Rory McIlroy reveals rules for wearing Green Jacket away from Augusta
Rory McIlroy shared one of the lesser-known secrets about being Masters champion.
“You have to sign a legal document to take it out of the club,” he said on the Stick to Football podcast.
It’s a well-known fact that the reigning Masters champion is allowed to take the iconic Green Jacket off the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club for one year. Otherwise, the Green Jacket can only be worn at the club. McIlroy noted that he has been assigned a locker with Ray Floyd and Ben Hogan in the Champions Locker Room.
McIlroy said he’s taken the Green Jacket on a victory tour to India, Australia, and of course, his native Northern Ireland. He also wore it on Halloween. But there are strict rules to abide to while in possession of the famed jacket.
“There's do's and don'ts with it. You have to wear a certain shirt, and you have to wear a club tie, and certain trousers, you only wear dress shoes. You can't wear trainers. You can't just throw it on, go for the bevy,” McIlroy explained.
Earlier this year, 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson shared with Golfweek that he is responsible for some of the rules.
“Don't wear the Green Jacket in public with jeans. Did that. I think I might have started something," Johnson said. "I didn’t know you get to take the Green Jacket with you for a year. Then the morning after I won we flew out at six with my wife and head to New York to do the media blitz. We don't have anything in the [RV] bus so we put a garbage bag over the Green Jacket. Well, they saw that and the next year Trevor Immelman had this beautiful golden and white garment bag and 'Trevor Immelman, 2008 champion' inscribed on it and then supposedly inside there, there's like a placard that has do's and don't's with the Green Jacket. I did not have any of that. So I wore it in Times Square with jeans on.”
No garbage bags, no jeans. "They don't mess around at Augusta, do they, with the rules?" Johnson said.
"But that's what makes it such a great place," McIlroy argued. "It's like, they know who they are, and they stick to it.
"And it's also one of the reasons that they have one of the best brands in sport. It's because they are so meticulous, and they do everything in such a way."
Part of the charm, indeed.
