Masters green jacket celebrates 75 years: Brass buttons, hockey pucks, missing jackets ... and everything in between

Part of the registration form to compete in the Masters includes a field asking for players’ jacket size.

It’s not hard to guess why. The iconic green jacket is one of the most coveted prizes in golf and has become synonymous with achievement, tradition and honor. It meant so much to 1970 Masters champion Billy Casper that he even requested to be buried in it.

Of course, some players like Jordan Spieth don’t know their jacket size. Following his 2015 Masters victory, Spieth recalled: “I didn't give them my size originally. I wore the one off the green that day, and I never gave it back to them to tailor or anything, … so it's huge.”

Follow along as we delve into the origins and history of the green jacket and see how players have had fun with the fabric on and off Augusta’s hallowed grounds.

The origins

In 1930, while attending The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Club, Augusta National Golf Club co-founder and legendary amateur golfer Bobby Jones noticed that all of the club’s captains were clothed in matching red jackets. Jones would go on to win The Open and was privately gifted a red jacket of his own. When Augusta opened three years later, Jones pitched the idea of jackets. The colors red, yellow and “Georgia peach” were floated, but the club eventually settled on the verdant green that pillowed the azalea bushes.

By 1937, every Augusta member attending the Masters donned wool “green jackets” in order to stand out to visitors, who could ask members for directions.

With his win in 1949, Sam Snead became the first Masters champion to be awarded a green jacket and all past champions were retroactively given one.

The details

The green jacket’s fabric is a school uniform mix of wool and polyester produced locally in Georgia, while the jackets themselves are made in Cincinnati. The blazer is the trademarked shade “Pantone 342,” or “Masters green,” and is single-breasted and single-vented with logo-stamped custom brass buttons made in Connecticut. The left breast pocket has an embroidered patch with the Augusta National logo, and the owner’s name is stitched in the inside lining. Each jacket takes about a month to produce and costs around $250.

The club has jackets of various sizes on standby for winners, and the ceremonial jacket originally presented to winners eventually gets swapped out for a custom one of their size. Champions also have the option to get their jacket tailored – though some like Spieth (“I never trusted anybody, never wanted anyone to go do it”) have declined.

Repeat winners are awarded the same original green jacket. Just ask José María Olazábal, who knew his 1999 green jacket was the same as his jacket from his 1994 win “because the name is still misspelled inside” (spelled "Olazabel”).

Of course, the exception is six-time Masters winner Jack Nicklaus, who didn’t officially own his own green jacket until 1998 – 35 years after winning his first. As a heavier-set 23-year-old in 1963, Arnold Palmer presented him with a size 46 jacket.

“It hung on me like an old blanket,” Nicklaus recalled.

Winning again just a year later – and with still no replacement jacket ordered – Nicklaus used a loaner jacket for his next three wins. Wanting to keep it going, he eventually ordered a replica green jacket – of completely wrong cut and color – that was presented to him in 1975. Somehow, nobody noticed.

Finally, the jig was up in 1997, when Nicklaus approached Chairman Jack Stephens, who offered up a new, official green jacket.

Outfit of champions

Entering Sunday at Augusta National, surely every player in contention dresses himself with the possibility of a green jacket in the back of his mind?

But in the case of Bernhard Langer at the 1985 Masters, perhaps not. He became the first Masters champion to pair a bright red shirt and pants with the green jacket, and he lit up Augusta National like a Christmas tree.

“I felt comfortable in red,” said Langer. “It’s an aggressive color.”

Langer is not the only champion to have graced the fairways with bold fashion choices. In his first of three Masters victories, Sir Nick Faldo wore a white sweater with green geometric patterns over a light blue polo paired with blue pants. He later capped off his green jacket garb with a Union Jack-patterned cap.

During the final round of the 1995 Masters, Ben Crenshaw wore a whimsical shirt featuring photos of Bobby Jones printed all over. His green jacket ceremony was a fitting tribute to the originator of the garment.

Off the grounds

Only the defending Masters champion may take his green jacket off the grounds, and Faldo took full advantage of that perk. As the legend of the green jacket grew, so did the buzz around the champion after each tournament, and Faldo began to wear it during press appearances. Other players followed suit, as champions like Trevor Immelman and Zach Johnson wore the jacket as they went through the post-Masters New York “car wash,” appearing on talk shows, touring the Empire State Building and ringing the opening bell at the New York stock exchange.

Immelman also paid a visit to see his favorite basketball team, the Boston Celtics, play in Madison Square Garden, cementing the tradition of wearing the green jacket to other sporting events. Both 2003 champion Mike Weir and 2022 champion Scottie Scheffler opened sports games in their green jackets, as Weir dropped the puck at the Air Canada Centre and Scheffler threw the first at a Texas Rangers baseball game.

A green-jacket-clad Spieth famously belted the “Eyes of Texas” from the sidelines at a Texas football game, and 2016 champion Danny Willett attended Wimbledon wearing his green jacket.

A case of the missing jacket

Some champions were not quite as observant of the one-year rule. When asked to return his jacket in 2002 by then-Chairman Hootie Johnson, two-time Masters champion Seve Ballesteros (1980, 1983) declined.

South Africa’s Gary Player, who became the first international winner of the Masters in 1961, was requested to bring his jacket back by Clifford Roberts. He famously replied, “Fine, Mr. Roberts, if you want it, come and fetch it!” Player ultimately agreed to not wear the jacket in public, and players were eventually issued a replica jacket they could keep at home.

The legend lives on

Over the years, other wacky scenarios have emerged.

When a 21-year-old Tiger Woods won his first of five Masters Champions in 1997, he refused to remove it. “I fell asleep fully clothed and hugging the green jacket like a blanket,” he recalled afterward.

When 2007 champion Zach Johnson arrived in Times Square with the jacket covered by a white trash bag, his wife Kim explained: “We don’t have a garment bag. We didn’t plan on winning the Masters.”

While back home in Australia, 2013 champion Adam Scott endured a scare: “One of the buttons was ripped off by a friend of mine because he was just so excited,” he shared. Luckily, Scott was able to patch it up at home with no long-term issues.

The 2021 champion, Hideki Matsuyama, was spotted carrying the green jacket through the Atlanta airport and admitted that for the entire year, he never had his jacket dry cleaned. “I just was so worried that something might happen to it,” he said. “… I didn’t want to let it out of my sight.”