The name Masters Tournament was officially adopted in 1939.
The first event in 1934 was formally titled the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Despite that official name, newspapers, spectators, and golfers often called it “the Masters” from the beginning. Augusta National eventually made the familiar name official in 1939, the tournament’s sixth edition.
The 1939 event was won by Ralph Guldahl, who shot 279 to finish one stroke ahead of Sam Snead. It was also the first tournament identified officially as the Masters rather than the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. The change therefore reflects the tournament’s established identity, not the date when the competition began.
Another historical wrinkle is that the name was used informally well before 1939. That is why 1934 can sometimes appear in discussions about when the Masters “started,” while 1939 is the precise answer to when the present official name was adopted. The tournament itself has remained at Augusta National since its founding.