Apr 7, 2026; Augusta, Georgia, USA; Rory McIlroy walks up to the no. 12 tee during a practice round for the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Grace Smith-Imagn Images
While the professional golf season technically begins in January on some Hawaiian island, the real beginning is this week at The Masters.
For most golfers this is when the golf season stops being polite and starts getting real. Maybe the flowers haven’t bloomed in your backyard, but at Augusta National Golf Course the flowers are a perfect explosion of color and every blade of grass is delicately manicured for the best golfers in the world.
The Masters, more than any other sporting event, is built on traditions, and those traditions have become emblazoned into every golfer's mind.
I have a feeling golf lovers spend more time watching the Masters than they do going to church each year. Which is why The Masters truly is the cathedral of golf — not just in terms of a mecca to attend but an annual worship of the game.
Bryson DeChambeau takes the alternative route on No. 16. #themasters pic.twitter.com/nHQqIde7Kj
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 6, 2026
Most golf lovers will know by heart the lore I will write about below. For you folks, read on to refresh your memory. For anyone else, here are just some of the many reasons why The Masters is the greatest golf tournament and, perhaps, the greatest sporting event of mankind.
It is the only golf major played at the same time, at the same course, with the same aura (and fauna) every year. While all other sports try to out-do the previous year, modernize or make vain appeals to youth culture, The Masters sticks with tradition, standards, and rules and with that it becomes more and more the Holy Grail of sporting events.
Badges to The Masters (not tickets, badges) are difficult to come by. Many of the multi-day badges are held by a select group of individuals. These lucky pilgrims have been attending for generations and likely have sat in the same spot on the course every year. Badges can also be acquired by winning a lottery held every year. Even winning a pass for practice rounds, are difficult to come by.
I have tried for over 20 years with no success. So has my mother and children, although they have no idea that they have been trying too. Somehow, I have met those who have won the Lottery. In fact, I meet a couple who have hit multiple times and act like it isn’t that hard. I’ve thought about worshiping these folks for karmic benefit, or at least get them to adopt me and then take me as their new son.
Once you are on the grounds you are a Patron, not a fan. Being a Patron comes with rules you must follow, but there are also amazing perks. You can not run. Cell phones are forbidden. You better be on your best behavior or you are out, no questions asked, no due process. Even yelling something mildly vulgar will get you tossed.
Follow the rules and you get the perks! Prices for food and drinks are kept low. You get to step into history, the grand cathedral of golf. It’s like attending Easter Mass at St. Peter’s. I have yet to meet someone who was disappointed or felt the experience was overhyped. In fact it is the opposite. Most people have told me it exceeded their expectations. Pretty amazing when you think about all the hype.
Then there are the traditions for the players. You win The Masters and you are forever a legend in golf and more so at Augusta.
Every winner gets a lifetime invitation to play the tournament no matter how much their game fades. You get to host, and choose the menu, for the champions dinner the year after you win. You attend this dinner every year for life. I can’t even imagine sitting at the dinner table with legends like Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Charl Schwartzel! Who? Yeah, Charl Schwartzel won this as well and he gets the same perks as Tiger Woods.
Typically The Masters has one of the largest purses of all tournaments, but it isn’t the money that is the most coveted prize...
... it is the Green Jacket. The winner is draped by last year's winner with easily the most iconic prize in all of sport. Nowhere else would you wear a brilliant rye green blazer and get away with it. At Augusta if you have the green jacket you are royalty.
In a desperate attempt to get into The Masters I actually applied to work as a bartender there a couple years ago. The pay is minimal, the hours are long and hard, and you need to figure out where to stay and how to get to and from the venue every day, but the chance to get even a few hours at the tournament between working was too tempting.
I had to take an intelligence test (I think I passed that?) and then a virtual interview, which I thought I nailed. I totally lied about how I would react in certain situations. Instead of giving my typical jackass answers I tried to sound like an obedient, emotionless robot. I was rejected, so now I’m writing these columns in hopes to get a press pass for next year. I’ll let you know how that goes, but in the meantime sit back and enjoy your annual golf worship.
Ed Levine writes regularly about golf for the Fideri News Network, including OnPattison.com, primarily at the local level, but also muses about the national events and the pro tours.
