The story this week: Why cheap sandwiches, one-year TV deals and the beauty of Augusta are all part of the Masters
One September morning in 1977 a man made his way on to the golf course at Augusta National and shot himself in the head.
How the man got there is still something of a mystery. He was 83 years old and sick with terminal cancer. It is unlikely that he walked all the way, given his health, but no-one has ever admitted driving him out there.
Clifford Roberts was found dead next to Ike’s Pond on the par-3 course at Augusta. The pond was named after the former American president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was a friend of Roberts.
Roberts had left a note for his wife: “Dear Betty. I am sorry. I love you. Cliff.”
Roberts seems to have been determined to end his life on his own terms at the place he felt most at home.
In the years that have passed since, many have commented on how fitting it was that he died here.
Roberts was the co-founder of Augusta National and the Masters. He had obsessed over everything at the golf course. The myth of the Masters stems from him.
Roberts initially grew up on a farm in Iowa but seems to have moved around so much as a child that he could barely remember all his different homes. This was one of the reasons he felt so settled at Augusta.
I debated many different ways to start this story about the business of the Masters and how it came to be. What about the drama of Rory McIlroy’s victory in 2025, when he finally completed the career grand slam and gave Augusta another historic moment? What about the unique experience for the spectators who visit the 2026 tournament this week, including the cheap beer and sandwiches? “My favourite thing about the Masters is the sandwiches,” the 2020 champion Dustin Johnson once said. “All of them.” Or what about how Augusta didn’t admit its first black member until 1990 or offer membership to women until 2012?
But really, all of this comes back to Roberts. The story has to start with him.
The beauty of Augusta, the spectacle of the Masters and the majesty of it all are no accident. I have studied and written about the founders of the biggest luxury brands in the world. The story of the Masters is like that.
These founders, such as Enzo Ferrari at Ferrari, were all obsessed with their craft, with every minor detail of their product, and with protecting the scarcity of their brand, so that only a few people could ever access it and everyone else wished they did. “I have yet to meet anyone quite so stubborn as myself and animated by this overpowering passion that leaves me no time for thought or anything else,” Enzo Ferrari once said. “I have, in fact, no interest in life outside racing cars.”
These founders were often seen as dictators or bullies by their critics. They wanted control of everything. This was Roberts too. He was, according to the legendary golfer Sam Snead, a “tough bastard”.
This story isn’t about fashion or fast cars, it’s about golf. But it also shows that the Masters isn’t just a golf tournament, it’s one of the most successful luxury brands in the world.
