GOLFING MEMORABILIA:In the second of his series, Gary Moranfocuses on the allure of items associated with the US Masters
THE RELATIVE merits of the four majors have long been a cause of debate among golfers. Tom Watson singles out his US Open win at Pebble Beach in 1982 as the most cherished of his career. It was his national open and winning it was something his father had built up in Tom's mind as the ultimate goal.
For golfers on this side of the Atlantic, the British Open, or the Open Championship to give it its official name, has always seemed the most accessible, not just to view but to play in. Theoretically at least, any scratch man can enter local qualifying and end up lifting the claret jug.
The US PGA was until recently the least cherished of the quartet for reasons ranging from its quota of exemptions for US club pros to the choice of golf course. It has certainly closed the gap now and in terms of world rankings often boasts the strongest field of the year.
And then there is the Masters. In a way we all feel as if we know the course which comes to our screens every April yet is so inaccessible for 51 weeks of the year. That inaccessibility, the mystique which successive chairmen from Clifford Roberts down have deliberately cultivated, is what holds most golfers in thrall to the tournament and makes collecting Masters and Augusta material a near-lifelong quest for some.
"I would never in modesty say I am an expert," says Wayne Aaron of the Golf Collectors Society (GCS), who made his annual pilgrimage to the Augusta last week. "I would say that I am in the upper echelons of enthusiasm."
That's a wry understatement from Aaron, whose Masters ephemera includes a treasured copy of the programme from the inaugural tournament in 1934. He didn't disclose to The Irish Times what he had paid for it, but, three years ago, PBA Galleries, a specialist Californian auction house, sold a copy in good condition for $12,650.
Curiously, the 1935 programme is even harder to obtain and was the last published until 1990 when the now annual Masters Journal made its debut. The Journal is what we would consider a programme today - they have to be a little different at Augusta.
Aaron knows of someone who has several copies of the '35 but won't part with one. While everything has a price, money is frequently not the main thing for collectors and Aaron can't yet prise one away from this source. "I think it's pride of ownership. Like I've got something that you don't have."
Perhaps nobody at all has a ball signed by 1939 champion Ralph Guldahl, and that's problematic for another Masters collector, Bob Walker from Oregon. "The part of my collection that has been the greatest challenge and most rewarding are the golf balls signed by former Masters champions, and I am still hunting for the final few to complete my collection. The two items that currently top my want list are a signed golf ball by the great Ralph Guldahl, although I do not believe any is known to exist, and a book signed by the first Masters winner, Horton Smith."
Smith didn't write any himself but his bare signature is worth $400 and it's around $1,000 for a signed photograph.
Some items are unique. Another GCS member, Mark Lux, has a personal cheque signed by Ben Hogan and made out to Masters Tournament for six series badges which he purchased in 1992. The badges cost Hogan $540. The cheque itself would fetch as much today.
Used series badges, or season tickets as other tournaments would call them, have a residual value. "If you had one for this year then hold on to it," advises Aaron. "It will soon be worth more than its original face value, especially if Tiger wins."
Green jackets are understandably rarer than series badges. The most obvious ways to get one are to become a club member or to win the tournament, neither a trifling task. A few have appeared for sale and one supposedly owned and worn by Augusta co-founder Bobby Jones was sold many years ago for $95,000. Last August, one belonging to a member, presumably a former member, went unsold at a PBA auction with a guide price of $25,000 to $35,000.
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