In addition to a cash award, the winner of the tournament is presented with a distinctive green jacket, awarded since 1949, highly coveted among professional golfers. The green coat is actually the official coat worn by members of Augusta National while on the club grounds; each Masters winner becomes an honorary member of the club. Winners keep their jacket for the first year after their first victory, then return it to the club to wear during tournament week each following year.

The first Masters Tournament was held on 22 March 1934 and was won by Horton Smith. Bobby Jones saw his involvement in founding the tournament as a service to golf, but demurred at calling it the Masters Tournament, preferring "Augusta National Invitation Tournament". That name was used for five years before Jones relented and the present name was adopted in 1939. The first tournament was played with current holes 10 through 18 played as the first nine, and 1 through 9 as the second nine (although front and back are more commonly used, the Masters is well known for insisting on referring to the first and second nines), then reversed permanently to its famous layout for the 1935 tournament.

Gene Sarazen hit "The shot heard 'round the world," holing a shot from the fairway on the par 5 15th for a double eagle to force a 36 hole playoff. Which he subsequently won by 5 strokes to win the 1935 Masters. The Tournament was not played during,1943, 1944 and 1945, due to World War II. To assist the war effort, cattle and turkeys were raised on the Augusta National grounds [1]. The now traditional Par 3 contest, which takes place on the wednesday before the tournament begins, was first instigated in 1960[2]. In 1961 Gary Player became the first non-American Masters champion. In 1975 Lee Elder became the first African-American to qualify for the Masters.

Arnold Palmer dominated the Masters from 1958 to 1964, winning the event 4 times during that span. His second Masters was the stuff of a legend. Trailing Ken Venturi by one shot in the 1960 event, Palmer drilled his drive down the fairway on the 400-yard downwind 17th, pitched with an eight-iron to the green, where the ball sat down too quickly, leaving him a 25-foot putt. Twice Palmer lined up the putt, then struck it boldly for a birdie. At the 18th, he took out a six-iron and drilled the ball into the teeth of the wind onto the green. Palmer made a 3-foot birdie and he instantly became not only a golf legend, but a legend at the Masters.

While Palmer was in his prime, a young Ohio State golfer emerged who would make the Masters his playground: Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus won his first green jacket in 1963, with a key birdie on the 16th hole. Two years later, he shot a then-course record of 271 (17 under par) for his 2nd green jacket. Bobby Jones said of Nicklaus "He played a game I'm not familiar with". The next year, Nicklaus won his third green jacket in a grueling 18-hole playoff. He won again in 1972, but his 5th green jacket was one of the best. In 1975, he was locked in a duel with Tom Weiskopf when on the 16th hole on the final day, he hit a nice shot to the green, then before a worldwide television audience, Nicklaus made a incredible 40-foot birdie en route to his 5th green jacket.

Gary Player became the first non-American to win the Masters in 1961, after Arnold Palmer scored a fatal 6 on the final hole. He won the green jacket again in 1974. By 1978 many golf writers considered Player a has-been, but that brought out the best in him. At age 41, he fired a final round 64 including 30 on the second nine to capture his third green jacket.

The most controversial ending to a Masters event happened in 1968. Roberto de Vicenzo signed a 4 instead of a 3 on the 17th hole that cost him a chance to be in an 18-hole playoff with Bob Goalby, who would win the Masters.

Non-Americans collected eleven victories in twenty years in the 1980s and 1990s, by far the strongest streak they have had in any of the three majors played in the United States since the early days of the U.S Open. Jack Nicklaus became the oldest player to win the Masters in 1986 when he won for the sixth time at age 46. In 1997 headlines were made around the world when Tiger Woods won the Masters by twelve shots at age 21, breaking the Tournament four-day scoring record that had stood for 32 years in the process.

During the 1980s and 1990s, no golfer suffered the slings and arrows of Augusta more than Greg Norman. Two moments stand out in particular. First, in 1987, he lost in a playoff to an unlikely local hero named Larry Mize. Mize holed out a remarkable 45-yard pitch shot to win the Masters. Then, in 1996, Norman had a 6-shot lead entering the final round only to choke under pressure and lose to Nick Faldo by 5 shots.

More recently, the club was targeted by Martha Burk, who organized a failed protest at the 2003 Tournament to pressure the club to accept female members. The 2003 Tournament was won by Mike Weir, who became the first Canadian, to win a major championship, and the first left-hander to win the Masters. The following year, another left-hander, Phil Mickelson, won to record his first major championship, winning by sinking a 15-foot (4.6 m) putt on the 18th hole to beat Ernie Els by a shot.

As with many other courses, Augusta National's championship setup has been lengthened in recent years. In 1998 it measured approximately 6,925 yards from the Masters tees, but by 2006 it was almost 500 yards longer at 7,445 yards. The 2006 changes attracted many critics, including the three winningmost players in Masters history, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods. Woods claimed "Shorter hitters are going to struggle". Augusta National chairman Hootie Johnson was unperturbed and stated, "We are comfortable with what we are doing with the golf course". After a practice round Gary Player defended the changes saying, "There have been a lot of criticisms, but I think unjustly so, now I've played it.... The guys are basically having to hit the same second shots that Jack Nicklaus had to hit [in his prime]".