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The greatest Masters tradition you never see

Jay Hart
·Senior editor
Empty chairs surround the 18th green at Augusta National. (AP)
Empty chairs surround the 18th green at Augusta National. (AP)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It's a tradition unlike any other.

Empty chairs, hundreds of them, thousands in total, surrounding just about every green here at Augusta National, including the 18th, where not a single shot will be played for hours.

And that's really the point, because while you want that front-row seat at 18 – it's why you lined up at the gate at 7 a.m. for Thursday's opening round of the Masters, then waddled like an Olympic race walker because running isn't allowed on the grounds of Augusta National but you wanted to get there first – you really don't want to sit there all day saving it while you wait for the first foursome to arrive some five hours later.

Here at Augusta, you don't have to. Instead, find your spot, unfold your chair, plop it down, write your name on a card, put it in the card slot on the back left side of the seat and take off. Go wherever you want. Amen Corner. The merch tent. The loo.

People place their names in cards on the backs of their chairs. (Getty Images)
People place their names in cards on the backs of their chairs. (Getty Images)

When you come back an hour, two hours, five hours later, it'll still be there. Someone might be sitting in it – anyone is welcome to sit in an empty chair – but all you have to do is politely tell them the chair is yours and it's yours again.

There are occasions where chairs go "missing," as one course marshal on the 18th green explained, but only a handful of times.

"Since Monday, about seven have gotten up and walked away," he said.

And they may not have even done that. Could have just been an errant shot forced the marshals to move a few chairs and they weren't put back in their original spot.

"We try to put 'em back in the same place," the marshal said, but admitted they don't always get it right.

In a place chock full of traditions – the green jackets, the pimento cheese sandwiches, the ceremonial first tee shot – this might just be the greatest of them all, particularly if you bought your ticket on the secondary market. Saves you from paying $2,500 for a single-day ticket only to sit and stare at an empty green for hours on end.

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