Interested in the ugliest, most beautiful piece of clothing that grown men would do everything short of cheat just to wear? And have their loved ones dress them in it just before they reach their final resting place? Or have it kind-of cloned (illegally) to be given to the winner of a Stanley Cup hockey pool?
Welcome to the closet of the Green Jacket.
It emerges (officially) just once a year, for a ceremony that announces to the world, or everybody watching CBS Sports, the new champion of The Masters. The current owner gives it to the next owner, and hopes it fits. The world’s most prestigious golf tournament tees off next week and by Sunday afternoon everybody will know which 292 golfers will have long faces. All but…
The current owner puts it on the new owner. Disliking it is sacrilegious. As an element of fashion, experts describe it as a single-breasted, centre-vented woolen garment, brilliant rye-green (Pantone 342). The three brass buttons are engraved with the Masters logo, as is the chest pocket. For all the players care, it could be purple, red and orange… judging by their golf clothing colours, sometimes it seems the winners didn’t expect to win.
The Green Jacket will be worn again for events of prestige and for showing off. A fashion statement it’s not. It’s not something you’d wear unless you wanted to attract attention. On the other hand, it has been worn in bed when fully clothed (Tiger Woods, of all people) and carried through customs and airport security by hand (Hideki Matsuyama), and sold at auction (Horton Smith) 13 years ago for $682,229. Four years ago, one found in a thrift store for $5 (now that’s more like it!) sold for $139,000.
Augusta co-founder Bobby Jones came up with the idea after he was given an all-red jacket after winning The British Open at Royal Liverpool—it identified Liverpool’s members when they played at other clubs. The Jacket was worn exclusively by club members before tournament winners, for 12 years, then somebody decided it needed to be more exclusive. Sam Snead wore the first Jacket, in 1949, with his predecessors receiving theirs retroactively.
Winning it comes with all kinds of rules, some of them even followed. Multiple winners get one jacket. The most egregious violation is considered Gary Player’s audacity to take his home, to South Africa. When Augusta called, asking for its return (that was the rule), being one of those “what Gary wants” people, he’s alleged to have told co-founder Clifford Roberts: “If you want it, come and fetch it.”
And Jack Nicklaus, who was won a record six Masters, didn’t get a Green Jacket that fit until 12 years after No. 6. His “original” came when he was, ah, heavy and didn’t fit after he scaled down. When the correction was made in 1998, everybody knew he was done.
And what about the cloned Green Jacket and the hockey pool?
Really, “green jacket” was the only similarity. The Masters logo was replaced by one of a human liver, because the hockey pool was called by The Liver League, raising funds for liver disease.
It may be available in some thrift store. Cheap.
