Masters winners get a green jacket but did you know Augusta National still owns them?
How many people worldwide own one of the famed green jackets awarded annually to Masters Tournament champions?
It's a trick question. Every single jacket is owned by the Augusta National Golf Club, a federal court has upheld.
Now, Ryan Carey won't even consider bringing a green jacket into the lucrative sports collectibles market.
"Augusta National's position is that they own the green jackets and then they give out, basically, possessory rights to the champions," said Carey, founder and co-owner of the golf-collectibles auction house Golden Age. "So while we have sold green jackets in the past, we honor Augusta's opinion or stance on that, that they're really owned by them."
A rye-green, tropical-weight wool blazer with custom-pressed brass buttons has been awarded officially to each Masters champion since Sam Snead in 1949. But the club also gave jackets to the nine previous Masters champions.
In 2013, the green jacket owned by Horton Smith, the first Masters champion in 1934 and again in 1936, sold at auction for almost $700,000, believed to be a record for golf memorabilia. In 1994, a 1950s-era green jacket with its member's nametag snipped out surfaced at a Toronto thrift store, and was sold in 2017 for almost $140,000.
Many golf fans consider the green jackets an enduring symbol of the Masters' style and substance, which has made the distinctive blazers a target for eager collectors.
But some appear too eager. In March, a former warehouse worker at the Augusta National was sentenced to a year in jail for his role in handling millions of dollars' worth of the club's Masters memorabilia, including Arnold Palmer's first green jacket that he won in 1958.
Fiercely protective of its branded image, the National has gone to court to protect the jackets. In 2017, the Augusta National legally challenged Golden Age's predecessor, Green Jacket Auctions, which handled some of the last green jackets ever to come to market.
A federal judge closed the lawsuit in 2019 after an administrative panel agreed with the National's contention that the "green jacket" name, which it trademarked in 2010, belongs to the club in addition to the jackets.
But even without the jackets, the golf-collectibles market has stayed solid, according to Carey, saying that collecting "alternative assets" from sports in general seemed to have risen with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as people sought solace in their possessions while sheltering in place.
More golf-memorabilia collectors are pivoting toward other big-ticket items, such as winners' Masters trophies, which depict the National's famous clubhouse. The permanent Masters Trophy stays at the club.
Carey helped sell one of Palmer's four Masters trophies at auction in 2016 for more than $444,000. The trophy was promised to a golf museum at a Virginia resort that never was built.
Now in the hands of a private collector, the trophy could "easily" fetch more than $1 million if auctioned, he said.
"I keep begging the owner to let me sell it again, and as of right now he keeps saying no. He enjoys having it in his collection," Carey said. "That's probably the one I'd like to get back the most."
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USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
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'I had this dream of being a club pro, giving lessons and being part of the fabric of a club,' Baker-Finch recalled. 'I never thought I'd be an Open champion.' For many golf fans, the 1984 Open at St. Andrews represented Baker-Finch's first real splash on the world stage. He held a share of the 54-hole lead and played with Tom Watson in the final pairing before skying to 79. Jim Nantz, who would become his longtime friend and broadcast partner at CBS, remembers being dazzled by Baker-Finch's play. 'He was just 23 and you could tell he was going to be a star,' Nantz said. Baker-Finch would surpass his wildest dreams by winning the 1991 Open at Royal Birkdale. In the final round, Baker-Finch sank a 15-foot birdie at the par-3 seventh to go 5 under for the day. He looked up at the leaderboard as he walked to the eighth tee and realized he held a five-shot lead. 'I thought, 'Bloody hell, do not stuff it up from here. I will not be allowed back home,' ' he wrote in his biography. Pete Bender compared caddying for Baker-Finch that week to riding Secretariat, the champion thoroughbred racehorse, and all he had to do was hold on. During his victory speech, Baker-Finch said, 'The pain of the other couple of times when I had a chance to do it gave me the strength to do it today. I will cherish this trophy forever.' Within three years of his Open conquest, his game was in tatters. The 1993 Australian PGA Championship was the last of his 17 wins as a professional golfer. In 1995, he played in 15 tournaments on the PGA Tour and missed every single cut. He hit rock bottom at the 1997 Open at Troon, shooting 92 in the opening round and withdrew. At age 36, six years after being hailed as the Champion Golfer of the Year, his playing career was over. To this day, he regrets playing that round at Troon because the scar tissue became too deep. 'Had I not played that day,' he mused, 'I may have come back to playing but then that was the sliding door moment to the TV career.' Baker-Finch had dabbled in TV the year before while nursing injuries back home in Australia and served as the lead analyst for all four networks in his native land during the summer portion of the schedule as well contributing to the Open Championship for ABC. Its producer at the time, Jack Graham, called him and said, 'I know you would love to get back to playing but if you don't, you've got a job with us.' As a broadcaster, he was a gifted storyteller and determined to follow the principles of 'less is more.' He made a point to glean fresh information from players. 'There was always a warmth quotient,' said CBS's play-by-play commentator Jim Nantz. 'Everyone loves Ian. His genuine kindness always shone through.' 'Everything Finchy said had meaning and purpose,' said CBS executive producer of golf Sellers Shy. 'As our mate steps away, he leaves 19 memorable years at CBS Sports defined by integrity, excellence and kindness. 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'It's never been about me. I'm sort of uncomfortable when something's about me. The love and support I've received since I went public with my retirement has been overwhelming. I do think there may be some on social media that'll say good riddance, we didn't like the accent, or we didn't like him or he was never tough enough on the players but that doesn't worry me. I think the majority will say, 'Hey, he did a good job. He loved the game. We'll miss him.' "
Los Angeles Times
6 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
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Fox Sports
a day ago
- Fox Sports
Yamashita struggles and sees her Women's British Open lead shrink to 1 shot over Kim
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