This discreet Masters tradition is growing golf, thanks to Augusta National volunteers

One security officer explained the system. Volunteers discreetly direct families to the less-populated side of the putting green, where another officer lets the children under the chain.

The security officer then leads the kids around the perimeter of the green and shows them to their seats. The chairs are posted by the walkway to the first tee, creating opportunities for fist bumps and the occasional gifted golf ball.

Travis talked with his son from the other side of the chain as they watched McIlroy from the same eye level.

“I think back to the memories I had,” he said, describing his first Masters as a 12-year-old.

Both Travis and his wife, Hillary, had been to the Masters before, but it was the first time they brought their kids.

“It’s so special,” Hillary said. “They were a little nervous about it because all they had seen was on TV.”

Travis’ mother, Linda, made her annual visit, too. Linda said she has made it to every Masters tournament since her father first got tickets when she was 16 years old.

So the Millen family’s Masters count officially reached four generations in 2025. But the newest wave was the first to break the chain into the putting green.

“It’s really cool for them because (the kids) got to go inside and Mom and Dad didn’t,” one security officer said.

McIlroy’s resurgent 66 to return to green-jacket contention certainly made more headlines Friday. But Travis’ son seems more apt to recall his favorite golfer at the putting green and the practice bunker when the family first arrived.

“When he saw Rory at the bunker, he said, ‘I want to do this every year.‘”