On Thursday the United States will forget about duties and Greenland for a few hours. In Georgia, in fact, the Masters 2025 begins, the golf competition that any golfer would like to play or watch from the edge of the green. More than a competition, it is a ritual with a ceremony that is repeated every year. Starting with words that cannot be said and nightingales with recorded songs.
Let's take entry tickets for example. There is no pre-sale as we understand it, but rather a lottery. You sign up and cross your fingers. The lucky winner thanks and pays only 75 dollars for the day of practice and 115 when there is a competition. Small detail: there is a world of golfers who dream of that draw. A world quantifiable in about two million people. The possibility of making it is minimal (less than one percent, in fact).
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Masters 2025, tickets
Admiring the defending champion Scottie Scheffler in the practice round can be worth from 800 to 2,000 dollars a day. Following him in competition is equivalent to an investment: it goes from 1,600 to 3,500 dollars, always per day. The New York Post has calculated the prices for the few tickets still on the secondary market in 2025: getting into Augusta on Wednesday will cost $2,634, attending the first day will cost $2,189, while the four-day package of competition comes in at $7,880.
There is, on paper, also a plan C, that is, getting your hands on the Patron Badge, the annual pass that guarantees access to all four days of the tournament at a cost of $450. Here too there is a small detail: the waiting list for these badges has been closed since 1978.
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It is essentially an acquired right of entry that is passed down from father to son (or changes hands for thousands of dollars).
Once you get over the hurdle called the ticket, everything changes. Those who manage to avoid temptation (read: Masters golf merchandise) can get by with little inside the gates of Augusta National.
The Masters is no logo. The Augusta National Golf Club does not sell anything with a logo other than its own. Augusta is also famous for the unique experience offered to spectators. Starting with the food: snacks and drinks are part of the ritual as much as the most prohibitive holes called Amen Corner or the Green Jacket worn (only inside that club) by the winner. And, surprisingly, the prices have remained affordable over time, in clear contrast to the standards of other major sporting events.
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The menu is essential but iconic. The inevitable Pimento Cheese Sandwich costs just $1.50, just like the Egg Salad Sandwich. Among the most popular choices is also the three-dollar Bar-B-Que Sandwich. For dessert, the Georgia Peach Ice Cream Sandwich is a cult.
Drinks are also affordable: water costs 2 dollars, soft drinks 2-3 dollars and even beer including the Masters Brew, created especially for the event can be purchased for five dollars. Everything is served in reusable green cups that fans collect as souvenirs.
