THE OLD-TIME PARADE
AUGUSTA (Ga.) March 19. – This masters’ tournament at Augusta, starting on Thursday, will carry more than one important chapter from the blue book of golf. (H. Grantland Rice, March 1934)
Henry Grantland “Granny” Rice, the sports writer for the New York Herald Tribune, syndicated columnist, and editor of The American Golfer magazine, was also a founding member of the Augusta National Golf Club, and very close friends with Bob Jones and Clifford Roberts. It was Rice and Roberts who asked Alister MacKenzie to design the 19thhole at Augusta.
But more importantly, it was Granny Rice who called the Augusta National Golf Club Invitation Tournament the “masters.” And he did so before the first contest was held in March of 1934.
Clifford Roberts wrote a different story in his 1976 autobiography, not mentioning Rice. But either Roberts had forgotten, or he never read any of Granny’s articles!
“The Old-Time Parade” was in reference to the large number of golf’s amateur and professional masters who were invited to play in the inaugural Augusta National Golf Club Invitation Tournament. Here are some from Grantland Rice’s list:
Professionals:
Freddie McLeod – 1908 U.S. Open champion
Macdonald Smith – 1910 U.S. Open runner-up
Walter Hagen – The Legend!
Long Jim Barnes – 1921 U.S. open, 1925 Open, 1916 & 1919 P.G.A. champion
Jock Hutchison – 1920 P.G.A., 1921 Open champion
Leo Diegel – 1928 & 1929 P.G.A. champion
Amateurs:
Johnny Goodman – 1933 U.S. Open champion
George Dunlap – 1933 U.S. Amateur champion
Ross Somerville – 1932 U.S. Amateur champion, Six-Time Canadian Amateur champion
Chick Evans – 1916 U.S. Open, 1916 & 1920 U.S. Amateur champion
Jess Sweetser – 1922 U.S. Amateur, 1926 British Amateur champion
Gus Moreland – Texas Star
Johnny Dawson – California Star
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