The Masters

The Masters golf tournament weaves a hypnotic spell. Success at Augusta National breeds legends, while failure can overshadow even the most brilliant of careers. But as Curt Sampson, author of the bestseller Hogan, reveals in The Masters, a cold heart beats behind the warm antebellum façade of this famous Augusta course.

The Masters is an amazing slice of history. Sampson takes us inside the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Augusta's most famous member. He explores the relationships between races, between Southerners and Northerners, between rich and poor—with such characters as famous soul musician James Brown, the great boxer Beau Jack, and Frank Stranahan, the only white professional golfer ever banned from the tournament.

Club and tournament founder Clifford Roberts, who killed himself on the grounds two decades ago, still seems to run the place from his grave. An elusive and reclusive figure, Roberts pulled the strings that made the Masters one of the greatest golf tournaments in the world. Roberts's relationship with presidents, power brokers, and the great golf champions of the time—Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus, to name a few—are brought to light in this spellbinding portrait of a tournament unlike any other.