The Masters Tournament is an event where tradition runs deeper than almost anywhere else in sport, and where the details matter almost as much as the golf itself. From a sandwich with a six-decade history to sleeping quarters that have housed future legends, here are five things about The Masters that go beyond the leaderboard.
1. The $1.50 pimento cheese sandwich: the most famous food in golf
Augusta National is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the world. Getting through its gates requires either a badge passed down through generations of a family or extraordinary luck in the annual public ballot. And yet, once inside, the concessions stand sells you one of sport’s most iconic foods for a dollar fifty. The pimento cheese sandwich has been part of the Masters since at least the 1960’s. Perhaps surprisingly, the price of the pimento cheese sandwich has not changed since 2002, still sitting at just $1.50. Former Augusta National chairman Billy Payne put it best: “We take certain things very, very seriously. Like the cost of a pimento cheese sandwich is just as important as how high the second cut of grass is going to be.”
The iconic sandwich comes wrapped in green plastic (it will blend into the grass if dropped). For those watching at home this weekend, the recipe is a tightly kept secret, but the internet has plenty of approximations-why not recreate your own version to enjoy while you’re watching the action?
2. The Champions Dinner menu chosen by Rory
One of the Masters’ most beloved traditions is the Champions Dinner, held on the Tuesday evening before the tournament begins. The defending champion selects the menu for a private dinner attended exclusively by past Masters winners . This is a ritual that has been going since 1952.
This year, Rory McIlroy chose a menu that reflects his personality while being broadly appealing with a nod to his Northern Irish roots. Starters included bacon-wrapped dates with goat cheese, elk sliders with caramelised onion jam and garlic aioli, peach and ricotta flatbread, and rock shrimp tempura. A yellowfin tuna carpaccio with foie gras, toasted baguette, and chives followed, before a main course choice of wagyu filet mignon or salmon, both served with champ, Brussels sprouts, glazed carrots with brown butter, and Vidalia onion rings. Dessert was sticky toffee pudding with toffee sauce and ice cream.
3. The flowers: Augusta in full bloom
No sporting venue in the world looks quite like Augusta National in April, and the flowers are a huge part of why. The course is famously named after its blooms: each hole carries the name of a plant or flower native to the Georgia landscape, from Camellia at the first to Holly at the 18th.
The azaleas are the stars of the show. Planted in drifts of pink, red, and white around the course — most visibly behind the 13th green at Amen Corner, they typically peak spectacularly during Masters week, transforming the course into something that looks more like a painting than a sporting venue. These azaleas provide the backdrop to some of the most gripping Sunday afternoon golf you will ever see. Keep an eye on the television coverage of Amen Corner specifically: broadcasters linger on it deliberately, and they are right to. When the leaders reach those holes on Sunday afternoon with the pink and white flowers blazing behind them, there is simply nothing else like it in sport.
4. Amen Corner: where the tournament will be decided
If the flowers draw your eye, Amen Corner will hold your attention. Holes 11, 12, and 13 at Augusta National have earned their nickname through decades of drama and this weekend they will almost certainly determine who walks away with the green jacket.
The 12th, Golden Bell, is perhaps the most treacherous par-three in major championship golf. Just 155 yards long, it plays over Rae’s Creek to a shallow green protected by a bunker at the front. The wind swirls deceptively through the pines behind — players on the tee cannot feel the breeze that will carry or drop their ball. As Akshay Bhatia put it during practice this week: “You can look like a fool; you can also look great hitting it to 40 feet. It might be the best 150-yard par-three in the world.” The 12th has ended more Masters than it has decided and with a back-nine leaderboard that will inevitably be tight this weekend, expect it to play its part again.
5. The Crow’s Nest: golf’s most storied sleeping quarters
High above the Augusta National clubhouse, tucked beneath the cupola, sits one of the most unusual and cherished traditions in all of sport. The Crow’s Nest is a small suite of rooms reserved exclusively for amateur competitors during Masters week. It is a space so steeped in history and mythology that for many young golfers, simply sleeping there is a career highlight in itself.
The tradition dates back decades and is rooted in the Masters’ longstanding commitment to amateur golf. The rooms are modest, comprising a handful of sleeping areas, a small lounge and a bathroom, but the walls carry more history than almost anywhere else in the sport. Jack Nicklaus slept there during his amateur appearances at Augusta. So did countless others who went on to define the professional game.
thematchsuite.co.uk 
Leave a comment