The Masters Golf Tournament

Known as the US Masters, the Masters Tournament, or most notably just The Masters, this is one of four major championships on the PGA tour, which takes place every first full week of April. The Masters, unlike the US Open and other PGA tournaments, takes place at the Augusta National Golf Club every year, and has taken place there since 1934. Originally, the Masters got its start when pro golfers Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts created the Augusta course to host a player's championship to decide which golfer was best in the world. Today's Masters is a four-round, par 72 course that takes place over a length of 7,435 yards. It's also a rather large tournament, with hundreds upon hundreds of golfers competing for the final cut, which gains them entry into the Masters. After the first round of cuts is complete, 96 golfers will start the tournament. Then, after the next two rounds of play, that number is whittled down by half and only golfers whose scores are atop the leader boards will continue on for the next 18-hole rounds.

In terms of worldwide notoriety and recognition, the Masters is the biggest golf tournament on an annual basis. It is famed for giving out the famous Green Jacket as a reward, which is proudly worn by all living previous winners at the start of each year's tournament. And in terms of prize money, over $9 million is divided amongst the top finishers in the tournament, which is an incredibly lucrative prize for a golf tournament. And that's not even counting how many endorsements the top finishers earn each year. A few commercial spots and magazine spots from finishing well in the Masters can bring in millions of dollars all its own. Naturally a tournament of this magnitude will be covered at all of the golf betting sites that we recommend, and likely at any sportsbook in general that offers legal golf betting.

There are many different places where people can bet on the Masters. However we are firm believers in betting with only reputable online sportsbooks that are legally licensed and regulated. So we offer detailed reviews of the top USA friendly online sportsbooks that are legal and offer golf betting odds. Our recommended pick is with Bovada, the Cadillac of online sports betting sites with a fantastic reputation in the industry.

Masters Betting Odds: Since the betting odds for most golf tournaments are released about 1 week prior to the event, we won't be able to post the odds until then. You can also find updated odds when you log into your sports betting account and selecting golf.

In the early 1930s, professional golfer and all-time legend Bobby Jones was reaching the end of his playing career. Being in love with the game of golf, he didn't want to retire from the game completely; he simply wanted to step out of the competitive spotlight. So, he decided to look for a piece of land on which to build his own personal course. When finding a piece of land in George he described as "perfect," Jones reached out to Clifford Roberts to help build the Augusta National Golf Club. After enlisting Alister MacKenzie to design and build the course in 1931, Augusta was opened for business in 1933. Unfortunately, MacKenzie passed away before the first Masters tournament, but Jones and Roberts lived to see it. The first tournament was known as the Augusta National Invitational, and Horton Smith won. In 1939, it adopted the name Masters, and that name has stuck ever since.

Starting in 1960 and carrying on almost until 1980, the Masters really took off in America. It had always been a popular tournament, but the triumvirate power structure of Nicklaus, Player and Palmer, who won the event respectively 12 years in a row, cemented the Masters' legacy as the greatest golf tournament in the world. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player are considered three of the best to ever tee off, and they were the successors of Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen a generation previous. They carried the Masters to its prominence today. So while the likes of Tiger Woods may be the most famous in recent memory, it's actually Player, Palmer and Nicklaus whose talent ensured that the Masters would become a household name.

In 1997, Tiger Woods shocked the world by not only winning the Masters but by shattering old records. He shot an aggregate of 270, which was a club record, as well as making -18 to par in a winning round, which was also a record. Not to be outdone, Jordan Spieth, the Masters' most recent winner, tied both of those records in 2015 with his dominating performance in the tournament.

The PGA field might be starving for golfers who are revered like the three men of the '60s, but the Masters itself still has all the recognition and fanfare needed to remain the most popular golf tournament on the planet.

Augusta Country Club - Home of the masters golf tournament every year.

Official Website for the US Masters Golf Tournament