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It’s a Masters tradition that dates back to 1934 when the event started: If you win the green jacket, you donate one of your clubs to Augusta National.
Clubs used by winners from 1934 to 1954 are displayed in the clubhouse’s trophy room, while all of the other clubs reside in the grill room. Repeat winners used to donate a club for each victory, but that changed in 1954 when the ritual became to donate a club only for a first Masters triumph. For instance, Tiger Woods offered the driver from his 1997 win but was not asked to give anything for his subsequent four Masters titles.
There are exceptions. Gene Sarazen didn’t provide a club; he gave the ball used for his albatross in the 1935 Masters. Players are obviously fickle when it comes to equipment, so accommodations often are made. Larry Mize had just switched wedges before the week of his 1987 win and then famously chipped in using that wedge, so an agreement was made that Mize would send it along once the grooves had worn down. José María Olazábal donated a putter from his 1999 victory rather than a club from his 1994 win. And, wanting to donate a putter because of the fashion he won the 1998 Masters, Mark O’Meara gave his backup Ping Anser. For the most part, the clubs on display were actually used in the event, but it’s not a strict rule.
In one case, a player completely forgot. Fred Couples won in 1992 and only donated a club in 2021, nearly three decades after his victory. The reason?
“I had no clue,” Couples said last year.
He had been reading an email about the Masters where he was described as “the only champion to not give a club to Augusta National.” Couples went back into his basement and dug out the persimmon MacGregor M85 driver that he used in his victory.
"Guys were laughing," Couples said. "I think they were laughing because they think I won in 1970, not 1992."
Being the easygoing Texan that he is, Scottie Scheffler made things simple this time around. Scheffler quickly decided to donate his 60-degree Titleist Vokey SM8 lob wedge on account of the grooves being nearly too worn down to continue being in his bag, anyway.
Why the lob wedge? Despite a terrific ballstriking performance in which he hit 49 of 72 greens, Scheffler called out the 60-degree as his most successful club of the week.
“If I was to pick one part of my game that excelled the most, I would say it was probably my lob wedge,” Scheffler said after his three-stroke victory. “Even today, I had some really good up-and-downs in the beginning of the round and then just kept myself in position.”
The Masters receives a lot of attention for this tradition, although the tournament is not the only one to do it. Winners of the Players Championship also send along a club to be displayed in the TPC Sawgrass clubhouse.
Sean Fairholm