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The Masters Tournament is entrenched in history and tradition. One aspect of that tradition is that the tournament winner is presented with a green jacket, signifying their victory.
The green jacket is iconic, and over the years, another tradition has emerged regarding who places it on the winner. Almost mimicking a changing of the guard, the year's previous winner is on hand to place the green jacket on the new winner. This creates a ceremony after the win, and certainly adds to the emotion of the victory.
There is an exception to the rule, though. Having the previous winner place the green jacket on the new winner sounds great, but what happens if the golfer had pulled off the rare feat of winning two Masters Tournaments in a row?
Here is more on who would adorn McIlroy with his green jacket if he were to win his second consecutive Masters Tournament.
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Who puts the green jacket on Rory McIlroy if he wins the 2026 Masters?
McIlroy won the 2025 Masters, completing his long-awaited career grand slam. If he were to win the Masters and become just the fourth golfer to ever win consecutive Masters Tournaments, he would need another green jacket.
Typically, the reigning winner adorns the green jacket on the new winner, but with all of the tradition of Augusta National Golf Club, it would look a little strange if McIlroy just put the jacket on himself.
Instead, if he were to win the 2026 Masters, Fred Ridley would put the green jacket on McIlroy. Ridley is the current chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, and the rules state that if someone were to win back-to-back tournaments, in the second year, they would be given the green jacket by the current sitting chairman of the course.
MORE: Complete list of Masters winners by year
Who puts the green jacket on Masters winners?
Traditionally, the previous year's winner is on hand to put the green jacket on the new winner. It doesn't matter if the previous winner didn't play in that year's Masters, missed the cut or finished second; they are still expected to ceremoniously place the green jacket on the new winner.
The only caveat to this is in the rare case of a golfer winning consecutive Masters Tournaments. Through 89 iterations of the event, there have only been three back-to-back winners. In that specific case, the current chairman of Augusta National Golf Club would put the green jacket on the repeat winner.
This prevents both the golfer putting the new green jacket on himself alone, as well as saves the reigning winner from two years prior from having to do it again, as they did before.
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