Masters Tournament - 2022 Preview
The time is finally here – we are just hours away from the first round of the 2022 edition of the Masters. It will be the 86th Masters Tournament, and the first of four major golf tournaments held this year, with the others being the PGA Championship, The Open Championship and The US Open.
Whilst highly anticipated every year, 2022 will be especially popular amongst golf fans; it is the first to mirror normality, having a full capacity after limited attendees allowed in 2020 and 2021.
Here’s a quick preview of the event, including past winners, announced players and other interesting stats around this iconic event.
History and Traditions
Taking place at Augusta National Golf Club, The Masters is a world-renowned 72-hole tournament taking place over four days. The course first opened 89 years ago, however, has been modified a number of times, such as re-designing greens and added holes. Now standing at whopping 7,510 yards however, it’s not only the course length that makes Augusta so challenging, but also the undulating greens and firm nature of the course.
The prize money is certainly impressive; 2021’s was valued at $11.5m, with $2.1 of this going into the winner’s pocket. In addition to the cash prize, the winner is presented with a very distinctive green jacket, and a gold medal. By tradition, the winner of the previous year presents the jacket to the new winner at the end of tournament.
The tournament’s traditions don’t stop there! The ‘Champion’s Dinner’ is held each year on the Tuesday of tournament week. The defending champions also selects the dinner menu, which, as you can imagine, has allowed for a variety of dishes to be served up over the years! For example, Scotsman Sandy Lyle served up haggis in 1989; Trevor Immelman served up South African cuisine, and 1997 champion, Tiger Woods, served American classics – cheeseburgers, French fries, and milkshakes! This meal was slightly controversial, but the then-24-year-old simply replied, ‘I’m young and it’s what I want to eat’.
Fan-favourite and arguably the greatest golfer of all time, Tiger Woods has claimed the Masters title a whopping five times, with his most recent victory in 2019. However, Woods isn’t the leader in Masters victories; Jack Nicklaus, or ‘The Golden Bear’, has worn the crown six times – which doesn’t even put a dent into his 117 professional tournament victories. Danny Willett was the last Brit to win the tournament, wearng the crown back in 2016.
Participation is by invitation only, and the tournament has the smallest field of the major championships, with just 90-100 players. In fact, there is certain, highly detailed criteria to meet to expect said invite:
- Past Masters champions
- Past U.S. Open champions (five years)
- Past Open champions (five years)
- Past PGA champion (five years)
- Players’ champion (three years)
- Current Olympic gold medallist (one year)
- Current U.S. Amateur champion and runner-up (one year)
- Current British Amateur champion (one year)
- Current Asia-Pacific Amateur champion (one year)
- Current U.S. Mid-Amateur champion (one year)
- Current Latin America Amateur champion (one year)
- First 12 players, including ties, in the previous year's Masters
- First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's U.S. Open
- First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's Open Championship
- First 4 players, including ties, in the previous year's PGA Championship
- Winners of PGA Tour regular-season and playoff events that award at least a full allocation of FedEx Cup points
- Qualifiers from the previous year's season-ending Tour Championship (top 30 in FedEx Cup)
- 50 leaders on the final Official World Golf Ranking for the previous calendar year
- 50 leaders on the Official World Golf Ranking published during the week prior to the current Masters
Ones to Watch
According to the criteria, fans can expect to see some the biggest names in golf battle it out for the Green Jacket this year, including Fred Couples, 2021 champion Hideki Matsuyama, current World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Reed and many more…
Big-hitting Spaniard, Jon Rahm, is among the favourites to win this year, and he could add to his first major success in 2021’s US Open as a result. Aussie Cameron Smith is also one to watch, after his victory at the PLAYERS Championships earlier this year. Furthermore, Smith denied Rahm a win in January’s Tournament of Champions, with just one stroke between them.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is also a force to be reckoned with for the 2022 Masters. A win at this tournament will allow the 32-year-old to tick the box for a career grand slam. Let’s not also forget other stars such as 2020 champion Dustin Johnson, 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and Olympic champion Xander Schauffele.
However, much of the attention has revolved around 15-time major champion, Tiger Woods, who arrived at Augusta on Monday. Can no news be good news in this instance? All we can say is, watch this space…