Who are the most famous members of Augusta National?
This highly exclusive club does not speak publicly about its membership or even its size. Who are the members? The club won't allow it.
Well, usually not. When Augusta National admitted its first two female members in 2012, they touted the fact as a “proud moment in the club's history.” Those newcomers were former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and investor Darla Moore, whose net worth at the time was estimated at $2.3 billion.
Augusta is known to have at least four more female members, with IBM's Ginny Rometty later joining. Ditto for former USGA president Diana Murphy.
Heidi Ueberroth is also a member and was spotted wearing a green jacket during the 2021 tournament. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, she is an avid golfer who played both the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Dunhill Links Championship.
Mr. Ueberroth is President of Globicon, a private investment and advisory firm focused on the media, sports, entertainment and hospitality industries. She is also co-chairman of her Pebble Beach Company and a member of the board of directors of EA Sports. She previously held multiple high positions in the NBA.
Legendary 10-time major champion Annika Sorenstam has been announced as a 2023 Augusta member. The Swede, who has 72 LPGA Tour wins, called it “one of the happiest days” of his golf career.
Heidi Ueberroth, Condoleezza Rice, Darla Moore
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Former Seminole Golf Club president Tim Neher and Atlanta Braves president Terry McGuirk are also known to be members..
PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunn is also an Augusta member. Dunn was influential in the June 6 framework agreement between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. He is president of the ultra-exclusive Seminole Golf Club and a member of Pine Valley and the National Golf Links of America.
In 2015, Bloomberg listed 118 club members, five of whom were classified as billionaires. Warren Buffett, who is said to be the sixth richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $117 billion, was among them. Bloomberg says: “Membership remains one of the most popular as evidence of corporate success.”
You cannot apply for membership in Augusta. Must be invited. (The good news is that there are several ways to play at Augusta's Nationals even if you're not a member.)
Naturally, the members are not young. When USA Today published a leaked list of the 2002 Augusta National squad, famed Masters marker Jeff Knox, then 39 years old, said that if an odd number of players made it to the finals, he would be on the Saturday of tournament week and I was playing the course on Sunday. He was listed as the youngest to make the cut.
Jeff Knox and Rory McIlroy played together in the third round of the 2014 Masters
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Knox is one of the most famous members of Augusta National, at least in golf circles, and is said to hold 61 club course records. Paul Casey remembers Knox. He said, “I aim to the left of the 6th pin because I don't like hitting the 6th pin.'' He bounces into the bunker. Then he landed it a foot or two from the hole. ”
Knox also beat Rory McIlroy by one stroke in the 2014 tournament, shooting a two-under 70 to McIlroy's 71. However, he will reportedly be relieved of his duties in 2022, with fellow member Michael McDermott replacing him.
Not much is known about McDermott, other than that he is a Pennsylvania native in his late 40s and a two-time winner of the Crump Cup, an elite amateur event held at the world-famous Pine Valley Golf Club. member.
Only three of the approximately 300 members were listed as being in their 40s in the leaked report. One of them was Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Gates, whose net worth is estimated at about $105 billion, had a handicap index of 24.1 in 2015.
Few of the biggest names in golf are members of Augusta National. But so was Jack Nicklaus, and so was Arnold Palmer. Other Masters Champions are considered honorary members and are presented with the club's famous green jacket at the awards ceremony.
Sir Michael Bonarak was a former leading amateur golfer who played in the Masters three times as the winner of the previous year's Amateur Championship, and was another well-known golf figure among members until his death in 2023. He played from 1983 to 1999 and was considered Britain's best amateur.
Media mogul Ron Townsend became the first African-American member in 1990.
Many US presidents have played this course. Ronald Reagan stayed there as a guest of Secretary of State George Shultz, a member. He was there when a gunman took hostages in the pro shop and demanded to speak to the president. President Reagan called the perpetrator on his cell phone from the 16th green.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower pictured between Byron Nelson (left) and Ben Hogan (right) at Augusta National in 1953
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However, only one president has ever worn the club's green jacket. Dwight D. Eisenhower was a member of Augusta National from 1948 until his death. He is one of the most famous members of the Augusta National, as the tree that stood to the left of the 17th hole bears his name.
This is because Eisenhower's drive often crashed into it and he unsuccessfully requested that it be reduced. Eisenhower's tree was removed in 2014, 45 years after his death, after damage from an ice storm.
Other clearly notable members include Fred Ridley and Billy Payne, current and former presidents of the club. Ridley, a former U.S. Amateur champion, is the first president in the club's history to compete in the Masters Tournament itself, with businessman Billy Payne serving as club president from 2006 to 2017.
Fred Ridley, Billy Payne and Craig Heatley at the 2016 Masters
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Craig Heatley is also a powerful Augusta member and one of New Zealand's richest people, with a reported net worth of more than $500 million. He is the Chairman of the Masters Tournament Media Committee and has won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Dunhill Links Championship Pro-Am.
Terry McGuirk, Annika Sorenstam and Bubba Watson at Augusta 2019
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Atlanta Braves Chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk was also photographed wearing a green jacket before the inaugural Augusta U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in 2019, and was among the Augusta members. It is known that
Another highly influential member of Augusta National is David Dorman, a Georgia businessman and former AT&T CEO.
