When bidding began last month on the ceremonial green jacket that belonged to Horton Smith, the first winner of the Masters, those overseeing the online auction hoped it would fetch in the neighborhood of $100,000.
When bidding closed Sunday, the 64-year-old garment was hanging in a much more upscale neighborhood. An unidentified buyer claimed Smith’s jacket for a reported $682,229. Pants were not included.
The Marietta man, who with his brother put the relic up for auction, was understandably pleased.
“Needless to say, I am extremely happy and, of course, our families feel the same way,” said seller Michael Lackovic in an email response. “Beyond me saying it is like a fairytale and a dream come true, what more can I say?”
“The final number definitely caught us by surprise,” said Ryan Carey, president of the Tampa-based Green Jacket Auctions that brokered the deal. “But there was always a recipe for a huge success with the number, quantity and quality of the people bidding on it.”
Collectibles from other sports have fetched significantly more. A Babe Ruth jersey sold for $4.4 million in 2012. James Naismith’s original draft of rules for basketball went for $4.3 million in 2010. But, according to Carey, the green jacket sale price was a record for modern era golf memorabilia.
The price far eclipsed the $63,000 that Doug Ford’s 1957 green jacket brought at auction three years ago.
“It was a very heavily contested ending (to the auction). It was not a case of two people fighting over it. It was a case of eight people and organizations fighting over it,” Carey added.
Augusta National began awarding the green jacket to the Masters winner — symbolizing honorary membership with the club — in 1949. Previous winners, including Smith, who won both the 1934 and ’36 Masters, were awarded jackets at the same time.
Smith’s prize was handed down to the Lackovic brothers, whose mother had been married to Smith’s brother. They were largely unaware of its potential value until Michael Lackovic happened to read about another auction in which Al Geiberger sold the putter he used in shooting a 59 in 1977 for $7,000. There might be some market for an old green sport coat, he reasoned.
Carey would not identify the new owner, other to say he was “a private individual who grew up near Atlanta and has lived in Augusta but does not currently live there.”
“He wanted me to tell people he is just a lifelong golf fan, not a golf collector. He has never purchased any type of golf memorabilia before. He saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He spoke with his wife and decided to pull the trigger and buy it,” Carey said.
Added Lackovic: “The sale went beyond our most optimistic expectations and even better than that, we learned that it is going to a good home and to someone who reveres the game and the Masters as much as anyone in the world.”
Asked if the buyer had any connection with Augusta National Golf Club, Carey said, “Not that I know of.”
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