What is the Masters Lottery and how do you enter?

Also known as the Masters Media Ballot, the Monday Golf Lottery at Augusta National has hundreds of people on tenterhooks each year.

Forgive this slight moment of self-indulgence – but it is something we have been asked about a lot over the years so we thought we would clear a few things up about the Masters Lottery.

First of all, we know we are incredibly fortunate to be able to write about the sport we love for a living. And that comes with perks. One of those is getting to come to Augusta National and cover the Masters each year.

Not only that, each member of accredited media is offered the opportunity to enter a ballot to play the golf course on the Monday after the Masters concludes… with Sunday’s pins.

So how does it work? Well, it couldn’t be more simple. You sign your name in a book, you’re assigned a number and handed a small paper ticket torn into two parts. It’s the kind of ticket you might get in a raffle, which is fitting given that’s what this is – only you’re not winning a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates, but 18 holes of golf on our sport’s most sacred ground.

One half goes in the entry box, the other goes in your pocket and, for 48 hours, you protect it as if your life depended on it. And you cross your fingers. Tight.  

Then comes the fun-slash-heartbreaking part.

An announcement booms out across the grand Press Building here at ANGC. “The results of the Monday Golf Lottery are now available.”

Only they’re not presented on large screens that tower over the amphitheater of workspaces, but on the smaller screens in the reception area.

What follows is a fascinating insight into human psychology. A few will immediately stampede down the stairs. Others will remain seated at their desks and play it cool.

Whatever your tactic, it isn’t changing what’s on the screen. You’re either one of the lucky 20 or so members of the media, or you’re not. Better luck next year.

If you do have golf’s equivalent of Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket, though, you have around 36 hours to prepare.

In that time, you’ll be scrambling around to find a hire set of clubs or desperately trying to change your flight.

(There are horror stories about this – by the way – including people who were drawn out in the Masters lottery only to walk off after 12 holes because they had to hotfoot it back to Atlanta to catch a plane.)

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At some point on Sunday, you’ll be ushered into a room to explain the rules and be given an invite with your tee time and strict instructions that you are not to arrive on Magnolia Lane until precisely one hour prior.

In that hour on the Monday, you can grab breakfast in the clubhouse, explore the Champions Locker Room, browse the pro shop, ease yourself in on the practice area, or sit in the bathroom and try not to throw up all down yourself.

If you do get in, you’re then not allowed to enter again for seven years… by which point you may have stopped talking about it to everyone you meet.

• Not a member of the media? Here are the other ways you can play Augusta National