He is the six-time major champion who boycotted playing in The Masters for three years in the prime of his career

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The Masters is steeped in tradition, prestige and a certain amount of wonder.

The week heading into The Masters at the famed Augusta National is for golf fans what the build-up to Christmas Day is for young children.

Rory McIlroy won the latest edition of The Masters, and proved a lot of people wrong in the process.

Augusta is famed for being in pristine condition every time The Masters rolls around each year.

Some golfers love the place and have always seemed to do well around there, including the likes of six-time victor Jack Nicklaus, five-time winner Tiger Woods and three-time champions Phil Mickelson.

However, not every golfer manages to enjoy success on a regular basis around the Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie-designed gem in Georgia.

In fact, one of the greatest players of all time arguably had more bad memories of Augusta National than good ones throughout his time in the game.

Lee Trevino boycotted playing in The Masters for three years in his prime

It’s fair to say that Lee Trevino is one of the most talented golfers to have ever played the game.

The now 85-year-old is a real legend of the game. Trevino is a member at the same club as Scottie Scheffler, and still keeps his finger on the pulse with all the goings on in the game today.

During his time in the game, Trevino won an incredible six major championships and 29 regular PGA Tour events.

The Mexican legend won two Open Championships, two US Opens and two PGA Championships in a 16-year span.

Trevino was red-hot in 1971 and 1972, winning three out of the eight majors played.

However, he never won The Masters.

Trevino’s low fade never seemed to work around Augusta, and the best he could ever muster there was a tie for 10th in 1975 and 1985.

And remarkably, he boycotted playing in The Masters for three years during the absolute prime of his career.

What was the reason for that boycott though? Well, Trevino once opened up on why he skipped the first major of the year three times in the early 70’s, and it had nothing to do with the golf course.

Lee Trevino once revealed reason for Masters boycott

Trevino opened up on the reason why he didn’t play The Masters in 1970, 1971 and 1974.

He explained that the main reason why he boycotted the event was because of a fall-out with Cliff Roberts – the co-founder of Augusta National and the chairman there from 1931 until 1976.

In 1969, Trevino said, “I’m never going to play there again. They can invite me all they want, but I’m not going back. It’s just not my type of course.”

However, back in 2023, Trevino expanded on the real reason why he didn’t play The Masters for three years in the 1970’s.

He said, “Me and Cliff Roberts didn’t get along. He and I didn’t see eye to eye on the ticket situation.

“I went to his office and we had a lot of discussions back and forth. I just told him what they could do with it, and I left. I never went back for three years. And then Jack [Nicklaus] talked me into going back.”

“It was my fault,” Trevino said. “It was my fault; I never should’ve lost my cool. I don’t do it as much now. My wife, Claudia, has tamed me down a bit, but my problem was I was never a listener. When you’re talking as much as I do, you’re always talking; you never listen to what people are saying to you. I have a bad habit of that.”

So now we all know exactly why Trevino boycotted playing The Masters, and looking back on it now, he probably regrets missing out on three more chances to win the one major that escaped him.