How the world’s most storied golf tournament and watchmaking’s most recognised name came to share more than a partnership
The 90th edition of the Masters Tournament had just concluded at Augusta National Golf Club. And once again, the world watched as golf’s finest competitors subjected themselves to its unrelenting demands. Over four days and 72 holes, they demonstrated steel and creativity—technical precision, strategic nerve, and composure—performing at the highest level at the most demanding moments. It is a sport that rewards not merely talent, but character. Small wonder, then, that Rolex has counted golf among its most enduring partnerships.
Since 1967, when Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player—known collectively as The Big Three—became the watchmaker’s first Testimonees in the sport, Rolex has stood beside the game’s greatest protagonists. At its best, the sport embodies the same values that Rolex has long held as its own: the ceaseless pursuit of perfection, and the understanding that excellence is a journey, not a destination.
Nowhere is this more apparent than at the Masters Tournament, where Rolex has served as Tournament Partner since 1999. “Playing at the Augusta National Golf Club is the most special feeling in golf,” says Rolex Testimonee, Jon Rahm, who claimed the Green Jacket in 2023.“ Defining moments from every year are remembered throughout history and to be among a list of great Rolex champions such as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, and Scottie Scheffler is fantastic.”
That sense of lineage runs deep. Scottie Scheffler, who claimed his Green Jacket at Augusta, recalls the moment with clarity and pride. “Putting on the Green Jacket is pretty special. The ceremony itself is beautiful. You are up on top of the hill, looking down over the golf course, the sun is setting, and it is the Masters. Everything is perfect,” says Scheffler. “My whole family was there, my coach was there—basically everyone who had helped guide me along the way for years to get to that moment.”
Adam Scott, a Rolex Testimonee for 25 years and the first Australian to win the Masters, speaks to the importance of support—and in this instance, his longstanding partnership with Rolex. “I have been fortunate enough to be part of the Rolex family for 25 years now. Rolex not only supports the game as a whole but also a group of great champions out there, supporting them to succeed,” he says.
His own 2013 victory—sealed on a play-off hole at Augusta—remains among the tournament’s most stirring chapters. “What made it so meaningful was that I had suffered a defeat the previous summer at The Open in 2012 and there was something in me that wasn’t going to give in until I won a major championship,” Scott recalls. “It was a truly surreal feeling when the putt caught the left side of the hole and went in.”
The sport’s rising star, Ludvig Åberg, a Rolex Testimonee who turned professional in 2023, too, understands that the power of the tournament holds sway over generations. “What I love about the game of golf is the history that comes with it, and there is no place better for that than Augusta in the world,” he says. That history, the magic, and a stage that celebrates an unrelenting spirit of will and performance, are precisely what bind Rolex to the sport.
