Monday 8 April 2019 13:35, UK
Part two of our five-part look at the international impact on the Masters reflects on the impact of Seve Ballesteros, a brilliant, unique talent who blazed a trail for the European success that followed at Augusta.
By 1980, there had been 43 editions of the Masters and 40 American winners. Only Gary Player's three wins in 1961, 1974 and 1978 had interrupted the dominance of the home nation at Augusta.
But then, in 1980, everything changed. The golf world in Europe was already well aware of the young man from Pedrena in Spain. He had, after all, already won nine tournaments on the European Tour and just completed a three-shot win at the Open Championship to claim his first major title.
But aside from a one-shot win at the Greater Greensboro Open, Seve Ballesteros was yet to make a splash in the States.
He'd made his debut at Augusta in 1977, finishing in a tie for 33rd before a 12th-place finish two years later, but in 1980 Seve became the first European, and at 23 the youngest player, to win the tournament.
Tiger Woods would later break that record with his win as a 21-year-old in 1997, but it marked the start of Seve's love affair with Augusta - where his fearless brand of golf thrilled the crowds - as he finished in the top 10 in seven of the next 10 years, including his second victory in 1983 - four shots clear of Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite.
Seve often said he should have won more than two Masters and his best chance to complete the hat-trick followed in 1986, when an eagle on eight helped him into a share of the lead on the final day only to fall away on the back nine and finish two behind Jack Nicklaus.
But Seve was just the start for Spain's special connection with the Masters, with Jose Maria Olazabal's two major championships coming at Augusta.
So often Seve's Ryder Cup playing partner, Olazabal followed up his runners-up spot in 1991 with a two-shot win in 1994 and five years later, he was pulling on the Green Jacket once again after finishing two clear of Davis Love III.
Olazabal would enjoy three more top 10 finishes after the turn of the century, by which time another Spaniard was coming to the fore of world golf, with Sergio Garcia finishing in a tie for fourth in 2004.
Yet it would be another 13 years before Garcia finally got his hands on the jacket in 2017 - beating Justin Rose in a playoff to claim his long-overdue first major title at the 74th time of asking.
Two years after Seve's second title, Bernard Langer became the first and only German to win the Masters with the first of his two titles in 1985, but the European invasion was only just beginning, and we'll look at how the British made their mark in the 1990s in part three...
