The Green Jackets of the Masters
Across the Savannah River in Augusta, the winner of the 2025 Masters Tournament will soon be crowned, donning the world-renowned green jacket. Scottie Scheffler is the most recent in a long legacy of green jacket holders—and the only one with the right to wear the green jacket beyond the boundaries of the Augusta National Golf Club. On Sunday, April 13, he will continue the tradition, either by presenting one to the next winner or receiving his first winning jacket again from the club chairman and continuing his reign as champion.
Now in the green jacket’s 75th anniversary year, its history can be traced among all the golfing greats: from Tiger Woods to Arnold Palmer to the very first recipient, Sam Snead.
In 1949, the Masters Tournament was only fifteen years old. Members of the Augusta National Golf Club wore green jackets to stand out from the crowd during the Masters, marking themselves as locals ready to answer travelers’ questions. When Sam Snead won the tournament, co-founder Bobby Jones decided to start a tradition in Augusta he first experienced in England. Jones had won the British Open nearly twenty years beforehand, earning a red jacket from the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. By bringing that tradition to the Masters, he created a signifier for tournament winners now recognized worldwide.
Over the past 76 years, the coveted green jackets have at times featured shoulder pads, varied button placements, and other small changes as popular fashion ebbed and flowed. But one thing will never change: the Masters green jacket is the mark of a champion.
