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Event Information:
The
Masters Tournament will be the
76th edition of the Masters
Tournament, one of golf's four major
championships. It will be held from
April 5–8, . April
sees the first of the golf majors of
the year, with The Masters
Tournament. Unlike the other major
championships, the Masters is held
each year at the same location,
Augusta National Golf Club, a
private golf club in the city of
Augusta, Georgia, USA. The Masters
was started by Clifford Roberts and
Bobby Jones. Jones designed Augusta
National with course architect
Alister MacKenzie. The tournament is
an official money event on the PGA
Tour, the PGA European Tour, and the
Japan Golf Tour. The field of
players is smaller than those of the
other major championships because it
is an invitational event, entry
being controlled by the Augusta
National Golf Club.
The
first winner of the Masters
Tournament was Horton Smith in 1934.
He repeated his win in 1936. The
current champion, winning in 2010,
is Phil Mickelson, who won by three
strokes over Lee Westwood. The
player with the most Masters
victories is Jack Nicklaus, who won
six times between 1963 and 1986.
Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods have
each won four, and Jimmy Demaret,
Gary Player, Sam Snead, Nick Faldo
and Phil Mickelson have three titles
to their name. Gary Player also
became the tournament's first
overseas winner with his first
victory in 1961. Other notable
winners include Byron Nelson, Ben
Hogan, Tom Watson, Seve Ballesteros,
Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw and
José María Olazábal, who have all
won the Masters twice.
As
with many other courses, Augusta
National's championship setup has
been lengthened in recent years. In
2001, the course measured
approximately 6,925 yards (6,332 m)
from the Masters tees. It was
lengthened to 7,270 yards (6,650 m)
for 2002, and again in 2006 to 7,445
yards (6,808 m); 520 yards (480 m)
longer than the 2001 course. The
changes attracted many critics,
including the most successful
players in Masters history, Jack
Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player
and Tiger Woods. Woods claimed that
the "shorter hitters are going to
struggle." Augusta National chairman
Hootie Johnson was unperturbed,
stating, "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]
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