The Green Jacket is First Awarded at The Masters Tournament

The winner of the Masters tournament is presented with a distinctive green jacket, awarded since 1949.

The green sport coat is the official attire worn by members of Augusta National while on the club grounds; each Masters winner becomes an honorary member of the club. Winners keep their jacket for the first year after their first victory, then return it to the club to wear whenever they visit. The tradition began in 1949, when Sam Snead won his first of three Masters titles. The green jacket is only allowed to be removed from Augusta National by the reigning champion, after which it must remain at the club. Exceptions to this rule however are Gary Player, who in his joy of winning mistakenly took his jacket home to South Africa after his 1961 victory, (although he always followed the spirit of the rule, and he has never worn the jacket) and Seve Ballesteros who, in a recent interview with Peter Alliss from his home in Pedrena, showed off one of his 2 green jackets in his trophy room.

By tradition, the winner of the previous year's Masters Tournament puts the jacket on the current winner at the end of the tournament. In 1966, Jack Nicklaus became the first player to win in consecutive years and he donned the jacket himself. When Nick Faldo (in 1990) and Tiger Woods (in 2002) repeated as champions, the chairman of Augusta National put the jacket on them.