The Masters Tournament is one of the four recognized men's major championships in golf. It's considered a sanctioned part of the schedule on every major men's tour, including the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour, Australasian PGA Tour, Japan Pro Golf Tour and Sunshine Tour.
However, despite all of these tours recognizing and sanctioning the Masters Tournament, none of them actually own, present and run the tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.
The PGA Tour, PGA of America, USGA and every other sanctioning tour do not have a hand in running the Masters.
Who runs the Masters Tournament?
The Masters Tournament is owned, run and operated by the membership of Augusta National Golf Club. The club was founded in 1932 by renown champion golfer Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts on the site of a former nursery in Augusta, Ga. Two years later in 1934, the pair decided to create a golf tournament that would highlight the club after being denied the opportunity to host the US Open.
Instead, they came up with an invitational tournament to which they personally invited players. Jones, who won the single-season Grand Slam in 1930, would ostensibly become the tournament host and compete. Roberts had sought to call the tournament the Masters, but Jones, according to legend, thought the name too presumptuous and over the top. Instead, for the first five years of the event, it was called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. In 1939, Jones relented on his objection and allowed the name change to the Masters.
To this day, the Masters is run by Augusta National Golf Club membership. The chairman of the club is also the chairman of the tournament, and the current chairman is Fred Ridley, a former Masters player and a former USGA President. Ridley is the first former Masters contestant to become chairman of the club. He is the seventh chairman in tournament history.
Augusta National Golf Club determines everything about the event, including who is invited to play. The Masters is the only invitational tournament of the four men's majors, and they can invite any player to compete at their discretion for any reason. The players who are invited have to formally accept the invitation and register to play. There are no alternates, unlike the other major championships.
The club sets up their course as they'd like, and they maintain it throughout the tournament. They handle the media rights, news conferences and every facet of the tournament.
