often made an honorary opening tee shot at the first hole. In 1984 until 2002, legendary golfer Sam Snead made the honorary shot. He was joined in 1999 by Gene Sarazene and Byron Nelson in 2001.

The Master's tournament is primarily an invitational event. In order to ensure that the leading current players in the world play in the tournament, the top fifty players in the official world golf ranking are automatically invited. Other players are invited based on published criteria. Past champions are also invited to play but they are discouraged if they are already of an advanced age.

Compared to other golf tournaments, the Master's tournament has a smaller field. There are usually only around 90 players that play annually. The tournament is held for four days and follows the typical 72 holes golf tournament format. Most of the rules followed are those defined by the United States Golf Association and the Master's tournament Committee. Champions in the master tournament automatically compete for the next five years at the other three major professional golf championships which are the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship They also earn a lifetime invitation to the Master's tournament. Winners also receive a membership on the PGA tour. They also receive a substantial amount of cash. The prize fund in 2006 was around $ 7,000,000.00.

The winners in the tournament get the famed "Green Jacket" which is awarded since 1949. Winners get to keep the green Jacket for the first year after their first victory. However they have to return it to the club and wear it only when they are in club grounds. The green jacket is the official jacket worn by members of the Augusta National club members while on club grounds. Winners are given this jacket because they automatically become honorary members of Augusta National Golf club. The winner of the previous year puts on the jacket of the incumbent winner.

Despite it's primarily being a professional golf tournament, the Master's tournament still holds on to the tradition of honoring the amateur golfer. The tournament invites winners from the most elite amateur tournaments in the world. Winners in the amateur Master's tournament get an award known as the Silver Cup. The Runner up gets a silver medal.

More than just being a game of golf, the tournament has also been highly involved in making contributions to the world of golf and the community at large. For the past nine years, the Master's tournament has contributed a total of $ 29 Million dollars to various organizations and projects which provides affordable access to the game of golf for young people who may not have an opportunity to play. Part of this money is also given to various charities that are involved in diverse programs such as housing, health, education and job generation.