Masters Honorary Starters 2023: Who will be teeing off the tournament?

Modified Apr 06, 2023 12:47 GMT

The Masters - Round One — AUGUSTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 07: (L-R) Honorary starters and Masters champions Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tom Watson look on from the first tee during the opening ceremony prior to the start of the first round of the 2022 Masters

2023 marks 60 years of the 'honorary starters' tradition of The Masters tournament. The honorary starter is a tradition where the former champions are invited by the Augusta National Golf Club to hit an honorary shot off the first tee to mark the official beginning of the main Masters tournament.

This year, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player have been named as the honorary starters for the 87th Masters. They will tee off at 7:40 am (EST) on Thursday, April 6.

The same group was the first threesome to tee off as last year's honorary starters. Nicklaus is the six-time (1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, and 1986) Masters champion, Player won three times (1961, 1974, and 1978), and Watson won twice (1977 and 1981) at Augusta National.

The trio will not play all 18 holes at The Masters, instead, they'll just hit a single tee shot to mark the beginning of the tournament.

History of Masters honorary starters tradition

Jock Hutchison and Fred McLeod were the first honorary starters at Augusta National

The Masters honorary starters' history goes back to 60 years ago. The Senior PGA Championship is a tournament played on the senior Tour of the PGA. The first two editions were played at Augusta National and were won by Jock Hutchison and Fred McLeod, respectively.

On the 25th anniversary of the second and final Senior PGA Championship at Augusta National Masters, then host Bobby Jones invited McLeod and Hutchison to make an honorary start to The Masters tournament with a tee shot.

The tradition continued with both golfers together till 1973. After Hutchison's demise, McLeod did it alone for three years until 1976.

No opening tee shot ceremony was held after McLeod's death. However, in 1981, Gene Sarazen and Byron Nelson became the next two golf veterans to make the honorary start. They were joined by Sam Snead in 1984.

Later, Arnold Palmer did the honors for 20 years from 2007 to 2016 and was later joined by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. The famous golfing trio of the 1960s did the honorary start for five years from 2012 to 2016.

Other famous names to do the honorary start at Augusta National include Ken Venturi and Lee Elder.