More iconic than some sporting competitions are the ways they signify their winners, whether that’s caps for footballers playing for their country, the yellow jersey for the leader and overall winner of cycling's Tour de France, or the green jacket of the Masters champion in golf.
Rory McIIroy on Sunday became only the sixth golfer in history to achieve a career Grand Slam with his victory at Augusta National. His win in the playoff against England's Justin Rose completes his collection of the major titles having already triumphed at the PGA Championship (2012 and 2014), the U.S. Open trophy (2011) and the British Open (2014).
While each competition has their own trophy and tradition, arguably the story behind the famous green jacket is the least known. The Masters green jacket tradition was officially started in 1949, but the history of the garment can be traced back to 1930.
At the 1930 Open Championship at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, celebrated amateur American golfer Bobby Jones won the second of his four pre-Masters Grand Slam victories that year.
While his success was the beginning of a moment that cemented Jones as one of the greatest amateur golfers in history, it was also notable for him winning a red jacket from the English club’s captain Kenneth Stoker.
Jones had taken a liking to the club’s matching red jackets and had agreed with Stoker that if he won, he’d get Stoker’s own version. Taking that red jacket home, he instated the tradition of matching jackets as part of the branding behind his own golf club, the Augusta National.
Instead of red, the Augusta National settled on a verdant green jacket to match the colour of the fresh lawns of the club. The Augusta National became the homeplace of the US Masters Grand Slam from 1934.
From 1949, it was decided that all winners of the US Masters at Jones’ club would receive their own green jacket with all previous winners retroactively receiving their own version.
Since then, players including Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan have all won their own green jackets.
Green jacket winners are allowed to keep their prize for a year before it must be returned to the Augusta National club where it is kept in a specially designated storeroom for them. Only reigning champions are allowed to remove their jacket from the clubhouse.
The current reigning champion is American golfer Scottie Scheffler, who won his second US Masters in 2024 after his first victory in 2022. Tiger Woods is the golfer who’s won the Masters the most with five victories.
Not all players have been so accepting of the strict rules about using the jacket. Britain's Nick Faldo wore his green jacket for many press appearances, having won in 1989, 1990, and 1996. Similarly, Seve Ballesteros of Spain reportedly didn’t return the jacket between his two wins in 1980 and 1983.
The rule was first put in place after Gary Player was frustrated with his jacket being kept in America while he wanted to wear it in his native South Africa following his win in 1961.
A green jacket has ended up on the free market before as well. In 1994, an authentic winning jacket was bought by a journalist for $5 (€9.70 adjusted for inflation). It was then sold in 2017 by Green Jacket Auctions for $139,000 (€163,000 adjusted).
The same auction house sold Horton Smith 1949 winning green jacket for $682,229 (€842,000 adjusted) in 2013 and Jones’ own jacket for $310,700 (€397,000 adjusted) in 2011.
This year, Scheffler will likely fight off fierce competition from Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy for the green jacket at the 89th edition of the competition.
