Hord W. Hardin, whose autocratic rule over golf's Masters tournament was legendary, died on Monday in Harbor Springs, Mich., after a long illness. He was 84 years old.

Mr. Hardin, a lawyer and adept golfer, was the third chairman of the tournament, which was founded in 1934 by Bob Jones and Clifford Roberts. During his tenure, which lasted from 1980 to 1991, Mr. Hardin also served as the chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club.

Mr. Hardin, a meticulous and formal man whose desire to maintain the traditions of the Masters was obsessive, often bemoaned the creeping commercialism that was altering the golf landscape. As purses that were fueled by corporate investment in the game skyrocketed, Mr. Hardin once wondered whether the Masters would one day find it necessary to become ''the Pizza Hut Masters.''

He vowed that it never would, and vigilantly resisted any attempts to inject any commercialism into the one tournament of the year that assiduously avoids even the mention of prize money. He also helped preserve the Masters' ability to dictate the terms of its television coverage, an arrangement almost unique in televised sports.

''Augusta National Golf Club, the Masters and the world of golf have lost a good friend and a great contributor to the game,'' said Jackson T. Stephens, the current Masters chairman who succeeded Mr. Hardin.

Mr. Hardin competed in seven United States Amateur championships and in the 1952 United States Open. A native of St. Louis, he was graduated from Washington University there and served as the president of the United States Golf Association in 1968-69 before becoming the chairman of the Masters rules committee for 10 years.

Augusta National, which announced his death, did not provide any details on Mr. Hardin's survivors.

Hord W Hardin