This year marks the 90th playing of The Masters, and over time, certain characteristics, crazy or not, have shown up in the winners. For this year's champ, it may not be the length of his drives, nor his skill with a putter. It might come down to the first letter of his name.
Crazy as it sounds, the winner is much more likely to wear a short-sleeved shirt than a long-sleeved one. In recent years, that is probably weather-related. In the early days of the tournament, it was fashion-related. Do you remember the photos of Bobby Jones playing golf while wearing what looked like a dress shirt and tie?
Curious about other “traits” of Masters champs? We were, too, especially when Action Network sent us a nicely listed set of facts about past Masters champs, from headgear to horoscope signs.
Let’s start at the top, literally, with hats.
Seventy-three percent of the winners wore hats for their Masters victory while 27 percent did not. But there’s more to the chapeau story, including colors. Winners wore white hats 41.3 percent of the time, while 23.8 percent wore black hats.
One famous sportswriter swore that Greg Norman never won during his career while wearing a black hat, but I certainly don’t have the stats to prove or disprove that. However, if you look up the color of his hat at the Masters during his famous collapse in 1996, you’ll find it was black.
There was one medical reason for hats becoming popular after 1991 when Andy North, a two-time U.S. Open champ who seldom wore a hat, developed skin cancer on his nose. Hats were suddenly “in.” Sunscreens, as they became available, also became a must wear. Thirty years prior, no one had even heard of sunscreen.
Now on to other wearables.
Amazingly, 61.9 percent of champs wore a solid color shirt. Do you remember Bernhard Langer’s bright red, head-to-toe outfit on Sunday in 1985? How about his yellow shirt, the better to coordinate with the Augusta National logo on the jacket, in 1993?
Of those who didn’t wear a solid color shirt, 25 percent wore shirts with stripes. Of those who didn’t wear a solid color shirt, 30.4 percent had a shirt that was white or predominantly white.
Shirts that were black or blue or had many winners. Blue was worn by 13.9 percent of winners and so was black.
Shirt brands make up their own category. Lacoste was the second most popular brand to be worn by Masters winners, primarily because it was favored by a few players in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. It had a rebirth later on.
Lacoste was the victorious brand name chosen for final round attire by José María Olazábal (1999, 1994), Seve Ballesteros (1983), Raymond Floyd (1976), and Gay Brewer (1967). Since Ballesteros won the tournament twice, in 1980 and 1983, he clearly didn’t wear Lacoste the first time.
However, the biggest name apparel is Nike, which was worn by Tiger Woods in each of his five victories (1997, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2019). Other Masters champs wearing Nike include Rory McIlroy (2025), Scottie Scheffler (2022, 2024), Patrick Reed (2018), Charl Swartzel (2011), and Trevor Immelman (2008).
Now, let’s talk countries that the winners represented. Most, 71.9 percent were from the U.S. That makes perfect sense because the tournament is in the U.S.
Second on the list of countries isn’t really a country; it’s the United Kingdom, which includes several countries, with Sandy Lyle of Scotland being the first in 1988. He was followed by Sir Nick Faldo of England, who won it three times, Ian Woosnam of Wales, who won in 1991, Danny Willett of England, who won in 2016, and Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who won in 2025.
Spain has had several champions with Ballesteros in 1980 and 1983, Jose Maria Olazabal in 1994 and 1999, Sergio Garcia in 2017, and Jon Rahm in 2023.
Other foreign players to win the Masters are Gary Player (South Africa), Bernhard Langer (Germany), 1985; Vijay Singh (Fiji), Mike Weir (Canada), Trevor Immelman (South Africa), Angel Cabrera (Argentina), Charl Schwartzel (South Africa), Adam Scott (Australia), and Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), 2021.
Of those who visited Butler Cabin as a Masters champ, 56.1 percent have been to college or a university.
And there’s just no way to judge a Masters champ by his appearance. The tallest was George Archer the 1969 winner who was 6 feet 5 ½ inches tall, and the least tall is Ian Woosnam who is 5 feet 4 ½ inches high.
The average height of a Master's champ is just over 5 feet 11 inches, and his weight is 182 and ½ pounds.
The U.S. city where most champs were born is San Diego which gave us three: Phil Mickelson, Craig Stadler and Billy Casper.
The state of Texas has given us more Masters champs than any other, with nine. California has produced the second most, with five.
Most Masters champs were born with horoscope signs of Pisces (14 percent), Cancer (12.3 percent), and Virgo (10.5 percent).
And if you are trying to place bets, pay attention to the first letter of their first names. The letter “B” has more winners than any other. Think Ben Crenshaw, Ben Hogan, Bernhard Langer, Billy Casper, Bob Goalby, Bubba Watson and Byron Nelson. And J is the second most frequent letter. So, Brooks or Justin, anyone?