He checked his mailbox five times a day for at least two weeks. Waiting to finally receive the invitation to play The Masters 2023. Then, when the hope has faded, the surprise. A message on Instagram, from one of his namesake, who warned him that that dream had come true.
And that the invitation had indeed arrived, but at the wrong Scott Stallings.
The Masters 2023, schedule
This is what happened to Scott Stallings, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour. With no successes since 2014, in 2022 he finished second in the BMW Championship and obtained seven placements in the Top 10.
Results that allowed him to earn $3,933,593 and, as if that weren’t enough, a pass to play one of the most coveted tournaments on the green. And the gaffe of the Augusta National Golf Club that sent an invitation to a person who works in the real estate sector, albeit a golf enthusiast, is unbelievable.
Which at that point he decided to get in touch with the professional golfer. “The story is really funny and real. It’s crazy what happened”, the real estate agent revealed. Now he hopes to be invited to Augusta to closely watch the Grand Slam tournament.
“I’d really like to meet Stallings. He seems like such a nice and warm guy,” he concluded. The tournament began in 1934 as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament on the initiative of Bobby Jones, who was also the designer of the course with Alister Mackenzie, and Clifford Roberts, a New York investor.
In 1939 the tournament changed its name to the current one and since 1940 it has been held every year in the first full week of April. The best professionals from all over the world participate, as well as amateurs who hold the title of champions of the United States and Great Britain.
The selection criteria are very strict, even more than other majors. This means that the number of participants is around 100, against the approximately 160 of the other major tournaments. In fact, in addition to the past winners of the Masters, the winners of the last five editions of the other majors, of the last three editions of the Players Championship, the first four classified of each major of the previous year (but the first 12 of the last Masters) are admitted.
, the top 50 of the previous year’s Official World Golf Ranking and the top 50 of the current year (as of the week preceding the tournament), the qualifiers of the Tour Championship of the previous year and the champions of the Amateur tournaments.
Among the multiple winners of this tournament are Jack Nicklaus, who won it 6 times (most recently in 1986, at the age of 46), and Tiger Woods, who won it 5 times (first in 1997 , at 21 years and 3 months, thus becoming the first black player and the youngest to win in the history of the tournament).
In 2017 Sergio García manages, after having participated in 73 majors without a victory, to win the Masters by beating the English Justin Rose in the playoffs.
