Book excerpt: Forget the birds, the flowers, and April showers: in golf, you know spring has sprung when the Masters rolls around. Held on the hallowed grounds of the Augusta National Golf Club, and widely broadcast on TV, it’s one of the world’s most-watched sporting events each year. This collection celebrates that famed tournament, as some of America’s best known sportswriters—such as Grantland Rice and Jim Murray—praise the event’s illustrious history and traditions. The Masters has provided the stage for golf’s most prominent names, and they’re all represented on these pages, from Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods. Fans (many of whom dream of playing it themselves) will take a ride down memory and Magnolia Lane, as they recall great moments in golf, and find out about some of the quirkier, behind-the scene moments, both touching and humorous. MASTERS’ FACTS AND FIGURES: • 43 million Americans watched Tiger Woods win his first of four green jackets. • It’s the number one televised golf tournament in the world. • You cannot apply for membership; you must be invited. • The tradition of wearing green jackets began in 1937. • Dwight D. Eisenhower was the only president to have been a club member.